Street Art Damian Rarog

History of Street ArtStreet art is visual art that is created in public locations, and a lot of the time it is illegal however as times progress it is starting to be more widely accepted. Street art gained its popularity during the graffiti art boom of the early 1980s. Street Art, which uses stencils, posters, yarn, etc, branched out from there. Although it had been active in New York for years as part of the emerging hip-hop movement, modern graffiti came around the 1980s. The graffiti stencil street art developed from the free style graffiti style in New York City subways and streets.

Characteristics of Street artStreet art is defined by the style of it and what artists it come from, for example graffiti that vandalizes property is not seen as street art. Modern graffiti that help to regenerate a part of a city or shop etc is seen as Street art because it is helping bring interest to something for example a shop etc. Street art is usually attached with certain street artists such as Space Invader, you know that if you see a piece of art in public that is a space invader, then you know it has been done by the Street artist Space Invader. Street art is defined by the style it is made in and where it is made, also by what kind of street artist is it made. Street art also helps people express their feelings to others about various things e.g. the city they live in, religious issues, political issues (Obama poster by Shepard Fairey).

Space Invader

BanksyShepard Fairey

What is Street art Influenced by?Street art that originated from graffiti into a world wide art movement has been influenced by things like political issues, religious issues and other problems that people wanted to express their feelings about to others through the form of street art in public locations. Street art could also be influenced by things like games, music etc, for example the street artist “Invader” has a passion for games such as space invaders which influences his work to make street art in the form of space invaders.

Relationship to other art forms?Street art is related to other art forms such as graffiti, which it originated from. Graffiti is more of a free hand styled form of art whereas street are uses stencils, printing and posters etc. Street art could also be linked to pop art as pop art uses colours, repetition, printing to create a visual image and street art does the same to some extent however it is shown more as it is produced and displayed in public locations. Street art could been linked to more than just pop art as it uses different kinds of methods to present itself as a piece of art through stencils, to posters, to printing, to freehand graffiti.

Andy Warhol Pop Art

Impact on society and art?Street art has an impact on art in the way of that it presents itself and explores art in a different way than the usual art forms. Street art has also impacted greatly on society, in the way that it helps show and express how people feel about issues such as political issues. Street art helps to draw the attention of the government to act upon issues that take place in society. Street also helps to regenerate certain parts of society and areas, it can help change and improve many things in society and globally.

Technology impact?The advance of technology has helped to advance and express street art more in giving street artists more ways in producing and getting their artwork out into the streets. The advance in printing has helped street art because it's allowed street artists to print their work in big scales so that it is seen by more people. Street artists can also use the advance of printing to make hundreds of copies of their work to get it out everywhere into the public and help in many different things. For example Shepard Fairey made the “Hope” Obama poster during Obama's election which became the main poster for his election campaign.

Shepard Fairey

What movement?Street art could be seen as part of the Occupy movement of the 21st century. The Occupy movement was a movement against social inequality and lack of democracy around the world. Many street artists used this movement to produce their work to support this movement and express their feelings towards these issues through street art.

Shepard Fairey

Cultural ContextMost street artists link their work to politics and the issues surrounding them or who they support or they don't support. For example Shepard Fairey made the “Hope” or the “Change” poster for Obama to support him during his presidential election campaign which then became the main poster for Obama’s campaign. Shepard Fairey supported Obama through the poster during the presidential election because he believed that Obama could change America for the better. Another street artists who links most of his artwork to politics is Banksy, Banksy addresses a lot of political issues through his art. For example he made street art about the Homeless, Banksy placed in the caption “Keep your coins I WANT CHANGE” this means that he feels strongly that the government should act upon the homeless in the country rather than wasting money on unnecessary things such as wars.

Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” Poster

Banksy’s Homeless Poster