Time Based Street Art

There have been instances where some artists working on the street decide to incorporate another element into their pieces through video documentation. By far, the most effective and well put together pieces have been executed by the street artist named Blu. This artist utilizes stop animation paired with hand painted imagery on outdoor surfaces, whose scale is grandiose. The transformations that take place mingle with the flat pictorial plane and 3-dimensional space, which allows the term "street art" to be expanded on. The documentation and production of the final animation in video format are essential to the work. The ghostly images that are left behind on the painted walls serve as a form of history in the process. Some images are kept, others are washed away by more layers of paint... Watch some Blu animations. I bet you'll like them.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

If you want to see some more, (which I'm sure you do) go to www.blublu.org

Connections in Advertising

Some artists have picked up on the fact that street art can often be related to the world of advertising. By posting artworks on the street, is to partly mimic companies who do more than their fair share of bombarding the public with messages for products or services. A middle aged man by the name of Ron English had become widely known for the witty satire that is involved in his works. He targets the pressing issues involved with large industries, and brings their most flawed attributes to the surface in a surprisingly humorous way. He has been labeled as an "art terrorist" and "billboard liberator," but the true name of this type of art is called "culture jamming." Ron is also interested in the widespread consumerism that has plagued humanity, and continues to grow daily. He believes that these spaces (billboards) should be given back to the people, and he does this by showing what he believes to be the truth of things. His background in many years of sign painting has enabled him to harness those learned skills and project them onto the world in a way that he sees fit. He has painted billboards illegally, which contain his own crude views, dealing with harsh social commentary. Check out his work. It's pretty hilarious!




I know the next two images aren't exactly representing street art, but this work was created by Mr. English, which is somewhat relevant. It's pretty damn funny, and just as risky as his other work. No wonder he's been arrested over 30 times.

Community Based Projects

There been a gradual acceptance of street art that has brought communities closer as a result. The rising number of commissioned pieces done by street artists has gives much more validity to this form of art. Many projects have been done that prove the impact that street art has on the people as a whole. There was a project initiated earlier this year where seven street based artists flew to Gambia to introduce their artwork on the walls of the village. This region has a severe lack of art and the Gambian people had great appreciation for what the artist's were doing for them. The children of the village were entirely interested in what the artist's were doing and it was an exciting experience for everyone.


There was also a recent public project that had taken place in the city of Syracuse, New York where a man by the name of Steve Powers aimed to unite the two distinct parts of the city that were divided by a single old train bridge. Equipped with his background in sign painting, graffiti, and with help from his crew, he has painted gigantic poetic phrases that span across the face of bridges in hopes of creating a gathering spot for people to converse. The research done to finally settle on a phrase consists of public meetings where people explain what they both hate and love about their community Powers also admits his work is a sophisticated form of graffiti which lends itself to reach and effect many more people. Take a look at some of his painted messages:



If you're interested, there's a website dedicated to the project. Here it is: http://lovelettertosyracuse.com/

Can't Forget About the Bad Stuff

When you visit a gallery or museum, you'll notice the good, the bad, and the in between. It's pretty much the same when checking out street art. People in cities are constantly being exposed to a bunch of tasteless art pasted everywhere, which is what gives street art a bad name. There's a graffiti writer/ street artist who I can't stand who goes by the name of DickChicken. His images consist of a plucked chicken/penis hybrid, as you might have guessed. His intent is to make people laugh, but it's huge one-liner and can only be used to an extent before it becomes obnoxiously overused. I know it's all personal opinion, but this guy sprays shitty stencils, has terrible craft, and uses the same images over and over again. After I watched the following interview, I disliked this dude even more. He's really full of himself and thinks he's badass... when really all he does is spend all day drawing dicks on chickens.



Here's some horrible street art:







There are many more bad street artist's but DickChicken really takes the cake.

