That is why street art has died!
Is it possible that street art has lost its spirit to the point where it is on the verge of extinction, given that it has become an extremely publicized market object and that renowned artists no longer wish to be linked with the movement? I am not really certain. All of the elements necessary for a resurrection are there, including a return to graffiti and paintings in the subway, feminization of messaging, and repoliticization of statements from the past.
Over sixty years after its flamboyant, innocent, and libertarian beginnings, the street art that is commonly referred to as "street art" is quite prevalent. Is there a possibility of an overdose? The company achieves unprecedented levels of success in auctions, extends invitations to both public and private institutions, and reaps the benefits of its daily articles in the popular press. It also makes its way down the catwalks of luxury residences and finds itself at the center of the public policies of ministers and mayors who are unable to tolerate the monotony of painted walls any longer. An example of public art that spills over into our private spheres, street art has emerged as a topic of conversation among families with members ranging in age from seven to seventy-seven years old. It is not enough to be subversive in order to be Dada, nor is it sufficient to repeat Marilyn in order to be pop. This is obviously the case. It is not possible to be considered an Italian baroque painter simply because you use chiaroscuro. Even if working in the street was not sufficient to be considered a part of the street art movement, what would you do? The question is not as ridiculous as it may appear: the workshop has never been a significant factor in the establishment of what may have been referred to as "studio art." It is time that we finally come to an agreement and listen to the numerous artists who are opposed to this word, which they regard to be marketing and reductive. Is it possible that street art will come to an end in the year 2023, having self-caricatured itself as a new legitimate art form, fatigued by its multicolored XXL accumulation? If it is still able to trick us, then what are the chances?
Self-portrait in the form of the signature
A number of artists, including Titian, Rmutt1917, Renée Levi, BLU, and O'Clock, had their names included as signatures. In her essay Graffitis – Inscribing one's name in Rome, 14th-19th century , historian Charlotte Guichard analyses: "Applying one's name to the canvas is a practice that developed from the Renaissance onwards and became common, almost conventional, at the end of the 18th century . The signature now found its place at the bottom of the painting, in cursive letters, enhancing the artist's name and his presence on the canvas: is it the same thing to sign outside the frame, on a wall, near an admired fresco or in ancient ruins? Since Vasari, in the modern era, the artist's own name has been invested with a poetic, historical and economic value; it is also the mark of the author and of authenticity." The first poetic mark of this authenticity was already at play in the shadows of hands transferr
Taggers have been a part of human history ever before the first cave paintings were discovered. This is demonstrated not only by the engravings that tore the landscapes of Pompeii, but also by the writings of insane people and inmates around the city.
The underground spirit of graffiti has been animating the miracle of art for 40,000 years, which continues to be written in the depths of our territories, from airbrushing to spray paint, from the darkness of caves to that of metro depots, from the threat of bears to that of dog handlers: "The world of Lascaux, as we strive to glimpse it, is above all the world that the feeling of the forbidden ordered," wrote Georges Bataille in 1955. Therefore, ever since the first cave paintings were discovered, man has been a tagger from birth. Witness the engravings that tore the landscapes of Pompeii, the writings of the troops of Charles V's army who trashed Rome, the drawings that were traced by the GIs of the American army that said "Kilroy was here," and the writings of Restif de La Bretonne that were written on the old stones of Paris. Also included are the graffiti left by Chicano gangs to identify their territory, the graffiti left by mental patients and inmates, the graffiti left by hobos living in the filth of freight train mechanics, the graffiti left by visitors who cannot help but write their names on ancient ruins or cacti, and the graffiti left by gang members. The signature of a guy becomes a self-portrait because he writes his name everywhere to fight against the passage of time.
Taking a paraphrasing from Robert Desnos, we discover the cartoonist and the satyr at the base of the wall. The wall is not a surface that is free from harm. According to Brassaï, a French photographer of Hungarian origin who immortalized the graffiti of Paris in 1930, said that it belongs to "the'morons', the'misfits', the'rebels', the'simple', to all those who have a heavy heart. It is the blackboard of truancy." Brassaï was a photographer who encouraged the public to develop the wild state of the eye, with the intention of undermining the very concept of fine art. He concluded by saying: "Engraving one's name, one's love, a date, on the wall of a building, this 'vandalism' cannot be explained by the sole need for destruction. I see it rather as the survival instinct of all those who cannot erect pyramids and cathedrals to leave their name to posterity."
