Essay Topic: Street Art
Submitted to: Alex Bal
Submitted by: Justin Macri
Art can be displayed through many different ways; gallery shows, museum exhibits, corporate billboards, private commissioned work and much more. However, some artists get their claim to fame through street art. It’s in your face, and mostly illegal – yet street art can be found in almost every urban city, and whether you like it or not, you are going to have to acknowledge it. Street art has grown to incorporate many different mediums such as stencils, paint markers, wheat-paste posters, and the most traditional form, spray-paint. Street art is a form of self expression, whether it’s a jab at society and culture, or simply an outlet for creativity. While street art is often misinterpreted as being gang related vandalism, studies show that a mere 20% of graffiti is gang related while the other 80% is done by street artists. But how is graffiti a form of new media? Nowadays it is common for a graffiti writer to have their own anonymous webpage to showcase their work. Websites like “Deviantart.com” and “Flickr.com” are among the most popular. Through these websites, artists can build networks with fellow writers and display their artwork without being scrutinized by authorities. The internet has changed the world of street art, and allowed for it to grow universally.
The traditional form of graffiti which we see these days has been credited as originated from the New York suburb, known as the Bronx. In the early 80’s, the graffiti writer known as “Cope2” and his crew, “Kids Destroy”, began taking over the walls and trains of New York City. Cope is famous for his bubble-letter and wild style form of graffiti which inspired writers throughout North America. During the 80’s and 90’s when Cope was most active, he would bring with him a disposable camera to take photographs of his work, with the hopes of having his ‘bombs’ published in graffiti magazines. When asked how graffiti can be art, in an interview, Cope said this, “To me it’s the best style of art because it goes in so many directions. Graffiti goes from hardcore, illegal to legal, to corporate, to subways. Of course it’s art. You can call it what you want, ‘vandalism’, etc… it comes in all shapes and forms. That’s how it is.” Graffiti has evolved into an art form. “I remember 10-15 years ago there used to be graffiti magazines everywhere, now there’s only a handful from certain countries because of the Internet.” The art-form has moved from the walls of the street, to the monitors of our computers. We no longer have to travel to different cities or purchase magazines to view international art. One can simply do a Google search and see graffiti of all sorts and styles from different countries and cultures. The internet has really changed the way we view graffiti, through websites like, Deviantart and Flickr you can view an entire collection of art just from one writer.
One could not talk about street art without talking about the stencil king, “Banksy”. This artist has gained worldwide fame and for his controversial and clever stencil graffiti. Bansky started out doing street art in Bristol, UK in the late 80’s and but soon gained fame worldwide for his unique stencil art. The subject of most of Banksy’s work is usually social or political issues with a satirical twist. A famous piece by Banksy done on a wall in London depicts a graffiti removal worker cleaning cave paintings from the wall. Banksy is comparing modern graffiti to the cave paintings and is trying to make a statement about how graffiti is a part of modern history and we shouldn’t remove it, we should embrace it. Banksy originally used to paint freehand with spray-paint but found that he would take too long to finish his piece. In his book, “Wall and Piece” he vaguely describes his secret to stencilling, “[when he started] to do graffiti, he was always too slow and was either caught or could never finish the art in the one sitting. So he devised a series of intricate stencils to minimise time and overlapping of the colour.” He took the simple act of spray-painting a cardboard cut-out and developed a technique to create a multicolour piece of work. Since Banksy has become more popular in recent years, his street art is has is being accepted as art instead of just vandalism. In fact, one of Banksy’s stencils in the streets of Toronto is now being protected by a sheet of Plexiglas.
Fairly new on the street art scene is California’s own, Neck Face. Neck Face hails from Sacramento, California and began tagging around the year 2000. Neck Face’s work stands out from the typical graffiti or stencil art. Neck Face uses a hybrid style of both stencil and freehand spray painting in his work, the highest concentration of his work is found in California, he does both mural sized pieces, as well as simple tags, to get his name out there. His original and sometimes absurd style has shaken up the graffiti world and gained him popularity especially in the skateboarding scene. Neck Face is known for his macabre paintings of monsters and misshapen caricatures. His shocking images are both comical and crafty; sometimes it is simply the placement of the name “Neck Face” in public places that gain people’s attention. He is known for spray painting his name on billboards, and storefronts- usually substituting his name for a word on the advertisement. For example, on a billboard advertisement for the movie, “Batman Begins”, he replaced the word Batman with Neck Face beside his signature monster character in the middle of the poster, “Neck Face Begins”. After two years at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Neck Face dropped out and was quoted saying, “I went to art school… realized that it sucked dick and dropped out”. Despite his modesty, Neck Face was soon recruited by magazines and clothing companies wanting his original designs. Neck Face has designed the cover of the skateboard magazine, “Thrasher” as well as doing deck designs for “Baker” skateboards, and even has his own shoe designed for the “Vans” shoe company.
