Graffiti and History of Street Art Essay

There is no use denying the fact that art has always been an integral part of human society. It has appeared as primitive paintings on the rocks, however, even these first attempts already performed their main function and had their own purpose. They helped a person to express himself/herself, show his/her feelings and emotions and convey them to next generations. Since that time art has always Visual Arts served humanity and showed various stages of its development. Going along with society, art reflected problems and feelings peculiar to people who lived at the certain period of time. Moreover, the way, in which these feelings were expressed, and forms, which art obtained, also characterized it greatly. Statues of antiquity and great canvas of the New Age and many other works appeared due to the set of reasons which made this very kind of art the main characteristic of the epoch. Resting on these facts, it is possible to say that modern age also has its main kind of art, or the way to express feelings which could be taken as its main characteristics. That is why, such phenomena as graffiti can pretend to be it.

It should be said that this issue is not new. Generally speaking, graffiti is a sort of painting which is scratched or sprayed on a wall or other surface or area in a place where people could see it.¹ With this in mind, it is possible to say that those primitive paintings on the rocks, mentioned previously, could also be taken as graffiti. However, the difference is that nowadays it is not the only kind of art, though it is the conscious choice of a person, who wants to express his/her feelings or show his/her vision of a certain problem². There are many factors which influence the spread of popularity of this sort of art. It should be said that its blistering growth started in the second half of the 20th century and had not stopped yet. It is possible to assume that the main reason for this growth was the increase of self-awareness of people³. Having passed through two World Wars, they understood that they should take the active part in the social life in order to influence the world⁴. That is why, this kind of art was chosen as the main remedy.

It should be said that nowadays, graffiti could be seen everywhere, starting from some gateway and ending with a central square of a city⁵. Moreover, development of technologies makes the process no so complicated as it was several decades ago. People used coal, chalk or some paintings in order to draw a picture somewhere on the wall. Thus, nowadays aerosol paintings help artists very much and make the process not so complicated. Very often, it is the question of several hours or even minutes. It should also be said that the place, where a picture is drawn, means a lot and is chosen not accidentally, especially if some provoking issue is touched. Artists want people to see their message and, that is why, choose very unexpected places.

It is also necessary to admit that graffiti is usually associated with the youth. It is taken as their way to express themselves and challenge the world. According to statistics, almost 98% of young people understand and appreciate this sort of art while this percentage is much lower among grownups⁶. That is why, blistering development of the issue of graffiti can be taken as the evidence of the youths concern about society and their future. Very often, being rebellious⁷ in their hearts, young people are not able to use traditional ways to express their emotions and choose graffiti, which is still taken as rather challenging. However, not everyone accepts this idea, underlining the fact that graffiti is hardly a sort of art, it is just paintings which spoil the image of a city. Under these conditions, it becomes obvious, that the necessity of clear determination of the issue of graffiti and its nature is vital. There are still two different approaches to it. The first one takes graffiti as the modern street art and all people who draw it could be taken as artists. Thus, the second one does not appreciate such an unusual approach to self-expression, underlying the fact that very often the message of this pictures could be rather provoking while they are drawn in public places where everyone could see them.

Besides, it is possible to say that the second approach could be taken as an old fashioned now. Modern art provides a wide range of remedies and ways for people to express themselves and graffiti is not the most provoking one. That is why, it is possible to say that due to its extent, popularity and influence on society, this phenomena could be taken as the main characteristic of the modern age. Nevertheless, according to Cedar Lewisohn, street art has become a certain sort of art many years ago and now it should be judged under the same standards which people use while looking at the picture somewhere at the museum⁸. There are several main points which could be obtained from this statement. First of all, it becomes obvious that graffiti becomes recognized by modern painters and people who devote their lives to art. However, the main idea is that as any kind of art, graffiti and all other kinds of this movement should also contribute to the development of society, humanity, ideals of beauty and the issue of art itself. Under these conditions, the question of the quality of an artwork becomes especially vital..

It is obvious, that one of the main characteristics of art is the forethought of the work, images and messages which it conveys. Thus, no one will say that the scrawl on the wall, painted spontaneously with the help of aerosol in a matter of seconds, without any consideration which precede this process, could have a great number of ideas and convey some message. With this in mind, clear differentiation between real street art and the acts of vandalism should be obtained⁹. The thing is that bad art has the pernicious influence on the development of graffiti. It turns people against street art in general as it really destroys the image of a city or place where it is drawn. That is why, it is possible to say that society should continue its struggle against vandalism, because it has nothing in common with real street art.

Besides, nowadays, there is the tendency to use the narrower and, at the same time, more meaningful term street art than graffiti. Describing a drawing on the wall as the part of modern street art, a person already means that it has all traits which are peculiar to a real artwork. These are quality, meaningfulness, topicality, inspiration and talent of the master who created it. However, while saying graffiti a person could mean either the masterpiece of street art and some bad painting of a vandal who just tries to leave the sign of his/her existence on this wall¹⁰. Moreover, nowadays, street art painters also recognize this fact try to promote serious and defendant approach to graffiti, guaranteeing its development and growth, at the same time trying to protect from careless painters. With this in mind, it is possible to agree with Lewisohns assumption that bad art adds nothing to original image and street art is developed enough to be analyzed with the help of the main concepts of art criticism¹¹.

