Art To The People!

http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/art/titel.html is a website that features historical examples of social change facilitated through art by five European artists from the 1880s to 1930s.

Activism Through Graffiti in Tel Aviv

Photo collection of social activism through street art in Florentine, Tel Aviv:

Translates to “No Children, No Terror Attacks”

Link:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/telavivstreetart/

“STREET ART and SOCIAL MOVEMENTS”

Throughout history, street art has been used as a form of social commentary for those have no input or control of the media. It is an illegal, primal way of communicating social concerns or revealing one’s point to a large audience.

PARIS, 1968…

With the student and worker’s revolt of May and June of that year came a surge of street art, while France sat on the brink of a revolution. Protest wasn’t just the marches and picket signs. It was the representation of the plight faced by workers and students, fixed onto buildings throughout Paris by use of graffiti.

SOUTH AFRICA, 1970s-1980s…

With the swell of youth uprising against the apartheid in late 1970s South Africa came a revolution aided by street art. Though forbidden, anti-apartheid propaganda soared in popularity. People of South Africa joined together to visually present the oppressive world in which they live.

SOURCE:

http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2009/02/street_art_and_social_movement.html

BANKSY

As an oft controversial, bold, and somewhat anonymous artist, Robin Banks (better known as Banksy) is England’s premier graffiti artist. Banksy’s art is displayed with guerilla-like tactics, astonishing the unknowing public. He is also world-renowned for his “headline-making stunts” which include leaving an inflatable doll (which was dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner) at Disneyland in California. Always provocative, Banksy even has a few celebrity collectors, such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The most prevalent theme in Banksy’s work is his attempts to provoke the audience to think abstractly and away from the norm.

SOURCE:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1034538/Graffiti-artist-Banksy-unmasked---public-schoolboy-middle-class-suburbia.html

Spotlight: JOE BORUCHOW

JOE BORUCHOW is a self-taught stencil artist working in Philadelphia. Though he originally began making stencils and cutouts to advertise local bands, Boruchow’s art has leapt off the “posting boards and telephone poles” of Philadelphia. His art now expresses social commentary on topics from war to politics to violence in our own city.

Sources:

http://www.joeboruchow.com/

http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/category/street-art/

The Art of Street Art

How does graffiti and street art work? Well, it can be seen as a sort of “guerilla advertising” like practice. To the average person walking along the sidewalk, public art like this stands out, and can certainly leave an impression. Instead of publicizing something commercial, the artist promotes his or her own beliefs, or simply wants to show off their artwork. In Philadelphia, Street art is most often seen via “tagging” (graffiti featuring words or symbols as opposed to images) or through the Mural Arts Program.

Sources:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tagging

http://citynoise.org/article/9363/in/philadelphia@pa

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moocat/281385059/

An Introduction to Street Art

In a research endeavor, I originally attempted to find PROTEST ART local to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, this was too narrow a topic to find anything substantial or meaningful. I began to research a related topic: GRAFFITI ART of Philadelphia, and how it promotes change.

Source:

http://citynoise.org/article/9363/in/philadelphia@pa