helen.clarke@leeds-art.ac.uk
Came from Italian word: Graffiato - to scratch
thisisyellowism.com
Often historically start with cave painting when thinking about graffiti
Caves at Lascaux, France
- Drawings and paintings on cave walls from the Paleolithic period (17,300 years old)
Ancient Roman Graffiti
From Pompeii, Italy - thought of as vandalism
Kilroy/Chad, WWII
- Engraving of Kilroy on the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C
- UK Slogan "wot no..." - used a slogan to affect the general populists by making a joke about a social/political situation
Paris May '68
- We Are The Power
- Civil unrest inspiring cultural/creative material
URBAN GRAFFITI
Chris Osborn - photographer who covers the Graffiti scene in the UK
1970s New York
- Explosion of Graffiti and Street Graffiti
- Evolves alongside hip hop culture
- Making the language of the streets visible. Announcing a presence, and saying "we will not be ignored" (way of asserting their voice onto the street). A way of communicating the dissatisfaction of the deprived areas and neglection in NY.
Jon Naar, 1973, photographer
- Documents the explosion of Graffiti in NY
"a cry for change from the ghetto..." Becoming a Graffiti Photographer, Jon Naar
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88)
- Started as a Graffiti artist and then moved into the art school.
- Brought about the idea of Neo-Expressionist paintings.
- Died of Heroin dosing at 27
- Infuses the idea of a written and visual message. Produces phrases that are signatured by SAMO, which are sprayed around various points of the city. Confusing style to them that seem to have a deep meaning that isn't easily uncover able, using slight humour and questioning but not giving an answer. Started as a joke which grew into a cult-like situation. Kills the character SAMO in 1979 "SAMO IS DEAD" and uses copyright symbol when he signs the name.
Warhol & Basquiat
- General Electric With Waiter, 1984
- One of America's largest corporations
- Collaborated towards the end of his life, Basquiat died 18 months after working with Warhol
Keith Haring
- Radiant Baby, 1990
- Social Activist as well as artist. Works in the subway and street and very much a part of the street culture in the 1990s.
- Sketches onto Advertisements in the subways
- In 1981 he sketches his first chalk drawings on black paper and painted plastic, metal and found objects
- In 1984, Haring visited Australia and painted wall murals in Melbourne
- Gay artist and often makes comments on the affect of HIV and AIDs in his art work
- Opens PopShop, closed in 2005 (selling t-shirts, toys, posters bearing his signatured images and was thought of as a celebrity hang out)
"I could earn more money if I only sold a few things and jacked up the price"
"breaking down the barriers between high and low art"
John Feckner, Broken Promises, 1980
- Genre of word art, where artists used words in a street setting to make a social/political comment
- Fairly low fi, use of stencils and spray paints etc
Jenny Holzer, Times Square, 1980
- Uses an LCD digital display in her work to produce similar affects of Feckner's pieces
- Subliminal messages that you read and don't consider as art
- Calls her pieces "Truisms"
Video Game Culture
- From the Berlin Wall: comment on the lack of availability of brands and technology in the Eastern bloc
- Commenting on the desire for goods and to be part of the commercial world
- Symbolism of the wall coming down; giving them those goods and commerciality
TATS CRU
- 1997 work for Coca-Cola
- No message here, no act of rebellion or claim of territory. Literally just image being conveyed.
Jet Set Radio (2000-2003)
- Play as a Graffiti artist
Grand Theft Auto
- Graffiti and tagging used as part of the game feature
Invader
- French artist, born 1969
- First mosaic in mid 1990's Paris
- Mosaic tile which has permanency as it is weatherproof and more difficult to remove than paper/paint
- Tiles are pixel like
- The 'invasion' spreads first across French cities and then 22 countries worldwide
- Conceptual element: points on a map form a space invader
- Encourages you to take a journey, almost like what you would do in a game. Form of real game play: sends you off around the city to collect his work like a pacman
RE-EMERGENCE OF STREET ART
-> Reciprical arrangement with Graffiti and the art world.
Banksy, Kate Moss
- Reference to Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe
Shepard Fairey, 2008
Parisian Photographer JR, Favela
Morro Da Provienda, Rio, 2008
- Works with members of the community in huge photos of the women who live there and pasting them onto the sides of the buildings in the favela
- Used to convey protection and the human costs it takes to live there
Blu and Os Gemeos, Lisbon, 2010
- Sucking the globe dry through a straw: symbolising man taking the Earth's resources
http://vimeo.com/993998
-> copied in Vauxhaul Corsa Ad 2011
123 KLAN, France
- Founded as a Graffiti crew in 1989 by Scien and Klor, have gradually turned their hands to illustration and design while still maintaining their graffiti style
- Commisioned by Stussy to produce an artist series on a special edition shirt
Paul Curtis (Moose)
- "Reverse Graffiti"
- Uses stencils to blast off the dirt on the walls with a water jet
-> Form of Graffiti: used by Smirnoff in a few of their advertising campaigns
THE GLOBAL PICTURE
www.bombit-themovie.com
Free Art Friday
- An Art Movement in which artists place free art out in public for people to enjoy and take home
- My Dog Sighs credited with starting Free Art Friday and started his Flickr group in 2006
Sam 3, Spain
- Murcia, 2010
- Limits themselves with materials in street art: uses only black paint to convey the images
- Environmental theme
VHILS aka Alexandre Farto, Portugal
- London, 2008
- Reductive Graffiti: rather than adding to the wall, he knocks away the plaster from the brick to create a negative image in a sculptural relief
Faith 71, Amsterdam
- Red stickers placed around a natural hole in plaster
- Bridges the gap between hyperealist art and hyperabstract art effortlessly
GENDER
Graffiti art is a way of escaping Gender. You can be a Graffiti artist whether you're male or female.
Diva, Brooklyn
- obvious feminine typeface
Fafi, France
- Type of cartoonist sexuality, bringing the female figure onto the street. Reminiscent of the Japanese Manga style
Miss Van
- Incorporates animal representation
Herakut
- Mythological pieces
Swoon
- Fine art background but based on fables/myths
ART OF RESISTANCE
Banksy, 2005
Looking at the wall built by Israeli Government surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories
"It also makes the ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti writers"
FURTHER READING ON HANDOUT