Closer to home, Montreal graffiti writer, “Sake” is a legend in the underground scene, and considered by some to be Canada’s “Bombing King”. Work by Sake can be found in Toronto; however the highest concentration of his work is in his hometown, Montreal. Sake began writing in the mid-90’s, and over the years he has bombed countless rooftops, highways, trains, trucks and more. He is respected for his daring as he often bombs spots that are nearly impossible to reach, such as factory rooftops, and the sides of bridges. Sake’s style can be described as simple, yet distinct; nothing to fancy, just in your face graffiti. His moniker throw-up usually doesn’t stray too far from the typical black and white colour scheme, but his fresh style never gets old. With less of a repertoire than Banksy or Neck Face, Sake represents the underground artists. You probably won’t see a gallery with his work or even a magazine cover with one of his bombs- but you’re more than likely to see his art walking downtown on the city streets of Montreal. Sake’s work has been hugely influential on the Canadian graffiti scene, and his work is often imitated by fellow writers.
Representing Atlanta, Georgia, graffiti writer “Hense” has made a name for himself in the world of street art. From a place where graffiti was almost non-existent, in the 90’s Hense saw his city as a blank canvas for his art. Hense explains in a video interview how he started out writing, he was first inspired by pieces he had seen on trains, “When I was younger I would walk the train tracks… there was no internet” so when he saw all these pieces on these trains it got him interested and he began writing on his own. By 1999 his work could be seen almost everywhere throughout the city gaining him what is known as “all city status”. In 2000 the crew MSK, “Mad Society Kings” an international graffiti group, recruited Hense and he began writing in many different countries such as Spain, France, Japan, Taiwan and Mexico. However, Hense has been doing more legal art in recent years and less street art. “He began applying what he had learned through working in the street to mediums of painting, printmaking, and public art installations.” He has been commissioned to do work for various publications such as Juxtapoz Magazine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Mass Appeal Magazine. In 2009 Hense spray painted a van for the American television channel, Cartoon Network, which incorporated one of his famous bombs as well as cartoon characters from the TV channel.
Street art has evolved from being something that was traditionally only done on the streets to something now accepted as a form of art. Graffiti can be seen on popular magazine covers, hip TV shows and even in website designs. The underground culture has evolved into something thats accesible and shared online through networking websites such as “Flickr” and “DeviantArt”. This has really helped to expand the graffiti audience and legitimize the neglected art movement.
Works Cited
“About.” H • E • N • S • E. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://hensethename.com/index.php/site/about>.
“ART REVIEW: NECKFACE.” SHARP OBJEX – HOME. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://www.sharpobjex.net/art/2009/8/28/art-review-neckface.html>.
“Banksy Biography – Life, Children, Name, School, Old, Born, Time, Year, Career – Newsmakers Cumulation.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2007-A-Co/Banksy.html>.
“Banksy Works Set Auction Record.” BBC News – Home. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6069384.stm>.
“CNN.com – Transcripts.” CNN.com – Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/04/ywt.01.html>.
“Cope2.” Www.britishhiphop.co.uk – The Original UK Hip Hop History and Database. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://www.britishhiphop.co.uk/features/interviews/cope2.html>.
“Graffiti Art.” Art Crimes – The Writing on the Wall – Graffiti Art Worldwide. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://www.graffiti.org/faq/stowers.html>.
“Hense Graffiti on a KIA | Senses Lost.” Senses Lost – Graffiti and Street Art Blog. 06 May 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://senseslost.com/2009/05/06/hense-graffiti-on-a-kia/>.
November 2009 – HENSE -The 7th Day Project. Dir. Candice House and Brian Smith. Prod. Vincent Aricco and Michael Matassa. Perf. Hense. YouTube. Google, 7 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3OIssWNzFo&feature=player_embedded>.
“Sake HYH Interview | Senses Lost.” Senses Lost – Graffiti and Street Art Blog. 28 Nov. 2007. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://senseslost.com/2007/11/28/old-sake-interview/>.
Justin Macri 