"The letter freed a generation"
It was this instinct for survival and a thirst for freedom outside the law that inspired the pioneers of graffiti in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York to evangelize the subway and the walls with a new belief: the "religion of the name." This assertion is a quote from Norman Mailer's founding text, The Faith of Graffiti, which was published in 1974 in Esquire magazine. An vital text for gaining an understanding of the factors that led to the creation of graffiti in its Americanized form. According to Normal Mailer, "This movement was not so much intended to cover the world as it was rather the outgrowth of an outgrowth." This movement was designed to cover the slums, the sadness of modern architecture, the capital letters of advertising packages, rock and soul, and spelling that alienates people. "There was all that in graffiti, all the aggressions of the psyche while the subways passed by with a noise of scrap metal. Perhaps this movement had the simple intention of taking some of the growths left there and making them disappear from the world by painting them, perhaps it was just a form of group therapy showing elegance in the face of the need to evacuate the waste. " Since then, we have lost count of the waves of repression, wiretapping, trials, prison sentences, hefty fines, successive waves of major clean-ups. As a result of the fact that graffiti exposes the vulnerabilities that exist in our public space, it is absolutely necessary to remove it.
Certain artists are adamant about not compromising their integrity in questionable endeavors. Among them is Mode 2, a painter who has been producing his work since the early 1980s and is well-known for his figurative approach as well as his intricate typography. In 1987, his work was included on the cover of the renowned book Spraycan Art, which was published by Thames & Hudson. This work is considered to represent the beginning of graffiti in Europe. Since then, he has traveled between Paris, Berlin, and London, where he has been acquainted with a number of prominent figures of the new generation, including Banksy and the Brazilian duo OSGEMEOS. He has also taken note of the development of the movement through his proximity to these individuals. He remembers: "The arrival of graffiti represented a new playground in which everyone had the chance to express themselves; It wasn't about knowing how to paint faces, still lifes, it was a reset, a new start on new rules, from the same language that put everyone on an equal footing, since the basis of the work was based on the same letters: A, B, C, D... If at the end of the 1960s teenagers had not written their names on the walls and trains of Philadelphia and New York, there would never have been the current craze that we know under the labels of "street art" or "urban art". It is the letter that has allowed young people of our generation to build a relationship with the city that surrounds us.
A device for the process of gentrification
In 2023, street art is an ogre that has tried to swallow its origins from graffiti. The question of terminology requires nuances and no one agrees. As early as the 1980s, some players in the movement rejected the word "graffiti", which was considered pejorative because it referred to degradation. The pioneers defined themselves as "writers", the city's writers. Then the word "graffiti" regained its beauty by being adopted by a new generation more in line with the concept of vandalism. While American graffiti had already experienced several periods, several schools, and its revival had taken place in Europe, the scene was transformed again at the turn of the mid-1990s.i
In a public space saturated with graffiti and tags, language had to be transformed to be visible again and stand out. Advertising was omnipresent, graphic design was becoming popular with Photoshop, punk references were back… It was in this context that the ghosts of RCF1, the shadows of ZEVS, the logotyped S of Stak, the characters of HONET, Barry McGee and André, the mosaics of Invader, the horses of Reminisce galloping on city walls, the stencils and public installations of Banksy appeared … A generation of artists who were part of the legacy of graffiti, seen as a corrosive plastic language, which spreads in the environment through a process of contamination. If the aesthetic was no longer cryptic, if it sought to address the greatest number, the spirit and the modus operandi were almost situationist. A scene described at the time as "post-graffiti" or "picto-graffiti" (in reference to the logotyped forms), according to several terms used by the artists themselves, and which could be found in the texts of the independent magazine WorldSigns , which chronicled the beginnings of this mutation from 2001.
Today, the term "street art" is divisive. The phrase excites dealers and collectors. While we can find old uses of this term, it became popular and established at the turn of the 2000s, with the explosion of the market. "Post-graffiti" sounded austere, too intellectual, too graffiti. "Street art" sounded like pop-art. The label thus established itself in the media, while most often being rejected by the major artists of this scene. It is even said that to identify the good and bad artists of the movement, it is enough to sort between those who claim the label "street art".
Because street art crushes everything in its path. In the collective imagination, it now refers to totally harmless, falsely committed paintings. As a bonus, the lack of support from serious institutions and the distortion carried out by specialized galleries have destroyed most conceptual or experimental forms, confining street art to its most decorative aesthetic. So many XXL forms that are now used to cheaply paint the facades of buildings in cities around the world, all of which want to become the "street art capital". The textbook case that inspired this global movement is in Wynwood, a former disreputable neighborhood in Miami that has become extremely touristy thanks to the interventions of artists invited by gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch and real estate entrepreneur Tony Goldman. In
Once more, the precursors were revealed.
