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/