I'm sorry if my jokes are a little too vague or sophisticated.
Or illegal.
Embrace it or reject it, but my generation's art movement is street art. It doesn't need your approval to be considered art. It doesn't need a fancy gallery to be considered art. It doesn't need fame or fortune or identity to be considered art. It only needs a wall.
Street art is not about following the rules. It is not about me me me. It is about you you you. If they don't like my work, they paint over it. If they do, they are not charged an admission to see it. I risk jail time to show them my work, some would say, truly suffer for it. Not for me, for you.
Don't even call it art.
These are some examples of my street art and the responses from other artists. I don't know who they are. But I think this is all immensely amusing.
This is some of the first graffiti I ever did. It took me standing on a row of bike racks, barely aiming. The stencil was upside down and soon as the paint was applied my friend Ninja and I crossed the street. A security guard showed up and started screaming into a radio that we were just there. That's the closest I've ever been to getting caught.
The red eyes are still there, as of this date. The real "eyesore" is the fact that this wall was boring white and hadn't been painted over in some years. Notice the peeling. I made it look much better in my opinion.
It wasn't until recently that someone, a much better stencilist than I added "SORE" to the end, making pun of my art and possibly making fun of me. I don't mind, because it amuses me.
The argument still goes on, is graffiti art or vandalism? I decided I don't care. It is what it is. So I made stencils that claim: "THIS IS ART", "THIS IS NOT". I finally understand what the FREE ART? wheatpaster was trying to say.
It was clever to do, and then ZEAL/LABOR tagged underneath, as if to agree with my sentiment. It made my day.
Good things come in threes, but I only have two examples. I haven't done much stenciling in a coupla months. In any case, I feel as if I am communicating with my environment and people around me, albeit sarcastically, illegally and unintentionally. That's really what this movement is about. So what if I created an "eyesore"? I created much more than that in the process.
I'll leave the rest for you to interpret. That's your job.
1 comment:
I like Graffiti. It's really interesting.
I've secretly wanted to tag the school of communication building. Something like "This is vandalism. Vandalism is free speech."
That's lame, so I'd have to make it much more clever. But of course I'd do it on the wall, right beneath the first amendment.
Is speech only free when your content and context is approved?
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