| There exists a generation of artists who as students | | | | portrayal of Barack Obama in "Black Christ". Other |
| were continually bombarded with the rhetoric of | | | | proponents of urban, street and graffiti art worth a |
| French philosophers and conceptualists from the 1970s | | | | mention are Jef Aerosol, who's art is very much akin |
| and 1980s. There was a lot of talk of signifiers and the | | | | to the early work of Banksy. D*Face who has a |
| nature of a surface reality, even the implosion of | | | | passion for skulls, deeming to deface (hence the |
| meaning. This was at a time when Urban Art was | | | | name) a series of cultural icons including Disney |
| almost in its infancy, and wouldn't receive serious | | | | characters and Marilyn Monroe with 19th century |
| criticism let alone praise for at least another decade. | | | | illustrated skulls. FAKE, famous for his hummingbird |
| Living in a vibrant artistic community I have found that | | | | spray can and part of E. London's Wonderland |
| many artists who would describe their work as "urban" | | | | Collective. Sickboy who creates iconic Indian temples in |
| in influence share a similar opinion towards the change | | | | print and vinyl in the corporate colours of the |
| in direction for both creatives and art consumers. | | | | McDonald's fast food franchise. Luke Insect who's |
| One local artist is quoted as stating "In my final year at | | | | work leans towards a more traditional genre, surrealist |
| university I was told by the head of my course, which | | | | painting and figurative study. C215 who also leans |
| focused primarily on conceptual art, to ignore the | | | | towards figurative study and has a unique style akin to |
| opinions of an uninformed public, a public who had | | | | the "digital maps" offered by vector software, |
| taken the time to come and see a small exhibition | | | | deconstructing forms into abstract shapes. Sweet |
| featuring my and my fellow students' artwork. | | | | Toof known for his large lipped, smiling grotesques |
| As the years passed by it has become apparent to | | | | which are commonly seen dotted around London. |
| me that I, as I am sure many many generations before | | | | Urban art has indeed itself managed, through the |
| mine, have experienced a collapse in faith. Not of a | | | | origins of its environment and process begun to |
| spiritual bent, but one steered by the tenets of | | | | dismantle the efficacy of the notion of hyperrealism. |
| perception and the contrivance of objectivity, which in it | | | | The surface is now untrustworthy, its appeal is tainted |
| self is a subjective choice." | | | | by the collective conscious' memory of past failures, |
| Urban arts has brought the fine arts market to the | | | | disappointments and to a degree lies. |
| attention of a whole new audience, primarily younger, | | | | Suspicion, be it of governance, the financiers, or |
| city-based, many being of a creative bent themselves. | | | | celebrity endorsement, historical truth, the equitability of |
| The phenomenon of trading art between urban artists | | | | consumerism or capitalism, and even the proliferation |
| is just one cited example of a classless and more | | | | of truth itself has left the public with an ever deepening |
| liberal artistic "economy". I use that word cautiously | | | | suspicion of almost all things manifest. Be it the nature |
| however as this cultural practice refers as much to the | | | | of power or the true cost of never ending urban |
| place and position of art in society as much as | | | | expansion and over population, to more existential |
| monetary value. Much of urban art originating from the | | | | matters such as the essence of existence and the |
| streets, made by the people for the people, with no | | | | nature of being. This questions jar the mindset of a |
| social, economic or political leverage involved. | | | | generation of potential "managers" of society, their |
| For those who need more clarification of the essence | | | | tradition mouthpiece the media has been stunted by |
| of urban art, the term "urban" essentially refers to "the | | | | the explosion in user contributed video reportage and |
| city" and all the cultural and physical references that | | | | the power of social networking to proliferate opinion. |
| living within it entails. However the truth is that as urban | | | | The advertising executives, Hollywood, corporate |
| art has risen in the public consciousness it has come to | | | | heads and governmental leaders have all done their |
| represent far more than mere city life, the scope of | | | | best to incorporate this "outsider" philosophy, the |
| imagery in this most contemporary of genres may | | | | acceptance of disenfranchisement, at least to a |
| have evolved from literal urban environments, graffiti | | | | degree, and a more muted presentation of factual |
| style tagging, and socially progressive slogans but has | | | | substance rather than a glossy and fabricated |
| duly evolved in complexity into something far more | | | | hyperreal montage of exaggeration blended with |
| surreal, and in some aspects iconographically | | | | outright fantasy. For instance laws have been |
| metaphysical. | | | | introduced to reduce the amount of airbrushing |
| Banksy is no doubt the most famous proponent for | | | | involved in the fashion and beauty media, a response |
| urbanism within the arts, his iconic imagery having been | | | | to everything from marked relationship between their |
| seen on the streets of cities across the globe, his | | | | products and the rise in bulimia and anorexia within |
| antics within the arts system such as hanging works in | | | | teenagers. As the economy collapses more and more |
| national galleries and painting tranquil landscapes along | | | | advertising and indeed corporate branding in general |
| Israeli/Palestinian border defenses have brought him | | | | has learned to downplay the lives of the rich and |
| much attention. Yet in the present day, with at least a | | | | famous, an impossible perfection of beauty, a |
| decade of solid public recognition behind it, the urban | | | | fantastical landscape, or product that by implication has |
| arts movement, if it can be named as such has since | | | | almost mystical properties, and instead had to deal |
| extended in all manner of styles, purposes, mediums | | | | with the ugly truth. |
| and messages. | | | | This is in essence why Urban Art, including graffiti, |
| There are those such as Shepard Fairey of OBEY | | | | street art, and modern day illustration, painting and print, |
| who have distinctly built a following with sentiments | | | | and to some degree 3d art, has literally unravelled the |
| more akin to the Arts and Crafts movement of the | | | | "futorologisms" of a once artistic elite. The art market |
| late C19th and early C20th. Elaborate woodcut-style | | | | has been slain by recent economic disasters, those |
| prints, ornately bordered, simply high contrasting, thickly | | | | who have purchased contemporary art at the height |
| outlined images that serve as much as highly emotive | | | | of the market have lost fortunes to the downturn in |
| interior design as they do political gesture. | | | | demand. Leaving the urban artist community's ethics |
| With no doubt the advancement of social networking | | | | intact. They are working, within and for society, to |
| and arts representation online, more and more artists | | | | change society. They are, for the main part, not the |
| are beginning to challenge the assumptions of both | | | | toast of high society, but rather an integral part of it, |
| what exactly urban art is and what it can represent. | | | | working more effectively than any politician to |
| One of the later arrivals in the urban arts scene is Paul | | | | disseminate public opinion on a wide variety of pressing |
| Baines. Tending to "target" media celebrities, political | | | | matters, in a more novel, more creative, more |
| leaders, and corporations, infamously known for his | | | | challenging way than ever thought possible. |