Nevertheless, it is obvious that like all kinds of art, nowadays street art reflects peculiarities of the modern lifestyle and society, at the same time contributing to the further development of art and its evolution¹². It has always followed society and young people, who are taken as the main force of the modern era, also use art in order to make humanity think about some problems which are money, relations, consumer attitude towards people, wars and a great number of other topical issues. They chose the most available and efficient way as street art is free for everyone and people could see various artworks while going on their purposes and think about the things described there¹³. Having evolved, art has obtained some new image with the help of graffiti and artists who devote their lives to it.

Thus, speaking about a great influence of street art on people, it is impossible not to analyze one of the works of this sort. Nowadays, more and more street artists devote their works to various social issues. Besides, the works of Blu seem different from other artworks. Blu draws mainly in Europe and touches various political issues. One of the most breathtaking works of Blu is the painting War.

It describes soldiers with the weapon, who fight with someone. This picture appeared at the time, while tension between various states is extremely high. Worlds political crisis and the threat of terrorism lead to the appearance of a great number of military conflicts all over the world. That is why, armed people could be taken as the symbol of the modern age. However, it is just the first layer of the artwork. A viewer can see that these soldiers are just marionettes. They are ruled by someone who is not seen in this picture. The author wants people to think about the real motifs of all wars in which we participate. Blu tries to open our eyes and show that people just help someone to satisfy some needs. We cannot see who rules these soldiers, thus it is for people to guess. Moreover, dollar and euro signs on their chevrons show the real motif of the war and of the aggression of these soldiers. They are paid to kill. Blu wants people to think about this horrible fact.

Resting on these facts, it is possible to say that this very painting can be taken as the manifestation of real art and, that is why, art analysis could be used here. First of all, it is painted very accurately and with a great talent. One could see that much time is devoted to the process. The artist had to create the concept and idea, moreover, it is obvious, that Blu thought trough all symbols which are depicted and tried to show them clearly. Taking into account a great size of the work, it is possible to say that the author also had to devote much time to planning and choosing the way how to draw it. That is why, Blu can be taken as a good artist who creates real masterpieces of street art.

Yet, analyzing this very picture, it is possible to state the fact that a person forgets that it is drawn somewhere on the wall in the street. People start recognizing it as an artwork which does not differ from pictures¹⁵ which are placed somewhere in the Louvre or other museums. That is why, all these facts could be taken as a great evidence of the influential character of street art and its great contribution to the development of modern art in general.

With this in mind, taking into account the main information connected with the issue of street art, it is possible to make a certain conclusion. First of all, it should be said that nowadays, it has really turned into a kind of art which helps people to express their feelings and attitudes towards certain things. However, like in any art, the question of quality is vital for it. Only good paintings are able to contribute to the development of the image of street art.

Bibliography

“About Graffiti and Street Art.”Speerstra. Web.

“Cedar Lewisohn.” Ransom Note. 2015. Web.

Curiel, Jonathan. “A Movement Defaced: Queer Street Art Fights for Legitimacy.”Weekly. 2011. Web.

DeNotto, Michael. “Street art and graffiti.” College and Research Libraries News 75, no. 4 (2014): n. pag.

Eyerman, Ron. “The Role of the Arts in Political Protest.”Mobilizing Ideas. 2013. Web.

Fuentes, Ed. “From Duchamp to Banksy: Street Art Continues 100-Year Movement.” KCET. 2013. Web.

“Graffiti.” Oxford Dictionary. 2015. Web.

Heller, Steven. “Street Art’s Momentary Protest, Made Permanent”. The Atlantic. 2015. Web.

Irvine, Martin. “The Work on the Street: Street Art and Visual Culture.” Georgetown University. 2015. Web.

Kim, Eugene. “Ten street artists you should know.”My Modern Met. 2015. Web.

Lewisohn, Cedar, and Henry Chalfant. Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution. 1st ed. New York: Abrams, 2008.

Maric, Boyan. “The history of street art.” Widewalls. 2015. Web.

“Modern Street Art: when Unconventional Art encourage People.” Digital Art. 2015. Web.

Teune, Simon. “Art and the Re-Invention of Protest.” Academia. 2015. Web.

“What is Street Art? Vandalism, graffiti or public art – Part I.” Art Radar. 2015. Web.

Footnotes

• 1 “Graffiti,” Oxford Dictionary, Web.
• 2 “Modern Street Art: when Unconventional Art encourage People,” Digital Art, Web.
• 3 Jonathan Curiel, “A Movement Defaced: Queer Street Art Fights for Legitimacy,” Weekly, Web.
• 4 Boyan Maric, “The history of street art,” Widewalls, Web.
• 5 Martin Irvin, “The Work on the Street: Street Art and Visual Culture,” Georgetown University, Web.
• 6 “About Graffiti and Street Art,” Speerstra, Web.
• 7 Steven Heller, “Street Art’s Momentary Protest, Made Permanent,” The Atlantic, Web.
• 8 Cedar Lewisohn and Henry Chalfant, Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution, (1st ed. New York: Abrams, 2008), 37.
• 9 “What is Street Art? Vandalism, graffiti or public art – Part I,” Art Radar, Web.
• 10 Michael DeNotto, “Street art and graffiti,” College and Research Libraries News 75, no. 4 (2014): para.7. Web.
• 11 “Cedar Lewisohn,” Ransom Note, 2015. Web.
• 12 Ron Eyerman, “The Role of the Arts in Political Protest,” Mobilizing Ideas, 2013. Web.
• 13 Simon Teune, “Art and the Re-Invention of Protest,” Academia, Web.
• 14 Eugene Kim, “Ten street artists you should know,” My Modern Met, Web.
• 15 Ed Fuentes, “From Duchamp to Banksy: Street Art Continues 100-Year Movement,” KCET. Web.