The last ten years have been marked by artistic flashes and impostures. The year 2023 probably marks the end of shooting stars and the return to artists who have marked history, or its successive evolutions. A few weeks ago, gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch opened a major exhibition dedicated to RAMMELLZEE, a long-forgotten icon of the 1980s, at the origin of a gothic, futuristic, opaque, warlike language. With his friends A-One (Anthony Clark) and Kool Koor, also presented in the exhibition, he was a real inspiration for Basquiat. Other historical figures are now back in the spotlight. Collectors and curators are once again interested in the ghostly paintings of Richard Hambleton, and the ephemeral works of Gérard Zlotykamien (the pioneer of the movement in France, former assistant to Yves K
Finally, institutions are organizing ambitious shows that foreground the work of artists in retrospective formats, without drowning them in group effects. Retrospective exhibitions are becoming increasingly popular.
Some galleries exhibit forgotten artists : the first paintings of the precursors of the 1970s, COCO144 and SNAKE1 (Speerstra gallery), the sketches of More, an iconic painter of the 1990s (Taxie Gallery). Virgil Abloh manipulated the world of fashion to reintroduce iconic figures of street art culture to the forefront, including Dondi White, Phase 2, Futura 2000… whom he connected with the new generations, from GUES to Pablo Tomek via the UFOs KATSU and IDFIX. Finally, institutions are producing ambitious exhibitions that highlight the works of artists in retrospective formats, without drowning them in group effects (JR at the Kunsthalle in Munich, OSGEMEOS at the CCBB in São Paulo…).
Local initiatives are trying out more complex formats of public interventions : in Niort, in June 2021, curator Éric Surmont combined the work of SKKI and that of the writer Mathias Énard. The unprecedented meeting of one of the pioneers of European graffiti and a Goncourt Prize winner! Elsewhere, many young artists are following in the footsteps of legendary and forgotten works, such as REVS's diary made in the tunnels of the New York subway, which he refuses to exhibit or reveal other than by encouraging you to go and read it directly on site. In 2023, seductive, authoritarian, popular (even populist) languages end up giving way to subtlety, works and the particular that gave rise to the joyful and necessary "Arcanes" project, which aims to collect and analyze thousands of archives to m
Back in the subway system
He still uses his iconic pseudonym and maintains his international aura. Since then, Antwan Horfee has established himself as a prominent figure in the young French painter scene. He has done this through his studio work, which combines sketching and painting in order to open up new vistas.
For several months, paintings illegally executed on the plastic skin of the Parisian metros have been circulating constantly. Previously, their lifespan was almost non-existent: the painted trains were sent straight to be cleaned. Taking advantage of this internal dysfunction, an ultra-active scene descends into the bowels of the metro to continue to keep the myth alive, despite the very heavy legal procedures to fight against this practice (stalking, wiretapping, fines of several hundred thousand euros, prison sentences). The trained eye will recognize the styles of a new generation, but also the old-fashioned lettering: some legends of the 1990s are back! Pseudonyms change constantly to cover their tracks and reduce the risks in the event of arrest. Sometimes, the paintings are obvious: it is impossible for users not to have seen certain experimental compositions in a deliberately fresh and naïve style. The lettering is tiny, the flat areas are done in ink rather than spray paint, the backgrounds are vaporous, the characters childish. Other paintings play on the subway: the green surfaces are painted white, and vice versa. Humor is back, the world needs it.
Painting is straightforward, devoid of any fake mannerisms; it is a joyous return of scribbling, crossing out, insolence, and the terrible hand. The period of stylistic fuss has come to an end.
At the same time, graffiti is being sent into the air on city rooftops. Witness the hundreds of police cars painted upside down, the love and despair letters from Pö (always in bold) and other villainous lettering executed as a rappel on the blank walls of buildings. Faced with official muralists who chain together orders, perched on their gondolas (and who must have their paintings validated by elected officials, private landlords and residents), this generation equips itself with ropes and harnesses to better jump into the void. With this spectacular and radical new wave, inspired by the practices of pixaçãos (a sort of scriptural invasion from Brazil), Voina (a collective of Russian performers and activists) and the Berlin Kidz (a German collective), urban art is rediscovering new thrills and is playing with public space in a playful and political way. The era of stylistic fuss is over: painting is direct, without false mannerisms. A delightful return of scribbling, crossing out, insolence and the bad hand.
Graffiti is at the rendezvous of its time : that of the ecological crisis, the solidarity struggles of minorities, the # Metoo generation… In 2020, the artists The Wa and OX replaced advertising posters in the metro with two abstract collages, one of which was fluorescent, composed in homage to the yellow vest movement. At the same time, Samuel Bosseur intervened in the heart of the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, painting landscapes in a political landscape. Another way of questioning the idea of camouflage and resistance. For him, “graffiti is a good way to capture the symptoms of a territory”.
seen in Beaux arts.
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