Idea In Context - Week 3

Street Art

What is Street Art?

Street art is art, specifically visual art, developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, sculpture, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting andstreet poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, and street installations. Typically, the term street art or the more specific post-graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

Artists have challenged art by situating it in non-art contexts. ‘Street’ artists do not aspire to change the definition of an artwork, but rather to question the existing environment with its own language. They attempt to have their work communicate with everyday people about socially relevant themes in ways that are informed by esthetic values without being imprisoned by them. John Fekner defines street art as "all art on the street that’s not graffiti".

Street Art Technique?

Whereas traditional graffiti artists have primarily used free-hand aerosol paints to produce their works, "street art" encompasses many other media and techniques, including: LED art, mosaic tiling, murals, stencil art, sticker art, "Lock On" street sculptures, street installations, wheatpasting,woodblocking, video projection, and yarn bombing. New media forms of graffiti, such as projection onto large city buildings, are an increasingly popular tool for street artists—and the availability of cheap hardware and software allows street artists to become more competitive with corporate advertisements. Much like open source software, artists are able to create art for the public realm from their personal computers, similarly creating things for free which compete with wealthy companies making things for profit.

Traditional graffiti also has increasingly been adopted as a method for advertising; its trajectory has even in some cases led its artists to work on contract as graphic artists for corporations. Nevertheless, street art is a label often adopted by artists who wish to keep their work unaffiliated and strongly political. Street artists are those whose work is still largely done without official approval in public areas.

For these reasons street art is sometimes considered "post-graffiti" and sometimes even "neo-graffiti." Street art can be found around the world and street artists often travel to other countries foreign to them so they can spread their designs.

Motivation of street art?

Art is not just limited to paintings on canvas. It can be done anywhere, even in public places such as walls and streets. Street art, as people call it, are usually unsanctioned, sometimes unfairly considered as vandalism. Street artists, however, do not view it as vandalism but rather as an alternative form of art.

Most of the paintings of street artists are expressions of how they feel toward society. In fact, activism and subversion are prevalent themes in street art. For many, their paintings are also their way of reaching out to the public regarding social aspects such as environmentalism, culture jamming, individualism, racism, and value reclamation. For some artists, they find street art a way to help the city by covering up what they consider as graffiti and vandalism. Then there are others who simply want exposure and recognition of their artistic talents. Indeed, street art reaches a broader audience than more conventional means of showcasing artistic works.

Controversy on street art:

Some people consider street art a crime; others consider it a form of art. It is a borderline issue. Street artists may be charged with vandalism, malicious mischief, intentional destruction of property, criminal trespass, or antisocial behavior and there different legal restrictions depending on whether it’s private or public property. In some cities, it is unlawful for landowners to allow any graffiti on their property if it’s visible from any other public or private property. A 2012 research paper from Hacettepe University tried to define street art as a type of crime, then examined it using criminological perspective with criminological and deviance theories, in order to understand and explain it better using an example

10 Famous Street Artist:
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/10-street-artists-you-should

This is mind-map that I did for street art.