I was looking in to the theme of political art for my drawing project and where it is found most common. Finding it in art gallerys is tricky to find and the best one so far was Conrad Atkinson. I wasn't sure where to find any political art but then i realised it can be all around me. when walking past building you see graffiti sprayed on wall displaying how some one feels by some thing thats affecting them with just a simple image and a few words but the meaning behind the image and words it what counts and what make it political.
after this i was then pursing the idea of is graffiti art even in a political manner or is it just plain vandalism and how far does it go back?
I think that Graffiti can be seen as an expressive, inspirational form of art and to others it is seen as unnecessary vandalism ruining public, private, historical and valued properties in communities. There are many graffiti artists, some well-known artists are Blu, Dust, Elbow-Toe, Jean-Michael Basquiat, who all express graffiti art in different ways using different medias to create their pieces some with a political feel to them but over all graffiti is an expression.
Modern graffiti comes in many different types of forms from toilet door messages to spray painted memorials done by famous graffiti artists and whether or not they are seen as vandalism depends on how the message has been delivered through the graffiti to the viewer. Graffiti has evolved over time and is used in a number of different medias such as; photo images, spray paint, acrylic paint, collage, marker pen, carvings, scratching and stencil. Graffiti goes back many of years from the earliest as cave drawings which are a form of graffiti with them being scratched and carved into walls. Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans and Ancient Egyptians practiced graffiti by carving into tombs, walls and sculptures. Graffiti is used in different cultures such as; Ancient Greece, Roman Empire, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Vikings used graffiti in their culture. They would carve out important events which occurred so that it was not forgot. Now their paintings and carvings are seen as art because of how detailed some of their carvings are without using the tools we have today. Many years ago it was seen as a way of alerting people in some way which was done by invaders or famous people leaving a mark so that people know they existed in that time.
Graffiti has evolved into different forms over the years and a popular form is Identification graffiti, which is known as‘tagging` is done by graffiti artists spraying their name or code name on a wall, some‘tagging` can be done appealing with big graffiti styled letters and very colourful where as some is seen as vandalism. Taki 183 is a graffiti artist who does ‘tagging` Taki is an influential graffiti writer. His tag is short for Demetaki which is his birth name and 183 is the number of his home address. He was the first New Yorker to start graffiti writing and it all taken off from their which inspired many other graffiti artists.
Blu is another Graffiti artist who uses different Medias to create his art. He has created really big graffiti pieces on buildings which can be seen from long distances away. He has done some graffiti art in London in 2007but become noticeable in 1999 when his graffiti career started and he was limited to the typical spray paint medium. “This series of graffiti animations is nothing short of amazing”this quote is for one of his animation artwork pieces called MUTO a wall-painted animation. An artist who has become noticeable is Elbow-Toe and his graffiti art work is done in collage. His work is not really seen as vandalism and is seen as an art form.
Because of how ElbowToes work is created it is more of an art form than vandalism because people like to view his work and see all the detail that he puts into his work. He had to start of by painting and stencilling on walls so he could become noticed and because of his graffiti, which people like, it made him successful and then he started presenting his work in galleries. If he did not start by creating his graffiti he would not have been noticed and would not have been a successful graffiti artist. Jon Burgerman is another successful graffiti artist who started off by doing graffiti on walls and later his career became successful and he began doing graffiti on walls, books, tees iPhone cases, has designed for the Little Big Planet video game and has teamed up with Ustwo to create an IPhone application called ‘Inkstrumental’ and he had created all of the doodle characters. His work is seen as a positive type of graffiti which is very creative and inspiring to view.
Graffiti can also be seen as nothing more than vandalism by some audiences. The older generation of people for example my Granddad said that “graffiti is just mess on wall that ruins the environment” I can also agree that a lot of graffiti which is know as “tagging” where someone sprays their nickname or a code name is just a form of vandalism. The graffiti artist known as Taki 183 who I have discussed earlier, some of his work is just his name sprayed on a wall and some people might view that as vandalism because anybody can spray words on a wall but not everybody can create an art memorial including; spray paint, collage, photos, marker pen, paint or stencils. Taki’s work can relate to being naive graffiti, to some people his work is just words sprayed on a wall for no appropriate reason. Naive graffiti is vandalism because it can be insulting to some viewers and costs a lot of money for people who own private properties or community lots to have graffiti removed. The UK government spends 1 billion pounds a year paying for graffiti to be removed from UK government and council properties and communities “Vandalism is a costly crime. The National Bureau of Justice reports that in the year 2000, vandalism accounted for $1.6 billion in damage to households alone. Those who are left to clean up the aftermath and deal with the trauma of property damage often are left wondering why their property became a target”. Even in America this is a costly problem for the American government to deal with. A common sight for naive graffiti is the local parks where teenagers and children vandalise the park equipment because of lack of respect for the equipment, the environment and children who have to view their vandalism using the equipment.
Graffiti artist who have produced graffiti on walls then reproduced them on to canvases, their work is not really seen as graffiti because of them being on canvas and not on a wall. If it is on a canvas then it is viewed as a design, painting, animation or print, which means it’s now seen as an art form rather than graffiti or vandalism. Blu who has created animation is a graffiti artist because his animations involve some thing being painted on a wall outside. Being a graffiti artists is a risky career for some graffiti artists, the graffiti artist know as Alan Ket who has produced a lot of graffiti in different location and he was caught out doing graffiti illegally because of his name appearing in his work which was enough for him to be charged with a number of different offenses; “14 criminal counts, including trespass, criminal mischief and making graffiti. If convicted, he could potentially face decades in prison and huge financial penalties” He pleaded that he was not guilty and was let off because he claimed it was someone else who copied his tag and he could of face a few years sentence in jail, if there was more evidence to back up their suspicions. Graffiti can be a risky career route to go down and is difficult to become successful from it because of it being a crime and illegal if the artists did not ask for permission then they could be charged with a number of different offences if they were caught, It is not always a successful career.
People’s opinions on art which I have found on the internet discuss whether or not they think that graffiti is an art form or not. “You think its art when someone sneaks around and spray paints anything on the wall of your business or your home, or the railroad car you own? Hardly, it’s pure vandalism done for the pleasure of the vandal who did the work (or in some cases to make a gangs turf.” An article from the Warrington Guardian I have found on the views of graffiti in the local community. “When is graffiti art, and when is it vandalism? Many people who despair of the way graffiti vandals spray slogans on public transport and public buildings would be surprised to hear that it has now been elevated, by some, to an art form. Street art gains high prices on internet auction sites and the National Gallery has recently purchased a collection of 'street art'.” This shows that graffiti is more known as ‘street art’ rather than graffiti and it is becoming more popular because the graffiti artists who did the street art have to recreate their work and sell them to their fans who see their work as inspiring and creative. “If graffiti so-called artists think it so beautiful, then why don't they put it on their own house? You never see a graffiti vandal putting these paintings on their own house because they are NOT ART.” Graffiti artists only spray paint in daring places where it is seen as a risky spot for example a train in a well-guarded subway because then they are proud with their accomplishment and then other graffiti artists from rival gangs have to compete to beat there spot so that their spot was more risky and they can claim the territory as theirs and finish it with a ‘tag’
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