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Graffiti to street art to artGraffiti always had it’s place throughout history from the cavemen era or ancient egyptian hieroglyphics the first name graffiti which originates from the Italian word graffiato, which means “scratched” came into use in the 60’s after the death of Philadelphia jazz musician Charlie Parker whose fans remembered him by spraying ‘bird lives’ across the town to commemorate him.

Graffiti next became popular in the 1970’s in deprived areas New York areas such as Washington heights. In New York the artists used to spray their name and their street number on subway and overground carriages so that their name travels around their city symbolizing a way to be free while being trapped in the impoverished side of New York.

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Prominent names from this era are Taki 183 and Tracy 168 both of whom are still alive and still making endeavours in both art and street art throughout New York.

It was during this time in new york graffiti became widely regarded as a punishable crime with authorities threatening to make arrests to repeat offenders and Ed Koch used an anti vandalism approach to get elected as mayor of New York. Subway cars were getting vandalised so often they threatened to stop sending them out and people eventually stopped.

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Graffiti has developed throughout the last four decades as an artform by people of all walks of life rather than just for those wishing to voice their opinion or art. Today’s ‘street art’ is presented as either a tag, graffiti or street art. A tag being nonsensical scrawl written or sprayed or a territorial mark by gangs. Graffiti is more art based but it's art without meaning and doesn’t require understanding or viewing whether it's a more appealing tag of a name or it's imagery graffiti remains just as a visual. The last of the 3 is the street art which is made

with a purpose to make people think and is there to inspire and generate thought.

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Arguments against street art/graffitiIn the 70’s in New York when graffiti was becoming widespread the mayor John Lindsay started “the war on graffiti” which was carried on through to the 80’s and used as a point by Ed Koch to get people to vote him into mayorship. In the early 80’s the broken window theory was used to further the fight against graffiti by linking it with the subsequent occurrence of crime. The theory uses broken windows as a metaphor to show a lack of care and a presence of disorder in a neighbourhood. If you were to repeatedly see a broken window in a neighbourhood then you could generally assume the people that reside there don’t care what their area looks like similarly allowing graffiti in your neighbourhood shows a lack of concern. Another popular anti graffiti argument is the gateway crime theory. the gateway theory is that if someone gets away with a small crime such as tagging private property or public transport they will slowly lose the fear of getting caught committing crimes and the consequences they could face and begin to progress into bigger crimes such as theft and more severe crimes. People are also anti-graffiti because it can be used to portray hate speech or racist symbols that offend people or communities and the perpetrator tends to stay anonymous due to the nature of the crime. Graffiti and even street art generally take place outside of the law and in doing so more than just vandalism laws are broken, more often than not trespassing and criminal damage are involved.Further arguments against street art are the way the government has to tackle it as it costs a lot of money to be removed from property and public transport. Records from 2003 mention that the cost of cleaning up graffiti around London was up to £100m a year which is paid for by taxpayers.The negative impact graffiti has had in the past as a tool used in gang rivalries to mark territory which further promotes gang violence and vandalism as a gateway crime.Does the end justify the means when people use graffiti to make a point, does the vandalism and damages it causes make it worth it?

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Arguments in favour of modern graffiti/street art are that it can be used to spread good messages and express political opinions such as statements against governments, corporations and conglomerates. People can express themselves more openly through art and using the outdoors allows a lot more people to view it. graffiti/street is the proletariat equivalent of the private art industry which is worth billions and is exclusively for the wealthy. Street art is the art of the people and that resonates in the places where it's done and with the people it's done for.Instead of the council having to pay workers to paint or re-design a wall in an area they can pay less to have professional street artists to produce high quality art with an important message on council land and people tend to appreciate it more.Street art can enhance an area that was originally really plain or an eyesore, an artist can disguise ugly architecture with a bright creative images that wouldn’t have been thought of by the average person.An artist that has made use of a run-down building to create their art is in fact using his/her environment to its full potential. It is giving the building of neglect a new purpose.Graffiti can be used for people to escape from normal day to day life when set against the background of urban city life. It's a splash of life in a standard city skyline and in areas of corporate or suit and tie work it’s a necessary visual to remind people there’s more out there than work. If done with permission it can make a run down area/building look better with more colour and images. If it is done by a professional graffiti can be just like art in a gallery, expressive and something that is enjoyable to look at. It can also become a career choice for some people that do it legally, shop owners sometimes pay to have walls or shutters outside their shops spray painted on and designed to brighten up the storefront bringing art to communities and providing a positive outlet.

