1. Politics and Art

Street art is an open forum for the public to talk about their views and display a form of communication. As a result, street art is now mixed with politics as artists want to communicate a thing or two with the government. This particular action has been visible across all countries as people come to the streets to protest against a specific policy or a move by the government. In this manner, they also go ahead to paint the walls and try to display a unique side of injustice.

2. Graffiti and Street Art are different

Things that are painted on a wall do not automatically qualify itself to be street art because there is a particular form of differentiation and understanding that goes into the same. The biggest example of the same is the difference between Graffiti and street art. While the former works only with spray paint, the latter goes ahead to include creative forms. Apart from that, the primary purpose behind creating both of them also differs, and the artists who perform the same do it for different reasons.

3. Europeans and Spray Paint

Europeans are known to have the upper hand with spray paint as their cans are flexible and can be used innovatively. Unlike the American paint, the European products do not start losing pressure by the time you get to the end process. As a result, European artists are flexible in their choices and can take the product in different directions. This is highly visible when you compare their art and try to figure out the variations and limitations.

4. Wheat Pastes

Wheat pastes tend to have a different meaning in street art because it refers to an adhesive made out of flour, water and glue in order to stick and seal a particular piece in the wall. Due to that, artists will be able to use the same and bring art to the public and help them analyse the importance of creation. The temporary or permanent art that they create will be remembered for the time, and everyone can acknowledge the same once they understand the purpose.

Playful bears

This is an art piece which was created by 140 ideas in Sofia, Bulgaria. The family of the playful bears are some of which that are scaling the wall. There is a huge tree trunk which can give it the illusion of being three dimensional, which is emerging from the wall.

Lone leaf

This is a beautiful masterpiece which is a simple street illusion created by Alexey Menshikov. This is a silhouette of a dead tree branch which is still alive, and there is a lone leaf sprouting on the top. This is one which allows people to see the branch as it mysteriously hovers in the air.

Peek a boo

This is a tribute to the artist Pasha P183 also known as Russian Banksy. This is a Lithuania based artist Ernest Zacharevic who created the peek-a-boo piece. It was located in the Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur which shows a man pulling the curtains through the greenery and looking into the street.

Fallen tree

The fallen tree is a subtle yet clever way to help create this graffiti tree which has a fallen overlook. This is the first painting which looks upright that requires the street art team, which is made and remade to look as if it was fallen. The white spray is painted on real trees which adds to the illusion.

Humongous hair

This is one of the epic painting which allows you to see the artistry of people painting where they involve the things around the place. This is one such example where we can see the tangled branches has become the hair of the art and makes it look like someone needs a comb.

Painted leaves

This might look simple, but the artist has played with the shadows of the piece and made it look like it is natural where you will have to look at it twice to understand. There is a silhouette of a man which seems to be painting leaves on a wall which can take away from the fact that it is painting the tree itself. This is created by the street artist Pejac who ensure that they have a clever piece on the streets of Spain. This piece was made to look even more alive as this painting was done near actual trees which makes it hard to differentiate.

The evolution

Keith Haring is one of the earliest stars to rise from the streets. He was passionate about art and graffiti and started his first graffiti painting on the subways after he learnt to a cartoon from Disney and Dr Seuss of his day. After several arrests, he then decided to update his skills at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). It was during this time Haring, along with Kenny Scharf and Basquiat started painting on walls of the streets, following the footsteps of Warhol and Lichtenstein from the ’60s.

This generation of street artists understood the meaning of delivering the power of images and words to the public. The importance of visual art was emphasized during this time. They also stressed on the importance of location and the messages conveyed to the public by the images on the walls. Haring’s paintings symbolized to the ones of the ancient Egyptians, with symmetrical structures and thought-provoking hieroglyphic symbolism. From then onwards, graffiti is being used as a tool to mark or increase the attendance of visitors to its museum.  Graffiti has outgrown the ancient era of territory-marking and has evolved into an art form that has surprised a lot of them.

Current Situation

Currently, the entire world of graffiti has changed for good and is also leaning towards wall painting and other forms of street arts. It is mainly making noise in the social justice platform as is also a form of entertaining the otherwise boring neighbourhood with colours and fun. The current scenario has forced the Millenials and Generation Z to accept this new-found art form that has not only changed the way people view art but also are encouraging the growth of it.

Nowadays, the popularity of street art has extended to outer space as well. Invader, a French street artist and astronomer managed his way to the outer space in the International Space station and posted a picture of his street artwork, which inspired thousands of youngsters. This form of art has evolved from the 80s, where it was widely unaccepted. However, the form of art is commonly accepted in the recent era and is only known to see an increase in popularity. Although some states like San Francisco have banned this form of art, there are still ways to channel the creativity of the artists without indulging in vandalism.

History of Street art

Street art was earlier started as graffiti art, which originated in the 1920s and 1903s in New York. Graffiti art was a notice on trains, side of the walls and other small public places. The popularity and the impact of this culture grew in the 1970s and 1980s, which was later marked as a turning point of street-art culture. The culture was turned into a movement where youngsters represented their political and social motives by painting on the walls, popularly called it “Battle for Meaning“. It was until a few years that the movement gained importance and people started welcoming it as an art scene. The word spread worldwide through photographs of these street-art paintings. Martha Cooper is one of the famous street art photographers of all times. Eventually, photographers became a medium for the spread of the art. The street-art culture was popularly called ‘creation through destruction’ in many parts of the world, which marked its expression through artistic styles.

Defining street art

Originally a movement for the cultural art form is now an expression for contemporary art globally. In metropolitan cities like Paris and New York, street art has become a form of entertainment and is culturally a contemporary form of art. This trend has been extended to various other countries around the world that are also indulging in conducting street art festivals to attract new visitors and tourists every day. Despite beautifying and conveying messages to fellow citizens and tourists, this form of art has taken a lot of time to be widely accepted by society. Many are still against the idea of painting public places as they symbolize constructive vandalism. However, there was a decline in the negativity when the famous pop singer Justin Bieber painted on walls post his concert and encouraged fellow artists to do so and continue the trend.

Street Art: A global business

The legality of street art varies from one country to another. Some countries encourage street artists to paint their heart out, which is often sponsored by big names and lumpsum amounts, to mainly advertise the motto behind their brand. However, in some countries, the art form is frowned upon. The artists have to check for permission from the building owners before they start painting images on their building. If not, they can be imposed on hefty fines. Hence, whether it is pro street art or against it, the people and government haven’t spared the opportunity to turn this into a global business and make money from them.