A History of Guerilla Art

By Alex Radivoyevich

Goal and Thesis

To show you a brief history of guerilla and street artwork.

Give you a new appreciation for the art of the streets.

Main Points

Technique Early Times Modern Era Commercial Success Conclusion

Technique

When most people think of street art, they usually think of graffiti, done freehand with aerosol spray cans.

Street artists also use more a-typical media and techniques, including stencils, LEDs, mosaic tiling, murals, stencils, stickers, etc.

Early Times

The street art movement began in the early 1980s in several locations around the world. Namely Paris, New York, London, Berlin, and Los Angeles.

Some of the early artists include Blek Le Rat (Paris), AVANT (New York), and Feliz (Berlin)

Modern Era and Commercial Success

With the growth of street/guerilla art comes more popularity and more artists.

There are now thousands of street artists and a few of these artists have achieved commercial success.

Many people know the Obama “Hope” posters, the artist who created those started the Obey Clothing company, Shepard Fairey.

Modern Era cont.

Another artist to achieve great success, and keep his identity secret, Banksy, started out idolizing Blek Le Rat. He, or she (or them no one is actually positive), has made a living making a mockery of popular culture.

The artist BLU has been known to take abandoned buildings in Sao Paulo and turn them into a massive canvas, in which he uses stop motion photography to tell a story.

Examples

More Examples

Conclusion

Street art has crossed the void from counter-culture into mainstream, while still maintaining its roots.

It is an international language, understood by people all around the world.

I hope I have informed and have gotten you interested in guerilla and street artwork.

Works Cited

"Street Art." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 02 Dec 2010. Web. 3 Dec 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art>

"Obey Giant." Obey Giant - Worldwide Propaganda Delivery. Shepard Fairey, 21 Sep 2009. Web. 3 Dec 2010. <http://obeygiant.com/>.

"MUTO- a wall-painted animation by BLU."Youtube.com. Web. 3 Dec 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4>.