Guest Speaker: Rich

After listening to Rich and hearing his stories, I feel I now have a better understanding of street art and its value in the world. Rich is a street artist and musician that started off by making a clear distinction between street art and graffiti, two aspects of art that I thought were one and used interchangeably. I was shown and explained the difference between street art and graffiti, which once explained was a logical distinction that made sense. I did not realize the difference in not only the meaning of the two arts but also what they represent. Street art is a unique culture that is used to beautify locations and document times while graffiti is more gang related. There are un-written rules about each art form that was also explained, and it made me realize the complexity in the art and the societies that surround them. Moreover, I enjoyed his stories with Revs, a friend who was also a street artist in New York, due to magnitude of their adventures. The stories told sounded like they were out of a documentary about street art as they took risks that could have landed them in jail. This risk showed their love for the art and I enjoyed this because previous guests did not express their love for their art as much as Rich. Additionally, I was surprised to hear Rich say that when society is unstable, that is when art prospers due to the lack of regulation and enforcement of law. When asked about this he said that this year is a perfect example of this due to the virus and everyone being in lock-down. Street art has been able to flourish due to the pandemic and this was great to hear since it shows that one aspect of society prospered during these hard times. Overall, I enjoyed having Rich as a guest speaker since his stories were intriguing and eye opening.

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