The one topic that we seem to always come back to is “what is art?”. What does a piece of work need to be called art and not just craft? Street artists, like Revs, take this question to an entirely different level- what constitutes art and what is simply the defacement of public or private property? Lisa’s definition of “Art” as she explained on the first day of class is that art is the reaction to the piece. It occurs in the space between the painting/sculpture/photograph/etc and the viewer. I would like to take this definition one step further and say that it is not the reaction to the image itself, but to the message the image portrays.

When Rich Stremme spoke in class last week, one of the topics he spoke about was street art- in particular the street art of Revs, his former band-member. Rich brought in one of the God Squad crosses he and his band members had placed all throughout a Manhattan neighborhood. Before he even began discussing it, I had a reaction to it. I wondered what it was, what it meant, and why he had brought it. In that interaction, the cross became art, at least art as how i view it. As Rich continued he discussed parts of Revs’ career path. The part that I was most interested in was when he talked about how he would paint snippets of his biography in subway tunnels.  To me, it seemed poetic and different. Revs was creating art that everyone can see on a daily basis.

Not everyone sees it this way, though. Many see street art as nothing other than graffiti. These people are likely the same people who consider pieces like a vacuum on a pedestal or a blanket strewn across the floor art. While it is possible that these pieces have a deeper meaning that is lost on me, the fact still remains that it is lost on me. Art should show some sort of message that can be easily read by the observer, even if it is not the same meaning the artist intended. Art is about the reaction to a meaning and I experience this reaction with Rev’s work.