Public art: Thoughts on graffiti
An ungoing aspect of running Blackbird Prints is trying to find methods of allowing people to see the high quality of the prints by viewing them in person rather than as an inferior version on a computer monitor. It has made me wonder about the legitimacy of traditional galleries defining what is and isn’t “Art”. Now with the likes of Banksy further blurring the line between graffiti (street art) and gallery art I want to write one or two thoughts on this matter.
The work on a selection of the Berlin wall and a section of the M40 flyover in central London are too often dismissed as acts of vandalism, and not considered legitimate art forms. Perhaps they should be reconsidered by keeping in mind the scale of both pieces (9ft x 15ft), the fact that they would have more than likely been executed under the cover of darkness and in one sitting, and the complexity of the design.
M40 flyover (above left), Barcellona wall (above right).
The images of the television silhouettes were photographed in the late 80’s on the walls of SoHo, New York. It was on these walls that artists such as Basquiat and Keith Harring (above-Berlin wall) first showed their work to an often passive public. Although their situation, and that of others like them, differed from the typical perpetrator of graffiti in the sense that basquiat and co. were usually trained artists painting on walls out of frustration of being rejected from galleries. Conversely, graffiti artists were usually untrained in the formal sense and avoided approaching the galleries for exhibition space simply because it would be anathema to them. Like all street art, these SoHo images had an ephemeral existence. It is this very quality that most excites me about the SoHo images, for in a sense they have become the ultimate in public art.
The creator of the television stencil probably sprayed the same on a dozen or so different walls by moonlight, consequently producing a run of identical images. As the hours pass by new marks are added by individuals unknown, a small fly poster here, a yellow pac-man symbol there, and worn by the elements until before you know it each originally identical image of a television has gradually become an ever changing unique piece of artwork- a product of many anonymous hands, and possibly the definitive “Public art”?
After World War Two Berlin, the capital of the vanquished, was divided between the four main conquering allies until they had succeeded in establishing its regeneration. Over time relationships between the Soviet Union and the other three allies cooled to hostile levels, until the Soviets in 1968 began erecting a wall around their section (laterly becoming known as East Germany) to keep the rest of the world out, and East Germans in.
The wall came to represent the repression of the cold war. Tentatively, opponents in the West began expressing their disapproval by painting slogans on the wall, which were later joined by images ranging from simple symbols to full blown murals. Although the border guards from the East regularly travelled West to white wash the defaced wall they ceased this practice when space for people to express themselves on began to run out. Ironically, by white washing sections of the wall, the guards realised they were generously providing fresh canvas. A satisfying allegory of freedom of expression overcoming censorship. Equally as ironic, the wall as a definitive physical barrier caused the reduction of psychological barriers in the sense that everyone was able to touch, to participate at will, to demonstrate direct approval or disapproval. A visual dialogue had begun, and surely the main point of “Art” is to act as a means of communicating.
