Graffiti from Tags to Ads Part two: The Rise of Street Art

While the history of graffiti is anything but glamorous, its rapid growth in popularity and adaptability has been astounding. The changes in graffiti came to spawn a new form of art that would encompass all of the artistic characteristics of graffiti and forego many of its self indulgent tendencies. Dubbed Street Art, the movement would sweep the world with the help of television and especially the internet.

Street art is the next wave in modern pop art. Street artists have moved beyond spray paint and have found new forms of media to express themselves. Street art comes in all shapes in sizes such as mosaics, posters, sculptures and stencil paintings. Cities that used to have an adverse opinion on tagging now find themselves torn when the art on the wall is something they can really appreciate. Street artists still combat local authorities just like the taggers of yesteryear. Police forces around the world have adapted and grown as new more advanced military technology is adopted into everyday police work. Street artists face new tricky surveillance technology that can have the police on their tail without raising an alarm. These new forms of art and style as well as coping with a more formidable enemy in the police have created an interesting kind of nimble and creative artist.

Stickers like Shepard Fairey's
"Obey" seen here are just one of
the many media exploited by
street artists

In stark contrast to the common image of a graffiti tagger, street artists have cast off the rough gang mentality in exchange for a sense of individuality and personal style. The focus lies less on the pride of tagging a wall or claiming territory, and more on the art itself and the message it conveys. Street art has become graffiti’s docile more artsy younger brother, but this does not mean artists are any less outspoken. Most street artists use their art as a form of political commentary. No artists exemplify this more than Shepard Fairey and the infamous Banksy. Shepard Fairey is most known for his large “Obey, “and “Obama Hope” posters.  Brandishing the stalwart face of wrestler Andre the Giant and the red white and blue image of the would be president, Shepard’s work with posters have rocketed him to fame but more of that in part three(D’Cruz). Banksy is the champion of the street art movement. He has attracted crowds and terrorized the authorities of Britain with his highly political and undoubtedly artistic murals and sculptures. The most interesting part of Banksy’s persona is his constant air of mystery. No one outside of Banksy’s inner circle has ever seen his face which is normally hidden by his iconic monkey mask. This clever trick allows Banksy to easily work incognito, often in broad daylight as seen below.

BBC report on Banksy's work at the West Bank in Palestine

The rapid growth in popularity can be attributed to many factors, but none more than the internet. While the murals and posters hung on city walls will eventually be removed or covered up, the internet has preserved this once temporary art form in blogs and large data bases. One particular picture collection on the popular photo site Flikr boasts over 250 thousand pictures of street art emblazoned on walls and subway cars (Keita). The site also features a graffiti blog and message board, so that like minded taggers and artists can congregate to discuss new styles mediums and methods. The internet has become a new age curator, gathering and displaying art that although illegal is worth the attention given to pop art, surrealism and the other modern styles.

The shift from graffiti to street art led to an explosion of popularity and recognition. Now artists and their work have become wildly famous and appreciated. This fame however comes at a cost as mainstream culture begins to catch wind of this new sector of cool. The coming wave of marketing, commercialization and widespread recognition will change the lives of the world’s popular street artist and begin to seriously legitimize street art as both a respected movement in the art community and a viable marketing tool.

Stay tuned for Part Three in the Grizzly Ingrams Graffiti series and again thanks for reading! 


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