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Living in Dallas for most of my life, I have watched graffiti come and go. I have always been busy going from one place to another to really stop and think about what the images mean. I have always assumed it is a gang symbol tagging it for the location, like possession. Throughout my experiences with graffiti, I have not thought about the images as art until learning about Banksy in New York and reading through books like Engaged Resistance: American Indian Art, Literature, and Film from Alcatraz to the Nami by Dean Rader, Street World: Urban Art and Culture from Five Continents by Roger Gastman, Street Art : The Graffiti Revolution by Cedar Lewisohn, and even A People's Art History of the United States by Nicolas Lampert. Graffiti is not just gangs tagging and wanting to put their name on locations, it is away of communication about issues and looking at culture. Learning this I have grown more appreciative of the "street art" around me and am curious to document the images around my home town, Dallas, Texas.
What is the difference between street art and graffiti?
ReplyDeleteIn Street Art by Cedar Lewisohn has some good information. " Street art is more about interacting with the audience on the street and the people, the masses. Graffiti isn't so much about connecting with the masses; it's about connecting with different crews, it's an internal language, it's a secret language. Most graffiti you can't even read, so it's really contained within the culture that understands it and does it. Street art is much more open. It's an open society" ( Lewisohn, 15). What are y'all thoughts ?