Spray paint and stencils were used to allow art to be created quickly, avoiding arrest. In Brazil, illegal painting on walls, called Pixação, was used in protest of militarism in the government.

After Germany’s reunification and the destruction of the wall, more than 100 international artists were contracted to decorate the remains on Berlin’s Mühlenstraße. The Berlin Wall became a perfect canvas for graffiti-style artwork, expressing the volatility of the culture, and Thierry Noir tells his story of the game of “cat-and-mouse” he sometimes played with authorities on both sides of the wall. Political unrest and dissatisfaction of the political culture found in many countries was expressed in street art. Haring’s use of NYC train stations provided him with notoriety, both positive and negative, as he took advantage of chalkboards to create some of the most well-known ephemeral art projects in the world. Artists became inspired by graffiti and used techniques to create their own works of art, used often in political expression worldwide.īurgeoning talents like Keith Haring used the genre as a way to express his activism, and artist Jean-Michel Baequiat, collaborating with none other than Andy Warhol, garnered the approval of the NYC art scene (even though he attempted to distance himself from the stigma of graffiti and graffiti artists). However, as more accepted artistic expression began to take shape in the early 1980’s, and Martha Cooper’s book “Subway Art” and the film “Wild Style” contributed to recognition by the mainstream art world of the value and creativity of street art. Early Years of Street ArtĪ creative method used by those outside of the art scene, who were without a recognized outlet for artistic and social communication, graffiti was seen by most cultural groups and leaders as an expression of anger, and a criminal act performed by gangs in large urban cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. It took on a more public image in the 1970’s when young adults (and likely, disenchanted teenagers) took to public areas to express discontentment with the socio-economic environment at the time. But the stigma of “vandalism” likely prevented this art form from taking off earlier. Graffiti (plural, from the Italian word meaning scratched) are described as “…writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or painted illicitly on a wall or other surface, often within public view.” They have been created in public locations since ancient times, and was often used as advertisements and declarations as well as public responses to the artwork also inscribed thereon. It has been a long and controversial road for this medium, and even now, mainly due to the issue of scale and location, it is overlooked by many outside of the art appreciation world. However, in street art we discover its use long before acknowledgment of the style as a form of expression.

Even when specific genres of art are frowned upon by leading art experts, there is a beginning to commemorate.

With many art techniques, a few definite examples of “the early years” and “pioneers of the style” can be pointed out by art historians and enthusiasts.

Street art text