Street Art

This week's in class discussion about street art was really interesting because I hadn't ever really thought about street art as anything other than random graffiti done by kids who just want to do something rebellious and illegal.

JR was one of my favorites. What he was doing was deceptively simple in that he just took photos and pasted them up on walls, but the way he used these pictures was what was so interesting. He was able to take on some pretty big social issues just by  posting up photographs in strategic ways. The photo below was taken of one of his projects in a favela in Brazil called "Women are Heroes".

Street artists like Banksy conformed a lot more to what I originally thought street art was, but the social relevance and specific purpose behind each piece was an interesting aspect that I had until recently failed to notice. The example below is one of my favorite paintings that Bansky has done. Its simple but clever which I appreciate.

I also enjoyed the whimsical aspects to street art, like how some artists like Invader and Shepard Fairey had one motif that they repeated and did variations of such that the painting itself was a signature.

I did some research after class and I found one more street artist that I really liked, an artist called "Swampy"; he is an example of the kind of street artist I mentioned above who use one repeated motif in pretty much all their work. Below is a piece he did at the "Living Walls Conference" in Atlanta. That skull face with the horns is his repeated motif; he is able to do quite a few variations that use that skull face, which is part of the reason why he quickly became one of my favorites. I like the way he uses color and simple shapes to make a vivid and interesting painting.

 

Overall, I've come to understand that because street art is inherently illegal and rebellious, it is a fantastic outlet for people to convey their desire for social or political change that goes against the mainstream or dominant opinions. In my opinion there are two ways that a street artist can become great. First, if they paint (or post) something that in order to challenge something they see to be an issue in their society, simply for the sake of bringing about change or awareness in the community. Banksy and JR are fantastic examples of this. The other way I think a street artist can be great is by simply doing art for people's enjoyment or interest. Anything that brings more art, beauty and color to the world always has the potential to make people happy or engage them in their environment.