Street Art

We explain what street art is, its main exponents and how this artistic expression emerged. Also, the types of street art and their characteristics.

street art
The symbolic phrase being covered by an employee of the globalized world.

What is street art?

Street art or urban art (in English: street art) is the set of artistic expressions that occur in the street in an unofficial, informal and free way sometimes defying the laws. It is usually seen especially in cities. Urban interventions are usually ephemeral and done in a hidden and anonymous way, although sometimes they are openly exhibited, even in museums or galleries.

street art groups any artistic manifestation carried out spontaneously on public surfaces and spaces such as streets, buildings, trains, bridges, etc. His techniques include graffiti, stencils, stencils (stencil) and other resources to create images, even audiovisual projections or performing arts such as music and dance.

Street art has been associated with illegality, visual pollution or vandalism because it is an unregulated practice and an unauthorized intervention in public space or private property. For this reason, street artists often hide their identity and use artistic pseudonyms.

This genre has been extensively cultivated by numerous artists in the main cities of the West, but also in famous locations in the world, like the Gaza wall on the conflictive Arab-Israeli border.

Characteristics of street art

street art
Street art is usually anonymous and ephemeral.

Street art is characterized by being:

Ephemeral

In general, clandestine street interventions do not last long, as the surfaces are cleaned or repainted by the authorities.

Hidden and transgressive

Street art works are usually made during the night or early morning, with the aim of making them unexpectedly visible during the day. This gives them a surprising and mysterious component. Artists sometimes expose themselves to danger by climbing onto elevated surfaces or illegally intervening on official property.

You may be interested:  Modernism

Almost anonymous

Although many of the interventions are signed with the artist's pseudonym, his identity is not always known. Many works of street art are completely anonymous.

Extramural

Street art transcends the usual exhibition spaces, intervenes in public space and usually integrates elements of the urban environment.

Types of street art

street art
Street art includes various manifestations.

The most common forms and styles of street art are:

  • Graffiti. It is traditional “graffiti”, that is, drawing or writing (clandestine or not) on urban surfaces with a conceptual or aesthetic meaning: drawings, shapes, coded messages, etc.
  • Stencil (in English: stencil). It is a technique that consists of using a plastic or paper stencil with a cut-out silhouette that is adhered to a surface and paint is applied to it. In this way, forms (text or images) are reproduced quickly and accurately.
  • Murals. They are large format paintings made on walls, walls and other structures.
  • Posters or posters. They are printed materials, which are glued to walls and other surfaces. They can remain for a long time and combine to form large images.
  • Sculptures. Street art can also be expressed with three-dimensional objects that appear unexpectedly in public space.
  • Performing arts and interventions. Some forms of street art are dance or music performances. Objects for public use such as telephone booths or banknotes are also intervened.
  • Art in situ. Street art specifically conceived to intervene or be placed in a specific place in public space.

Famous street art artists

street art
Many street artists have established themselves as international artists.
(Keith Haring. All together we will stop AIDS1989. Barcelona)

Some notable artists in street art are:

  • Blek le rat. He studied graphic arts in his hometown, Paris, and dedicated himself to urban art after a trip to New York. He is considered the creator of the contemporary stencil movement (stencil / pochoir) and a graffiti pioneer. His work addresses political and social issues and has influenced great urban artists of today, such as Banksy or Shepard Fairey.
  • Banksy. The real identity of this British artist remains hidden, despite the fact that his anti-establishment interventions and his works full of social satire are world famous and today are valued in millions of dollars.
  • Invader. The identity of this French artist remains unknown. Its name comes from Space Invaders, a famous video game from 1978. He makes his works with mosaics or Rubik's cubes that evoke the characteristic pixelation of that game.
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat. He is considered a legend of contemporary art and marked the 1980s. His energetic and vibrant works fuse elements of street art with icons of New York culture and symbols of his African-American identity.
  • Keith Haring. He was an American artist known for his dynamic and vibrant characters with simplified lines, as well as his easily interpreted works, in which he addressed themes such as sexuality, death, politics and war. He is a pop culture icon and a world-renowned artist.
  • Shepard Fairey (“Obey”). He is one of the best-known artists in the alternative art world. (underground) United States. He rose to worldwide fame thanks to his portrait of Barack Obama with the motto “hope.”

History of street art

street art
Street artists are recognizable by their messages or their recurring characters.

The term “street art” (street art) It was popularized in 1985 thanks to a book by Allan Schwartzman. Under that name, the author highlighted the work of New York artists who transformed the urban environment through graffiti and elements of skateboarding, punk and culture jamming (a form of activism that alters advertising messages to criticize power and consumer culture). These heterogeneous and usually anonymous artistic expressions soon began to flood the large cities of the West.

You may be interested:  Primitive Art

In the mid-60s there were already certain techniques that were used to intervene in public spaces as forms of protest or popular denunciation. In Paris, for example, the use of stencils became popular. From then on it began to become the expression of a subculture.

Eventually the popularization of street art in different cities led to the emergence of local groups and artists specific to each city recognizable by their messages or their recurring characters.

In 1981, the New York / New Wave exhibition was held at the PS1 gallery (now MoMA PS1), considered the first major exhibition of street art. 118 artists from the emerging scene of the Lower East Side of New York participated: painters, musicians, graffiti artists, photographers and poets with a marked punk aesthetic. Among the artists was SAMO, the pseudonym of Jean Michel-Basquiat, who saw his fame grow from that moment on.

Although it continues to exist in its subversive and clandestine form, today the street art It is recognized as a legitimate artistic expression with great aesthetic and even monetary value. The works of many street artists are part of important collections; Galleries and museums around the world dedicate large exhibitions to this genre and there are even institutions entirely dedicated to housing and showing its productions.

References

  • Stahl, Johannes. 2009. street art. Spain: HF Ullmann.
  • PS1 Archives. Moma.org. Retrieved April 3, 2024, from https://www.moma.org/
Categories Art