The sharing of information, the need for artists to become known and the communication of art so as to inspire other artists has always been fundamental to the nature of art world, especially in the 21st century. In the past, the only means by which to access information in the international art world was through heavy hardcover books and journals. The concept of Web2.0, thus, has been a revelation in the art world, allowing for the interaction of people internationally to showcase their work as well as their opinion through the numerous networking sites. These ‘social networking’ sites have become the perfect place for artists to get noticed, feed off other artists and their inspiration, through a vast web of interlinked sources of text, image and multimedia data.
The use of the blog has become an ideal space of interaction. The useful nature of a blog lies in the fact that it is free, completely open and is a space where the anonymous nature of it can lead to the most interesting of discussions. The basic idea of anonymity, hidden identity and a completely free space of expression reminded me of something very similar in concept, the nature of the graffiti.
The discussion surrounding graffiti is ongoing and as someone who grew up in urban Cape Town, where graffiti and urban art seem to thrive, the exposure and influence of graffiti in the fields of art and design are inevitable. The discussion in blogs and articles are broad with regards to graffiti, ranging from documentation and the celebration of the art internationally to the inevitable protest against it and discussion of measures to combat it.
I have found that as an artist, my interest seemed to stray towards blogs concerning the support of graffiti, often arguing against combative articles published about it. I found vast difference in the quantity of blogs concerning graffiti in Africa compared to the international scene and found the majority of my information in South African and international articles. What I found interesting about the African blogs is that they were very sparsely contributed to. They contained interviews with interesting artists such as Solo 7 (the African artist I will be using in this piece) and were not supported by corresponding work or input. The international blogs were interesting in the thorough and academic means by which they were discussed. The arguments covered varying ideas and angles. The two most interesting excerpts I discovered were called “Visual Dissent: Art as Graffiti”(2006) and “Visual Dissent: Graffiti as Art”(2006).
I found the most interesting blog exerpts to be those which were purely interview based, as the nature of graffiti is in essence rather a relatively hidden, underground and withdrawn subjective experience, thus the interviews tend to illustrate enlightening takes on the experience of the Graffiti artist. Thus, my South African blog exert is an interview with South African graffiti artist, Faith47. Below, I will be negotiating a broad outline of the graffiti world, noting the views of the different artists and the logic that supports their will to do graffiti.
The world over, the act of graffiti is seen in the sense of being a deviant form of social process that, in it’s very production, is a civil disobedience. This need for civil disobedience is often a productive repercussion of the enclosure that is the urban environment. The urban environment can often create a platform for the use of drugs and gang membership, especially within the poorer communities. Graffiti art has often been written off in the public eye as being instilled in these social phenomena, thus it has come under scrutiny, been seen as evil and viewed in the same way as theft and violent crime. As many will tell you in the art world, this is not the case but is rather a lazy classification made by those who don’t feel the need to know any better.
From the urban sprawl to city centers, subways to suburbs, night club toilets to classrooms worldwide, graffiti has come into the eyeline of most city-dwellers. It is a continual and, in essence, temporary surge of angst clad rebellion. A mark left by its maker as a means of communication and monologue through the creation and mark of an alternate identity. There are many ranging styles and forms of graffiti, ranging from the a roughly scrawled “James was here” on the cistern of a public toilet, to the scribbled ‘tag’ sprayed on a newly painted suburban wall, to a 6 metre mural donned on a grey vibacrete wall alongside the train tracks. These differing means of what has been grouped as “graffiti” make it difficult to put forward a sustainable, sound argument in favour of it. As a recognized art form, the argument often lies in the support of the creative and artistic means by which graffiti comes about. Writers (or ‘bloggers’) seek to combat its social taboo, be it on the varying blogs or in a more academic manner. With this in mind, the varying opinions of people do contrast greatly to its support.(see nguirado) It is in an interesting debate that includes looks to differing notions of public space, language and text, social outcry and communication.
“Working on the streets is way more experiential” notes Faith 47 in her blogged interview with Matthew J. Faith47, one of Cape Town’s well known graffiti artists looks to, amongst other things, the reasoning behind the use of public space as a canvas with which to work. Her style of caricature and writing is elegant and smooth, a means by which she could quite possibly use the gallery space as a means of exposure, yet she feels the need for a certain integration and experience in her work. She puts her reasoning for the using a range of urban and suburban areas so as to: “Explore my own city. To avoid the inner city bluff. For fame and notoriety. To get up in different areas. To inspire some graffiti to come out of those areas. To get photos that can travel over the seas make people see reality in a different context.”
