If you think that graffiti is simply a form of vandalism, think again. Graffiti is currently experiencing a renaissance in New York City. The New York Times reported that Details magazine is commissioning four graffiti artist to paint murals on city walls. This is part of the magazine’s mission to recognize a more diverse conglomeration of different fields within the arts. On Monday, the first of the four artists,Blek le Rat, was seen on West 13th Street painting a mural across the street from the Standard Hotel. Interestingly, this mural differed from other graffiti that Mr. le Rat has done in the past because he wasn’t in a hurry to flee the scene of the crime. Therefore, he did not make use of stencils in his graffiti, which he is acclaimed for.
I found the discussion of graffiti, as well as the larger issue of public art, in this article particularly intriguing because it directly related to what we have been reading in my English 110H class with Professor Davison. While all of the english classes are focusing on topics regarding New York City, our class has been focusing and the influence public art has on residents of the city, and specifically graffiti. In fact, we had an essay due yesterday about an article titled, “Graffiti: Tunnel Notes of a New Yorker.” The writer of that article, Leonard Kriegel, would be extremely offended by Details magazine’s new graffiti project. In fact, he argues that “the spread of graffiti is as accurate a barometer of the decline of urban civility as anything else one can think of.” The fact that Detail believes publicly displaying graffiti is a way to bring a more cultured atmosphere to the streets is exactly the opposite of Kriegel’s assertion that graffiti is a representation of the hopeless deterioration of urban society. This is a perfect example of the timeless controversy over the merits of artwork, which has been extensively discussed throughout our class blog.
I must have posted this blog post directly after the one before it because it was not there when I began writing it. Sorry for the repetition, but I believe that the two posts give different insights about the issue of graffiti.
It is interesting that you and the author below chose graffiti as a topic because just the other day as I was on a train to Brooklyn, I looked at the graffiti on the walls of the tunnels and realized there has been a serious decline in graffiti work around, especially in NYC, the city that has the most evidence of this activity. Even though it is considered vandalism, I actually miss seeing new graffiti work because I have always categorized graffiti as art. There have been some works that I have seen around the city that obviously look like it requires alot of skill to create, something I wished I was able to do. The decline of graffiti can be explained by the excess technology that is available to us making many people stay inside and less time outside to explore.
I am not a big fan of graffiti, though I do thin Keith Haring is an interesting artist. Are you aware of his work? http://www.google.com/images?q=keith+haring&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=9GO&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivblo&source=lnms&tbs=isch:1&ei=qNmTTOXkNcT38Ab5gpSNDA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&ved=0CBMQ_AU&biw=1170&bih=644&uss=1
What about Jean-Michel Baquiat? http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=bJO&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1170&bih=644&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=artist+basquiat&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=artist+basqu&gs_rfai=
“The more things change, the more the remain the same.”