The Relationship Between the Street and Gallery

One of the main reasons that people put work up on the streets is that it's so accessible for artists and is one of the best vectors for work to be shown publicly. The work reaches people who don't normally visit galleries and museums, and has a much different aura than those facilities as well. A really nice aspect of seeing work on the streets is that it's sort of like a discovery when you first notice it, and if it's nothing you're interested in, then you simply move on. The same thing happens in a museum setting, but you're bombarded with such a large amount of work and it's very tiring and numbing to sift through all of it. Many street artists now create work for both the gallery and the street.

Elbow Toe gives us some insight on this matter, and how they relate to his own work in an interview given by Drago Lab.

3. Do you have a preference for studio or street? Are you inclined to work more on pieces for one or the other?

I appreciate aspects of both disciplines. When I work on the street there is the instant gratification that I will have the opportunity to impose my art in an environment where the unsuspecting viewer will be brought into contact with it. Also, as I have said before, I like the idea of being able to transform a spot so that people can’t help but think of that space and the piece as one, as though it has and should have always been there. My work on both fronts requires time to be with; it is always meant to sit in the brain and percolate. I feel that when presented in a gallery, the environment itself asks the viewer to slow down and be with the work in a way that the urban environment does not. Because of that I feel it offers me the opportunity to go deeper on the work that I am presenting indoors. This has encouraged me to pursue very subtle narrative frameworks that mix allegory, personal experience and pretty much anything else that catches my interest. Ultimately I just appreciate the chance to make images that fascinate me and to get

them out to the public in any way I can.

4. How do you feel when you see a piece on the street versus in a gallery? Is there a different sense of accomplishment?

There is absolutely a different sense of accomplishment because my goals for each are completely different, p

articularly now. It took me a couple of years to find my own voice, so I had the habit of making work on the streets and trying to imitate that vision in my own way in gallery work. And it never really felt right to me. I now know what I want out of my gallery work, and I know what I want out of my street work. The goals are separating and to be honest it is quite liberating.

5. Is there subject matter that you approach exclusively for one or the other?

I would not say the subject matter is th

at different, but in my gallery pieces I get to develop my own environment for the narratives to take place. On the street I have to integrate with the environments where I am installing the work.

The work above is a studio piece, while the one below was placed in the streets. It's interesting to see how the work maintains its distance between studio and street practice, while still being connected in a way.

This guy makes some really nice work. Check out his stuff right here:
http://elbow-toe.com/

Bicyclist Influence

Since bicycling is such a common mode of transportation in big cities, it was only natural for street artists to eventually create artwork that interacts with this large group of people. In Helsinki, Finland, a guerilla art project was established where a large quantity of washable paint was poured over a section of a road that did not contain a bike lane. This paint was then spread by cyclists with their bike tires as the painting tools, and the road as their canvas.

During the summer of 2009, a main bike lane on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg was removed as a result of constant complaints from the Hasidic Jew community. The Jews claimed that the bicyclists "posed a safety and religious hazard," since "many of the young, female cyclists who rode through the neighborhood were "'hotties,' who 'ride in shorts and skirts,' both of which are against their dress code." To fight against the unjust removal, driven bicyclists reclaimed their lanes by repainting them with rollers and white outdoor paint. For the bicycle figure symbols, they used hand cut stencils and white spray paint. This form of guerilla street art really got the point across. Go ahead, watch the documentation:



Another example of interactive bicycle street art had taken notice in Portland, Oregon just this past summer. The work dealt with the already existing bike lanes on one street, and parodied the early Nintendo video game "Mario Kart." The symbols in the game were recreated by stencil and spray painted onto the lanes. Many people interacted with the art, as the painted banana symbol which causes "spinouts" in the game, was avoided by the cyclists. Watch the news report for a better understanding.

Yarnbombing... what?

