The Phenomenon of Street Art
One of the most common forms of street art is graffiti, whose current look originated in Philadelphia. The name comes from the word sgrafito, which is the scratching of symbols or images onto a wall. However, today’s street art has almost as little to do that as it has to do with cave paintings. The only similarity is in the fact that the “artists” use public buildings and walls as their ‘canvas’.
Graffiti: an inseparable part of the street
Although the many “scribbled” walls on the streets may fill people with outrage, they are an inseparable part of today’s cities. The main requirement for the positive perception of this specific street decoration is its suitable location. Street art can breathe new life and energy into stark and ugly urban locations, such that even a renowned architect might not create.
1970’s America: the ideal place for the birth of graffiti
Graffiti became more commonly known only in the 1970’s thanks to Taki, who operated in New York. He was an immigrant from Greece who influenced many future graffiti writers and is now considered a legend. Others who went down in graffiti history were Frank 207 and Joe 136.
New York was predestined to be the birthplace of graffiti: a huge, anonymous city where everybody fights for a place of their own. Graffiti was used as a means of combat between individual groups of children, mainly immigrants from Brooklyn and the Bronx. They marked their territories using tags on the walls.
Ordinary tags gradually became original works of art which attracted increasingly more fans. Although the city hall didn’t know how to cope with the increasing number of tags on public premises, including important landmarks and trains, the first graffiti exhibition at the Razer Gallery in Soho was founded in 1973. The art soon spread to other cities in the USA and gradually flooded the whole world.
The first graffiti museum was opened in New York in 1989.
Jean Michel Basquiat
This promising your artist with Haitian roots started as a street writer, often painting on walls and doors. He worked under the nickname Samo, but he only became famous later while working with leading pop art representative Andy Warhol.
Street art formats and leading figures
In addition to graffiti, street art also includes sticker art, guerrilla art, stencil art, various installations and video projections. The term ‘street art’ can be applied to any art that take place on public premises.
The most important artists include Banksy, Mat Benote, Jef Aerosol and Tod Hanson. In the Czech Republic, it is Jan Kaláb, Krištof Kintera and Libor Novotný. Every year, various street art festivals are held around the world, where artists gather to showcase their best work. The first street art festival was held in Melbourne in 2004.
Miami, Florida is home to the Wynwood Art District, which has become the new mecca of graffiti and street art. You can read all about this unique and inspiring place, created through the transformation of old factories and empty warehouses, soon in our article.
