Street Art (Kai Webb)

Street Art

Kai Webb

Street art is everywhere. It’s in most countries and societies. It’s political and historical as well as simplistic and charming. But, what exactly is street art? In short, street art is art that’s in public. Street art is most commonly seen as murals, graffiti - including tags and wheat pasting, and chalk images.

A more elaborate answer comes from Widewalls’ article What is Street Art and How Can We Define It1: “However, the first group of thinkers seems to be in need of a temporal distance – there has to be a significant and determined period with an origin, climax and a future perspective in order to define a movement or an art form. As for the cultural theorists and sociologists – it is always a question referring to a cultural context, a question of identity deliberation, or the contemplation on complex social structures and semiotic interpretation. None of this, however, means that we cannot ask ourselves what street art may be. It can be said that it is a movement, most definitely an art expression, but surely, even more than this… Perhaps, an art form in its own right. One thing is certain – street art has become an inevitable integral element of contemporary art.”

2020 has been a hell of a year. World War 3 was threatened, Kobe and his daughter both passed away, a global pandemic changed how we view toilet paper, brief appearances of murder hornets, race riots and protests broke out in June following the video release of the police murder of George Floyd, and it’s an election year. That was a mouth full. Out of the many things these times have brought us, every single one brought street art with it. There has been a surge in street art - more specifically coronavirus and racial justice art - throughout the United States.

Walking around a metropolitan area, one will find drawn-on window reminders to wear a mask. Painted murals of people in masks, living with masks happily, have sprung up all over. Graffiti artists and muralists have experienced and are experiencing the societal, environmental, economical, and emotional impacts from the Covid-19 outbreak. “Graffiti artists, street artists and muralists have been taking over public spaces during the pandemic, using their art forms to express beauty, support and dissent.2” This boom of Covid-related artwork is also prevalent in India, Russia, Kenya, Indonesia, The Netherlands, England, etc.

Black Lives Matter street art came with protests. What I mean by that is, the passion in the hearts of those marching come from the same fire as the passion of those who created. The three words bolded that read BLACK LIVES MATTER have been painted in streets across the country as a beacon of hope. The murals have also been community and/or artist collaborative projects. A street painting in New York’s Foley Square was collaborative. One of the muralists, Ghana-born Tijay Mohammed, designed the first word to represent Kente cloth and royalty.

Brooklyn-born Sophia Dawson designed the word “lives” and grabbed inspiration from Black icons and culture. Aside from this, there are hundreds of portraits of Black citizens who were killed by police including Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, and Eric Garner.

1 HOW STREET ARTISTS AROUND THE WORLD ARE REACTING TO LIFE WITH COVID-19

(Smithsonian)

2 The ‘Black Lives Matter’ Street Art That Contains Multitudes (New York Times)

 

When I think of street art, I think of art that came from a movement. I think of Egypt’s Al Tahrir revolution that produced amazing street art. City walls were placed in that time period and political climate and they’re still there waiting to be seen again.

Revolution Graffiti documents the urgency and self-confidence of contemporary Egyptian street art. Most of the images reproduced in the book make the work of celebrated British graffiti artists such as Banksy appear insipid by comparison. Street art, by definition, should be by the people, for the people: in Egypt it has proved a strident yet eloquent instrument of protest.3

I feel as though the culture of street art in the United States is beginning to be an integral instrument of protest.

3 Egypt’s powerful street art packs a punch (BBC)

 

Sources

 https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/defining-street-art

 https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-murals-inside-the-world-of-pandemic-inspired-street-art

 -138487

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/travel/coronavirus-street-art.html

 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-street-artists-around-world-are-reacting-to-life-with

 -covid-19-180974712/

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/arts/design/black-lives-matter-murals-new-york.html

 https://www.theverge.com/21509952/street-art-murals-black-lives-matter-blm-protests-new-york-

 city-artists

 https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-graffiti-artists-propelling-vision-black-lives-matter-mov

 ement

 https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/08/04/black-lives-matter-mural-painted-by-18-artists-takes-ov

 er-uptown-street/

 https://theculturetrip.com/africa/egypt/articles/18-shots-of-the-revolutionary-art-in-the-streets-of-

 egypt/

 https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130508-egypts-street-art-revolution