Since street art has begin to effect many sub-cultures, yarn enthusiasts from all over have taken their craft and brought it to the streets, making koozies for urban objects, or simply just crocheting a form and installing it outside. Koozies (cozys) are known to be the snug-fitting foam slips that bottles are cans are placed in to keep them cold. This has been translated into yarn and the potential for koozying objects is unlimited, and has been used on: bikes, padlocks, street signs, poles, etc... The visual aesthetics of koozied objects is very warm and lighthearted and usually leaves viewers with a laugh or smile, at least. It doesn't damage property and therefore isn't considered graffiti, though the city board believes it to be illegal in terms of littering. Here are some nice koozies:


Can't get enough? Well, you're in luck. There's a whole website dedicated to this stuff. Here it is: http://www.yarnbombing.com/

Process

One reason that street art continues to strive and survive in public spaces is highly attributed to the range of exploration found within the many processes, both old and new. Street art is not strictly limited to just two-dimensional works, since sculptural possibilities have been recognized. There is also an apparent cross-over between flat and dimensional work, displayed in various pieces. This is shown in the street artist Vhils' work, as he deliberately works with his materials in both ways, being careful not to limit himself. Check out an example of one of his many processed in the following video.



Here's a section of an interview taken from fatcap.com (FC), with the artist:

FC: You work with many types of supports and materials, what tools do you use?

Vhils: I’ve been experimenting with many media which don’t fit in your regular art tool kit. Because I aim at creating contrasts between the different layers that compose things, I like experimenting with tools which can remove layers and create the contrasts that help me in questioning the reality of our urban life. I enjoy working with randomness, and this randomness can be found beneath the layers of any material, whether it’s a wall or a massive overlaying of advertising posters. You can cut away at the layers to create your image but you don’t have full control over all the aspects of that creation, as you don’t know what images and patterns lie beneath them. This is a key concept in my work. The processes I follow also reflect the very ephemeral essence of life contained in the materials I use. Materials change with time and my pieces change along with them; the tools I use often catalyse this change and I’m interested in making this a part of the piece itself. So there is nothing static about them, it’s an ongoing process with nature. In order to do so I resort to several types of processes and tools which might provide interesting results: painting and cutting up old billboard posters, screen-printing with acid and bleach, using etching acid or bleach on wood and other materials I pick up in the street like pieces of walls from derelict buildings and so on. I use hammers, chisels and pneumatic drills to sculpt walls. All these techniques and tools revolve around a very similar work process: the removal of the layers that form the materials or objects and exposing the resulting contrasts as images.

Read the whole interview here if you please:
http://www.fatcap.com/article/vhils-interview.html

Too add, here's an example of inventive sculptural street art by Joshua Allen Harris that really takes advantage of the site specific spaces to give the work "life." It is highly interactive and really catches the viewer's eye due to the unexpected nature of the work.



However, the more traditional and mainstream approach to street art has been mostly composed of thin paper (bond) being pasted to surfaces outside. The street artist named Gaia borrows from traditional methods to create his work. In the video below, he uses a linoleum carving and ink wash to produce his image. He then shows the process of wheat pasting the piece on a brick building.

Reaching to the past

We are at a point in history where we constantly hear that "everything has been done." The artists of today's world are much different than in the past, since we are not expected to adhere to a cultural art trend as was done previously. Since there is not a specific focus presented, there is a layer of confusion that plagues the art world considering what will collectively be approached next. There is a movement toward the reference of the past in modern times, regarding art among other things such as: music, and fashion.

In the music industry, the biggest resurfacing has been involved with the sudden popularity of vinyl records, which were widely used in the 1960s and 70s. Perhaps this borrowing from the past provides some comfort in the uncertainty for the future. Furthermore, fashion presents to us a disoriented sense of culture that does not allow for people of modern times to have a collective identity for the time period (know as zeitgeist). This has been associated with the trendiness of our era, which is driven by advertising and over-consumption. The demoralization and high expectancies that follows individuals today has even brought upon a trend unique to our culture called Hipsterdom. This borrows fashion from all past counter cultures, throws them into a blender and regurgitates them on society. Check out this site to get an understanding of what this sub-culture is. There's even a handbook you can buy here, if you're so inclined. Anyway, that's enough of that...

