“I write about graffiti and street art” “Oh the stuff that damages things”

The other day I saw my neighbor taking a rest from his walk. He asked what I had been up to and that his wife had seen what she thought where some of my sculptures up the street. I confirmed this and I also told him that I had been doing some writing. When I told him that I also told him what I was writing about - street art from graffiti to other forms. At that statement, he quickly jumped into

“graffiti damages private property” which was followed by “I do understand though that some people let it happen”.

This did get me thinking again about the discussion in Portland, ME, on how to handle graffiti. (talk-on-graffiti-in-portland-me) But it reminded me how quickly that the first thing that came to my neighbor's mind was graffiti as vandalism and damage. Granted, I was happy to hear him, on his, mention that some people do allow it to happen. The thing that got me, though, is how quick the general public is to jump straight to a negative in regards to street art.

I do think that many people have this response because it is what the general public sees. Some of that is because the schools and street artists are not getting together enough to help educate the public about the unofficial rules of street art, including teaching the skills of these art forms. It has been slowly moving to acceptance in the world of art. It has taken a long time and is still not a fully accepted art form. People still need education on graffiti, yarn bombing, and other street art forms. The start wasnʼt writing on walls in NYC, street art had been going on for a long time. The current focus seems to have erupted in the 70ʼs and the explosion has blossomed to contemporary subjects that go beyond just letters and include full images.

My neighbor is already beyond many in his simple admission that some people accept it as art!

Street Art on TV

I'm not one to write about something based on a TV show. Nor am I one to watch “Reality TV” but, honestly, there are the few that I find interesting. One show I like is “Work of Art”. I enjoy it because, it is interesting to see what the artists do with a challenge and how they use materials. A couple of weeks ago one challenge was street art. What got me thinking wasnʼt really the subject of the show or the works, but what Simon de Pury said at the start of the show. He stated. “Street art started as an expression outside of the art world and the law. Slowly the initial pioneers transformed the illegal expression into an exceptional form of art.”

To me, the most important thing he said is how it slowly transformed into an official form of art. This has been historically true for all arts. The other thing that the episode did with the works that were made, and Simonʼs statement was help present graffiti and other street arts in a positive light to the public. Because this show is watched and can be watched by people who have no clue about art and want to see the mysterious happenings in the artist studio, education has been slipped in. Effectively, the street art episode, to me, showed that graffiti is not as black and white as some people think. There are many layers to some works. All work? No. But the fact that street art, from the name someone uses as a tag to a yarn monster, from a mural (legally made or not) to chalk drawings always has intrinsically more then what it is on the surface. People, including some in the established art world, have a hard time because when actual street works are put up, they are for everyone to take in and the artist is not there to give an explanation. Putting a street art episode on a TV show like “Work of Art” does do something different, I hope it proves to be more educational then people might realize - Pop Culture really can help explain cultural phenomena.

Top 10 Images of 2011!

Hello! A New Year is upon us and I hope to find even more exciting images of random art in 2012. Now even though Acts of Random Art is not a full year old yet there are many images of 2011 that where found. So I went back and looked at all the images that were posted and stored on Flickr and picked the top 10 images. I hope you enjoy them and please share comments and if you have favorites let me know. And if you find some over 2012 share them with everyone on Acts of Random Art!

Here you go! 2011 to 10 images!