Her ideas lay open a wide variety of ideas that are inscribed in the context, aesthetic and experience of being a graffiti artist.
The discussion surrounding graffiti is ongoing and as someone who grew up in urban Cape Town, where graffiti and urban art seem to thrive, the exposure and influence of graffiti in the fields of art and design are inevitable. The discussion in blogs and articles are broad with regards to graffiti, ranging from documentation and the celebration of the art internationally to the inevitable protest against it and discussion of measures to combat it.
I have found that as an artist, my interest seemed to stray towards blogs concerning the support of graffiti, often arguing against combative articles published about it. I found vast difference in the quantity of blogs concerning graffiti in Africa compared to the international scene and found the majority of my information in South African and international articles. What I found interesting about the African blogs is that they were very sparsely contributed to. They contained interviews with interesting artists such as Solo 7 (the African artist I will be using in this piece) and were not supported by corresponding work or input. The international blogs were interesting in the thorough and academic means by which they were discussed. The arguments covered varying ideas and angles. The two most interesting excerpts I discovered were called “Visual Dissent: Art as Graffiti”(2006) and “Visual Dissent: Graffiti as Art”(2006).
I found the most interesting blog exerpts to be those which were purely interview based, as the nature of graffiti is in essence rather a relatively hidden, underground and withdrawn subjective experience, thus the interviews tend to illustrate enlightening takes on the experience of the Graffiti artist. Thus, my South African blog exert is an interview with South African graffiti artist, Faith47. Below, I will be negotiating a broad outline of the graffiti world, noting the views of the different artists and the logic that supports their will to do graffiti.
The world over, the act of graffiti is seen in the sense of being a deviant form of social process that, in it’s very production, is a civil disobedience. This need for civil disobedience is often a productive repercussion of the enclosure that is the urban environment. The urban environment can often create a platform for the use of drugs and gang membership, especially within the poorer communities. Graffiti art has often been written off in the public eye as being instilled in these social phenomena, thus it has come under scrutiny, been seen as evil and viewed in the same way as theft and violent crime. As many will tell you in the art world, this is not the case but is rather a lazy classification made by those who don’t feel the need to know any better.
From the urban sprawl to city centers, subways to suburbs, night club toilets to classrooms worldwide, graffiti has come into the eyeline of most city-dwellers. It is a continual and, in essence, temporary surge of angst clad rebellion. A mark left by its maker as a means of communication and monologue through the creation and mark of an alternate identity. There are many ranging styles and forms of graffiti, ranging from the a roughly scrawled “James was here” on the cistern of a public toilet, to the scribbled ‘tag’ sprayed on a newly painted suburban wall, to a 6 metre mural donned on a grey vibacrete wall alongside the train tracks. These differing means of what has been grouped as “graffiti” make it difficult to put forward a sustainable, sound argument in favour of it. As a recognized art form, the argument often lies in the support of the creative and artistic means by which graffiti comes about. Writers (or ‘bloggers’) seek to combat its social taboo, be it on the varying blogs or in a more academic manner. With this in mind, the varying opinions of people do contrast greatly to its support.(see nguirado) It is in an interesting debate that includes looks to differing notions of public space, language and text, social outcry and communication.
“Working on the streets is way more experiential” notes Faith 47 in her blogged interview with Matthew J. Faith47, one of Cape Town’s well known graffiti artists looks to, amongst other things, the reasoning behind the use of public space as a canvas with which to work. Her style of caricature and writing is elegant and smooth, a means by which she could quite possibly use the gallery space as a means of exposure, yet she feels the need for a certain integration and experience in her work. She puts her reasoning for the using a range of urban and suburban areas so as to: “Explore my own city. To avoid the inner city bluff. For fame and notoriety. To get up in different areas. To inspire some graffiti to come out of those areas. To get photos that can travel over the seas make people see reality in a different context.”
Her ideas lay open a wide variety of ideas that are inscribed in the context, aesthetic and experience of being a graffiti artist.
A Mural by Faith47The differing means and reasoning behind the range of graffiti artists is an integral subject when looking to grafitti and its social function. The aesthetic of graffiti, apart from being a social rebellion in itself, often conveys a message and in itself, “performs a role in public debate, cultural life and even city beautification…a protest against everything every successful ad agency stands for: the commodification of public space, the standardization of the built environment, and the permission-based, central control of communication in the form of visual display.” (Visual Dissent: Graffiti as Art.)