Now, let's get back to art. Similar to the melting-pot of fashion, art has taken on a similar identity as there is not a well-defined cultural expectation of art as there had been in the past. To illustrate, during the time of the Italian Renaissance many artists were expected to create work limited mostly to religious folklore, perspective and light. Today, artists are not not given such rigid guidelines, and the term "art" has expanded exponentially. Could you imagine one of Piet Mondrian's compositions slapped over Michaelangelo's mural in the Sistine Chapel?

I didn't think so... These works are so specific to their time that they cannot be interchanged. Artist's now have the license to create whatever they want, and this confuses the general art population. This seems to be a characteristic of what we now call "Modernity," in that the gestalt of our era cannot yet be determined until the time has passed, and becomes a part of art history that we can look back on.

The resurgence of street art in particular has been quite interesting, and even though the practice never completely died out, it has had its peaks and valleys. In an interview with the street artist Dan Witz, he is asked:

What do you think about this resurgence of street art in recent years? Is it really a resurgence or just a re-commercialization? It’s not like street art was ever gone, it just seems like the galleries ignored it for a while and now Shepard Fairey and Banksy are taking over museums.

Witz: It’s always been puzzling to me that it ever went away at all. I mean it’s so obviously a fertile medium in so many ways. You don’t need a studio and you don’t have to be good looking or charming or know the right people to get your work out. And it’s a total blast to do.

I’m embarassed to admit it, I mean I know I’m supposed to be some kind of wise veteran of the ups and downs etc., but I’ve pretty much survived psychically by keeping a heavy filter on the above questions. I’ve found that too much of that kind of information can be seriously undermining to my optimism—which is something I badly need to keep on with my work. I usually answer these kind of things by saying that I’m not a spokesman for street art.

Origination

The precursor of street art is known to us as graffiti, which began its formation during the late 1960s and early 70s in New York City. The arrival of this unique form of art was represented through politically charged motives that consisted mainly of spray painted words, letters, and images on public or private property. Early on in the graffiti trend many gangs looked to graffiti as a promising method of demarcating territory. The term graffiti is also conceived to be deeply connected to the drug and crime culture, as it is an illegal act of vandalism. There was an inseparable attitude between hip-hop and graffiti in its early stages and it still resonates today, though it has branched out into many other sub-cultures as well. Through the years 1971-1974, there was a prolific rise in graffiti writers, or those who "tag" their designated name at specific sites through the use of stylistic lettering and vivid color with spray paint as the primary medium. The peak of this form of public art was achieved during the years 1975-1977 due to political and financial instigation. During this time, many writers flourished and extensive "bombing" or "tagging" occurred.


There were even notions of early street art around this time, as it was natural for image makers to imitate what the writers were doing. Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat worked alongside graffiti writers, and were important figures in the emergence of street art. Immediately after the influence of graffiti peaked, The MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) cracked down on the issue of heavy recurrent tagging in the following years, and many pieces were soon "buffed," or removed. The legislation of NYC issued laws that further aided in the removal of pieces, and new structures were built around train stations to keep writing at a minimum. The MTA persisted to discourage and punish writers and this eventually ended in a dramatic decline in graffiti. This dormant state lasted through the 80s and 90s, and only the most die-hard writers continued with their artistic endeavors. In the past decade or so there has been a visible resurgence in grafitti, which has been translated and given new birth to what we know now as contemporary street art.




To learn more about the culture of graffiti, check out Style Wars at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/style-wars/

What is Street art?

Street art is any art developed in public places — 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, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting, street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing, 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 it 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 aesthetic values without being imprisoned by them. John Fekner defines street art as “all art on the street that’s not graffiti.” -wikipedia

Wondering who this John Fekner guy might be? He's a street artist rooted in the early days of graffiti. Look him up here: http://www.johnfekner.com/

The definition and dialogue of street art is constantly changing, and is often introduced to the gallery setting which challenges the meaning. In the following video, Swoon touches on this topic and speaks of the evolution of her work, as well as street art in general.