Graffiti & Street Art // 19th October 2011
Graffiti & Street Art // 19th October 2011
- Graffiti became popular in the 20th and 21st century and primarily derived from the italian word 'Grafiato' which means 'scratched', or more specifically means images which have been scratched into stone surfaces and often natural pigments are also used to add more detail and colour to the image.
- Early graffiti styles date back to cave times when this specific type of art was used to translate stories of everyday life to different communities. Some of the first ever graffiti was discovered in the caves at Lascaux, France. These were discovered in 1940 by 4 teenagers. Graffiti in these times was not considered an act of rebellion but more of a way of communication. Originally these caves were open to the public to go in and see the first ever discovered graffiti, however they began to decay and have now been closed down in the hope of preserving these ancient designs.
- Graffiti has since been found in Ancient Rome, during the destruction of the city of Pompeii. Pompeii was destroyed and completely demolished during a large volcanic eruption revealing large walls of 'vandal-like' graffiti more closely related to the common graffiti we see today, with links to anti political messaging.
- Kilroy/Chad was an engraving which first appeared on the walls of the World War 2 memorial in WAshington DC. The graffiti was not signed by one person and was sued to create light and humour around a very negative period of time and related back to food shortage in this era.
- Paris, May '68 Riots; The largest strike in history and mass rioting across France, still often referred to today. The riots lasted for two weeks and almost led to the collapse of the government in France at that time. The DIY posters were designed to represent riots and raleigh's.
- Civil unrest inspirations > cultural/creative materials.
- Movement in DIY posters.
- Used nowadays to represent the May '68 riots.
Urban Graffiti
- In 1970's New York urban graffiti developed alongside the evolution of the hip hop culture and started a battle between rioters. The graffiti was commonly seen painted onto railway carriages, buses and subways which allowed it to 'literally' travel around, spreading the voices and messages of citizens to other cities and places. The main purpose was to announce a presence as people feel they are invisible an want to be seen and heard. This graffiti phase was all about making the language of the streets visible. John Naar a famous photographer, was sympathetic towards this type of artwork and in 1973 documented the graffiti style through photography.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Creator of SAMO "Same-OH"
- Derived from the saying "same old shit"
The SAMO character conveys a statement which gives a sense of how life is confusing, the characters also had political connotations. The copyright symbol also appeared next to the character which was used in an ironic manner to bridge the gap between graffiti and art which would be copyrighted. In 1979 ‘SAMO is dead’ began to appear around New York. Basquiat had ended his own creation and he became a figure of popular culture, featuring in newspapers and magazines and was associated with the celebrities of the time. He moved on to more specialist artwork with a slight graffiti inspired approach. Neo expressionist painting; fake Mona Lisa print form 1983.
Warhol and Basquiat
- General Electric with waiter 1984
- Critique of capitolism
- One of America's largest corporations
Unfortunately Basquiat later died of a drug overdose 18 months after Warhol died putting an abrupt end to their unique approach to street art.
Keith Haring
In 1981 Keith Haring sketched his first chalk drawing on black paper. He was later commissioned to create street art all over the world. He set up his own 'PopShop' in the 80's where he sold T-shirts, posters etc with his unique images on, this was closed down two decades later in 2005. Keith Haring's unique work breaks down the division and barriers between high art and low art. However, despite his success Haring was also criticised for his 'money making' schemes.
John Feckner
- Broken Promises 1980
- His work directly refers to lack of housing and relation to excessive dead space in cities.
Jenny Holzer
- Jenny Holzer specialised in word or phrase art and created a times Square show in 1980. Her work was sued to invite the opinion of others, and speak up for people.
- "Abuse of power, comes as no surprise"
- In more recent years her work has specialised predominantly on light projection, as seen in the images below.
The 2011 corsa advert shows how the city is being taken over my graffiti and is an example of how graffiti is everywhere;
123 Klan in France used graffiti and combined it with fashion and were founded as graffiti crew in 1989 by Seien and Klor.
Paul Curtis (moose) - Reverse graffiti in which a stencil and water are used to wash away the grime from walls to create the street art, Curtis is creating an environmental message, and taking an environmental approach to the creation of his work (his work takes away the grime and dirt of industry). However this is no permanence to his work, it has a short life span in which it can be viewed. Paul curtis was originally from Leeds and also worked with Class Records (1998-1999).
Alexande Farto aka VHILS form Portugal - Sculptural approach to graffiti art, he chips away at the exterior plaster of buildings and walls to create image, creating 3D works which a more textural feel than classic 2D graffiti artwork, he is famous for his work in London in 2008. Faith 71 from Amsterdam bridges a gap between hyperrealist art by placing red stickers around a natural hole in plaster.
Shroon used a cut out style to graffiti with a much more detailed approach to imagery. She has a very unique feminine style and approach to her work and unlike most graffiti artists was educated at art school. This led to the beginning of graffiti becoming an educational factor and not just a voice of the streets anymore. DIVA a female street artist from Brooklyn, also like Shroon, creates a more feminine style within her work but her work also demonstrates how graffiti artists do not and are not always identified and therefore can become genderless.
The art of resistance - William Parry 2010. His long stretch of graffiti reached to over 700 kilometres once completed and many other graffiti artists travel to this wall from all over the world to draw here. The wall is found in Israel and relates to Banky's evolution of Graffiti art.
To conlcude; graffiti is there as a form of interaction and dialogue rather than a general piece of artwork which would be more commonly found in a gallery.