Artists such as Faith47 and Solo7, being from very different socio-economic backgrounds, see the functionality of street art and mural making in differing light. Solomon Muyundo, aka Solo7 is an artist residing in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. His work displays very differing characteristics to the ‘wildstyle’ method of conventional Western graffiti. Here words are broken down through the facetation and the amplification of word, line and colour to illustrate the artist’s pseudonym identity. His message is in contrast, clear and easy for all to read:”Peace Wanted Alive”, a call for active and sustainable peace within yet another African nation wrought with internal conflict. His work is not done in the light of recognition within a scene, but is rather a call for peace within a previously enraged, fiery political area, a protest to the violent ethnic violence that followed the split power of the December 2008 elections in Kenya. The interview with him has shown a positive light into the art of graffiti from a journalistic point of view and illustrates the dynamic relationship between graffiti and social consciousness.
Solo7 at work in Kibera
Graffiti’s role as subject within the media, notably newspaper articles and television reports creates a single-sided perspective, viewing it from a negative angle so as to not degrade the lawful perspective and inspire people towards involvement in ‘illegal’ activity. Thus the blog, in its interactive nature and and anonymous accessibility, allows us to get an all-round perspective. The two Visual Dissent posts explore a notably different perspective to the media, seeing the public as critical towards the notion of graffiti, contributing to the ugliness of the area in which it is made, thus overlooking the use of the technique as an attempt to communicate and internalize within the community the wide range of issues that they face. Faith notes to this regard “cities need a human touch…not adverts and billboards…we as people need to see what other people are thinking and feeling…not what the advertisers would like us to be thinking and feeling” (Faith 47)
The Web2.0 gives us, through sites such as Wooster Collective, The Streets Are Saying Things and Art Crimes, as well as various urban art and graffiti websites and blogs, a range of graffiti imagery, text and multimedia data, which is accessible to a worldwide audience. It is accessibility to an underground world that is viewed as only coming to light in the dark, early hours of the morning, virtually unseen to even the most inquisitive eye.
Web 2.0 allows urban artists from ‘all’ walks of life to capture their work and share it with an international audience, as well as creating a space to voice their opinions and ideals of their work through interviews and blog entries. Thereby setting in permanent record something that was previously seen as aesthetically temporary. This allows the artist to gain whatever it is they want from their art, be it the notoriety within the scene, recognition of their contemporaries, to send out a message of hope or to legitimate the experiencial means from which they feed.
Artists such as Faith47 and Solo7, being from very different socio-economic backgrounds, see the functionality of street art and mural making in differing light. Solomon Muyundo, aka Solo7 is an artist residing in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. His work displays very differing characteristics to the ‘wildstyle’ method of conventional Western graffiti. Here words are broken down through the facetation and the amplification of word, line and colour to illustrate the artist’s pseudonym identity. His message is in contrast, clear and easy for all to read:”Peace Wanted Alive”, a call for active and sustainable peace within yet another African nation wrought with internal conflict. His work is not done in the light of recognition within a scene, but is rather a call for peace within a previously enraged, fiery political area, a protest to the violent ethnic violence that followed the split power of the December 2008 elections in Kenya. The interview with him has shown a positive light into the art of graffiti from a journalistic point of view and illustrates the dynamic relationship between graffiti and social consciousness.
Solo7 at work in KiberaGraffiti’s role as subject within the media, notably newspaper articles and television reports creates a single-sided perspective, viewing it from a negative angle so as to not degrade the lawful perspective and inspire people towards involvement in ‘illegal’ activity. Thus the blog, in its interactive nature and and anonymous accessibility, allows us to get an all-round perspective. The two Visual Dissent posts explore a notably different perspective to the media, seeing the public as critical towards the notion of graffiti, contributing to the ugliness of the area in which it is made, thus overlooking the use of the technique as an attempt to communicate and internalize within the community the wide range of issues that they face. Faith notes to this regard “cities need a human touch…not adverts and billboards…we as people need to see what other people are thinking and feeling…not what the advertisers would like us to be thinking and feeling” (Faith 47)
The Web2.0 gives us, through sites such as Wooster Collective, The Streets Are Saying Things and Art Crimes, as well as various urban art and graffiti websites and blogs, a range of graffiti imagery, text and multimedia data, which is accessible to a worldwide audience. It is accessibility to an underground world that is viewed as only coming to light in the dark, early hours of the morning, virtually unseen to even the most inquisitive eye.
Web 2.0 allows urban artists from ‘all’ walks of life to capture their work and share it with an international audience, as well as creating a space to voice their opinions and ideals of their work through interviews and blog entries. Thereby setting in permanent record something that was previously seen as aesthetically temporary. This allows the artist to gain whatever it is they want from their art, be it the notoriety within the scene, recognition of their contemporaries, to send out a message of hope or to legitimate the experiencial means from which they feed.
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