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The move from graffiti to street art

When the city of new york passed laws making subway vandalism a punishable offense the people took their work to the walls and the movement continued to develop from tagging to graffiti and then to street art, the distinctions between graffiti and street art became blurred.

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Although both are put out for free public consumption the difference lies in and interpretation towards the art. Graffiti artists generally don’t care about the audience’s impression towards their work. They express no interest towards public understanding of their creation whereas street artists aspire to make work that people engage with and understand and enjoy. Street artists work to make a statement that people can interact with. Their target audience they work for is the for the public The intentions between street artists and graffiti artists are very different as graffiti artist set out to vandalise and destroy public property while street artists enhance and beautify their concrete canvases. The difference is so large within the graffiti community that graffiti artists would rather be known as taggers than artists and they prefer to not have any affiliation with the art side. Although both work can work under a tag name street artists don’t prioritise their tag whereas the graffiti taggers work solely to get a tag out with accompanying art. From the way the tag is displayed and from the use of symbolism you can differentiate between street art and graffiti and street art.

2 street artists that I have taken inspiration from are Shepard Fairey and Banksy who are both big figures in the street art scene and both have big reputations behind them.

Shepard Fairey

Is best known for works such as the Obama Hope poster from the 2008 presidential

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campaign he’s also known for his Andre the giant work which assisted the starting of his brand OBEY.

Fairey is a graduate of the Rhode island school of design and in his college days while experimenting with stickers, stencils and posters he created the original “Andre the giant has a posse”

He developed this by removing all colour and text and zooming into the face with the title OBEY below it borrowing the slogan from John Carpenter’s anti-authority horror movie, “They Live!”

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As the OBEY sticker caught on over the years it developed into many forms.

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The Andre the Giant face is prevalent and available in all his work.

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Among his best work is his piece for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Shepard Fairey designed this poster because he felt that America’s former presidents, George Bush and before him Bill Clinton, had ruined the US economy and that Obama was the ‘saviour’ the country needed with his policies to get out of the recession and raise the employment rate.

What I like about Shepard Fairey’s work is his colour scheme and his use of pop culture. He always uses the faded red and the cream borders with black and white text I also like how he fills in empty spaces with designs and further detailed art.

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His art to me is very post-apocalyptic/totalitarian resistance-esque as the colour scheme is always serious but has a an air of hope to it which sits alongside his message of resistance and freedom of art. He’s an artist who wants change and his work portrays it. I like Shepard Fairey’s work because he always works for justice and uses his fame and following in the best way he can for example recently with Trump’s anti muslim ban people are using Fairey’s work of a woman using the American flag as a headscarf to symbolise how America stands with muslims.

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The process used by Fairey to create the majority of his work is mainly stencils and for his larger work he prints it out as posters.

BanksyThe most well known street artist in the world Banksy is a well known figure in both street art and art as he does large feats of work to inspire thought from the people while keeping his identity completely anonymous. Considered an international icon every time Banksy puts out a new piece it makes it to mainstream news.

Some of his most well known pieces are

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The freedom fighter throwing flowers to symbolise the spread of love.

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He often uses rats which symbolises different things some people think he uses them because the rat is a representation of Banksy himself in that it only comes out at night, is cunning and sneaky and usually ends up causing some sort of damage to people’s property. It can also be seen as a metaphor about the culling of street artists.

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Banksy uses stencils for his work and was inspired to do so when he was hiding from police below a dumper truck and he saw the stencilling below the engine and realised it would save him time. Aside from stencils and spray paint he’s known for doing sculptures and installations.

The reason I like Banksy’s work is due to the anti establishment manner of it all. He quite literally does art for the people by the people. One of my favourite banksy pieces is the Princess Diana £10.

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Banksy in some ways put street art on the map and it's become such that newer street artists lack all originality and just copy him.

Bibliography:Bomb it 2007 Directed by Jon ReissExit through the gift shop 2010 Directed by BanksyBanksy: wall and piece Written by BanksyMammoth book of street art Written by JAKeStreet art from around the world Written by Garry HunterStreet art anthology from graffiti to contextual art Written by Magda Danysz