If I went around asking people what “art” was to them, I would receive an array of diverse answers. After taking this course, I have been exposed to many forms of art that I never would have thought to explore. IDC has opened my mind to the various forms of art that exist in our world. With that being said, I decided to delve into an often forgotten form of art: Street Art and Graffiti.
Street Art and Graffiti does not always have malicious intent. Often times, street artists use their art as a means to express their ideas about a certain social or cultural issue. Because there is an infinite amount of graffiti all over the city, I decided to limit my collage to one specific location. “5 Pointz” is located on Davis Street in Long Island City, Queens. For ten years, it has housed the creations of countless adept street artists. It has been a place for artists to go and express themselves, without having their work filtered by a museum, or a gallery.
Street Art and Graffiti is often overlooked because of the negative aura associated with it. The purpose of my collage is to show that different forms of art have unique ways of displaying their beauty. I wanted to shed a positive light on these disregarded paintings. I photographed all the images in my collage; however, 5 Pointz holds all rights to their original paintings.
Starting this project digitally ultimately changed my thoughts on the actual structure of my collage. When creating it, I decided to use Prezi. I figured an online collage, rather than an 8×11 handmade one, would be more effective in the classroom. With Prezi, I am able to show the collage as a whole, in addition to focusing on each individual image that I took. With a handmade project, I would probably have to pass it around for everyone to see each individual picture.
There were, however, downsides in choosing to make this presentation through Prezi. As a child, I made many collages by hand but this was the first one I’ve ever made on the computer. As a result, this may have limited the potential of my presentation, particularly because I’m not familiar with the program. Another problem I faced with the online presentation was the amount of creativity I was able to incorporate. Other than transitioning from picture to picture, I was very limited with my visual effects. Even though a handmade collage would have been more appealing, I think creating it digitally better suits this assignment.
