Identify examples of street art on the walls near you. If you live in a rural community this might be a problem as street art tends to be a largely urban phenomenon. If necessary, pick some examples from the references provided or your own research.
Write a short commentary about how this work interacts with the environment. How important is the context to understand what the work is trying to do? Reflect on whether you think a particular piece of graffiti is ‘art’ or just vandalism.
At the start of this section I intended on attending a street art tour in London that I saw advertised in the Metro newspaper, along with visiting Leake Street near Waterloo. There is limited street art in my immediate location, apart from a few scrawled tags by the train station, plus I am not very knowledgable about where to find this kind of art, hence my initial plan to go on an official tour.
Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, I have not been able to make the trip in time for submitting this section to my tutor. However, I still hope to do this early next year and I will add my notes and images from the experience.
Due to the above, my research was based on online sources – either using the suggested street artists provided in the course notes or a selection that I already am aware of or have have found myself. I aimed to pick a range of different styles.
I first heard of Ben Wilson a while ago on a local news report. As his alias suggests, Wilson find discarded lumps of chewing gum that have become stuck to the ground and, using a tiny brush, these are used as a canvas for his miniature paintings. The subject for Wilson’s artwork is often based on a request from a passer-by or his own concepts.
I really like that Wilson is using his art to both highlight the impact of the enduring, throwaway culture of society, as well as requiring people to pay attention to their surroundings in order to spot his minute creations.
Source: Ben Wilson
In terms of the importance of the context in order to understand what the work is trying to do, I felt it might not initially be obvious that these are based on chewing gum from just looking at images and, therefore, seeing them in real-life would clarify this, thus allowing the viewer to consider the artist’s intentions.
I do not find Wilson’s chewing gum art to be vandalism but rather a way to turn something disgusting, as I consider the vandalism of spitting out gum on the pavement to be, into something creative and uplifting.
The street artist Slinkachu works with tiny figurines and creates scenes using these along with other, everyday objects. Although at first, his art may seem to be quite humorous and, perhaps, a novelty, the titles that Slinkachu attaches to the works adds greater depth in terms of the message being communicated. Often these comment on societal issues, such as loneliness or inequality.
As with Ben Wilson’s chewing gum art, Slinkachu’s tiny creations generally require an observant passer-by to notice them.
With the accolade of being perhaps the most famous street artist of all, I was only really familiar with the work of Banksy as depicted in the media, which tends to show just a small selection of his work, with a greater focus placed on the never-ending obsession with his identity. Taking the time, therefore, to look through the street art Banksy has produced as shown on his website, without all the added hype, was quite a revelation to me.
Banksy seems to be able to pinpoint the exact image that will communicate his opinion on a wide range of issues, whether they be social, environmental or political. That he manages to successfully add humour is equally impressive and some of the work is just funny without any serious subtext. The style of Banksy’s art also really appeals to me, inlcuding his use of stencils, spray paint and a limited palette (often just black and white), and the works are instantly recognisable (hence the multiple imitations).
I felt Banksy’s creativity and imagination to use the existing attributes of a particular location upon which to add his art is quite inspiring.
I thought Banksy to be the perfect example of the continuing conflict over whether graffiti is art or vandalism. He has become so famous that his work sells for millions of pounds (after it has been extracted from its original, intended location without permission), yet some of his work will be cleaned off the surface or the building it is adorning will be demolished (if that was the original fate of the building).
Due to Banksy’s anonymity, it is difficult to know what his thoughts are apart from what is written on his official website – the only source of information that is said to be guaranteed as his own words/opinions. However, I certainly do not consider his art to be vandalism, but I do think it should be left in its original context.
If I had to choose a favourite street artist it would have to be Roo. I discovered her work a while ago and instantly loved the designs. I like that Roo uses mostly animal characters and her choice of colour schemes adds to the positive vibes she creates. I believe much of Roo’s work is commissioned (and who would not want one of her designs on their house!?) so she has permission to create her bold and stylish designs.
I cannot believe anyone could consider Roo’s art to be vandalism (although I am sure there are some, frankly, miserable spoilsports) – they are child-friendly, animal-friendly, everybody-friendly, ‘brighten up your day’ works of art to me.
I first became aware of Shamsia Hassani around the time of the US (and others) withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Hassani is a street artist based in Kabul, so the event had an enormous impact on both her personal and professional life. The subject of Hassani’s work is Afghan women and their desire for freedom to be themselves and have a voice (the characters are painted with no visible mouth and closed eyes).
I found Hassani to be an incredibly brave and talented individual who is highlighting such an important issue that never seems to improve. Although I am certain that Hassani’s work is considered vandalism by many in Afghanistan, especially under current circumstances (indeed I believe Hassani has not been able to create much street art recently and is restricted to working on paper/canvas), but her message is so important to the lives of women in her country that it should be seen on a world stage, in my opinion.
I had decided that my research had more or less reached a conclusion at this point, until I happened to come across David Zinn, a street artist who uses chalks to bring creatures from his imagination to life on the pavements and brick walls in the local area. I watched a short documentary and a TEDx talk by Zinn, below, both of which I found very inspiring. I liked his honesty in stating that he tries to avoid blank canvases/paper or trying to create ‘art with a capital A’ and rather just doodles from his imagination.
Tedx Talk by David Zinn. Source: YouTube.
Zinn looks for features that already exist, such as drain covers, and incorporates these into his imaginative creations. I really like the innocence of Zinn’s designs and how these inject some creativity and fun into the everyday mundane.
by David Zinn. Source: David Zinn.
Source: David Zinn.
The fact that David Zinn uses chalk for his street art means that they are non-permanent, which gets around the question as to whether these are vandalism. Besides, I felt it would take a fairly mean-spirited individual to describe Zinn’s work as vandalism as they are not political or offensive in any way. I could easily imagine the amount of joy that children must get from finding these characters when out and about – it would certainly brighten up my day to come across artwork such as Zinn’s.
Final Thoughts
I found this Research Point to be one of the most interesting I have undertaken so far. The ingenuity and boldness of the street artists was quite inspiring. I admired that they take an idea from their imagination and have the nerve to put it on display in such a public and unguarded format.
It is hopefully fairly clear from my earlier statements that I generally do not consider the type of street art discussed above to be vandalism. I felt that all of these examples raise important points and/or added vibrancy to what are generally pretty grim or ‘boring’ locations. I also noted that, by its very nature, street art is accessible to all. It is not framed and behind glass in a gallery or censored/edited in any way, but is just there for all to see and freely interpret as part of everyday life.
Obviously, there is a line that can be crossed when trespassing on private property, such as someone’s house, which is why it is encouraging that so many street artists now seek permission from the local community or work on commission to enhance local areas.
I still maintain, however, that the random, scrawling tags that do not appear to actually say or contribute anything of value are, in my opinion, vandalism and just a way of setting out territories, being destructive and annoying people.
Bibliography
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