Street Art vs. Graffiti
Concepts of the underground and the mainstream are always in a state of flux.
Until today, I was under the impression that graffiti was no longer considered a serious crime. When thinking of prosecuting graffiti artists, the image that comes to mind is always one of an overweight security guard giving up his jogging pursuit of some youths running down the railway sidings, who are themselves more concerned about ripping their kappa jackets than getting caught. Also, I was under the impression that Banksy and T.wat and Le Rat and all the other big name street-artists were beloved cuddly members of society who had just grown up on the wrong side of the tracks and it was now common knowledge that they were politico-artists, rather than vandals.
However, it seems there is a world of difference between street-artists and true graffiti artists. "Right now I have five friends in jail and two on bail for 'bombing' [a term for spray-painting] trains and I think every 'writer' in London has had their door kicked in by the graff squad recently," an anonymous ‘bomber’ stated in The Independent today. The article went on to detail how seriously our government still takes graffiti on the streets of London. It seems that the punishments for vandals are still extremely severe, as the minimum spent each year on cleaning up the London tube carriages alone costs the UK a minimum of £10m every year.
The anonymity and criminality of this art movement is perhaps what makes it so appealing, both to the artists themselves and to those observing and respecting the culture. Strong political and cultural statements are far easier to make when the act of making the image itself is already breaking the law. Perhaps the nature of the subversive and underground is universally appealing, which is why something so ‘criminal’ can still sell mainstream newspapers, and why Banksy is so passe and the artists detailed in Crack and Shine, a new book about underground graffiti, are currently bubbling up and into the pages of The Independent:
“These men [featured in Crack and Shine] would not consider themselves street artists like Banksy or Blek Le Rat. They are not interested in the democratisation of art; they don't seek public approval. "The majority of the people featured in this book don't respect people like Banksy," [Robson –Scott author of Crack and Shine] says. "They see street art as a bandwagon thing, aimed at making money and getting famous." This sort of commercial selling out, he says, goes against the very essence of illegal bombing, which operates outside the constraints of conventional society".
Of course, there’s a deep irony here. In the battle between the human need to be recognized and the desire to be subversive, it seems that recognition always lucks out. How underground can those featured in crack and shine be if they’re appearing in The Independent, named and shamed and plugging they’re shiny, well-produced new book? It seems as ever, the spotlight loves picking the next-best-thing out of that murky cesspit we like to refer to as anti-culture. Move over Banksy. But judge for yourself, it is pretty goddamn cool....http://www.crackandshine.com/
Concepts of the underground and the mainstream are always in a state of flux.
Until today, I was under the impression that graffiti was no longer considered a serious crime. When thinking of prosecuting graffiti artists, the image that comes to mind is always one of an overweight security guard giving up his jogging pursuit of some youths running down the railway sidings, who are themselves more concerned about ripping their kappa jackets than getting caught. Also, I was under the impression that Banksy and T.wat and Le Rat and all the other big name street-artists were beloved cuddly members of society who had just grown up on the wrong side of the tracks and it was now common knowledge that they were politico-artists, rather than vandals.
However, it seems there is a world of difference between street-artists and true graffiti artists. "Right now I have five friends in jail and two on bail for 'bombing' [a term for spray-painting] trains and I think every 'writer' in London has had their door kicked in by the graff squad recently," an anonymous ‘bomber’ stated in The Independent today. The article went on to detail how seriously our government still takes graffiti on the streets of London. It seems that the punishments for vandals are still extremely severe, as the minimum spent each year on cleaning up the London tube carriages alone costs the UK a minimum of £10m every year.
The anonymity and criminality of this art movement is perhaps what makes it so appealing, both to the artists themselves and to those observing and respecting the culture. Strong political and cultural statements are far easier to make when the act of making the image itself is already breaking the law. Perhaps the nature of the subversive and underground is universally appealing, which is why something so ‘criminal’ can still sell mainstream newspapers, and why Banksy is so passe and the artists detailed in Crack and Shine, a new book about underground graffiti, are currently bubbling up and into the pages of The Independent:
“These men [featured in Crack and Shine] would not consider themselves street artists like Banksy or Blek Le Rat. They are not interested in the democratisation of art; they don't seek public approval. "The majority of the people featured in this book don't respect people like Banksy," [Robson –Scott author of Crack and Shine] says. "They see street art as a bandwagon thing, aimed at making money and getting famous." This sort of commercial selling out, he says, goes against the very essence of illegal bombing, which operates outside the constraints of conventional society".
Of course, there’s a deep irony here. In the battle between the human need to be recognized and the desire to be subversive, it seems that recognition always lucks out. How underground can those featured in crack and shine be if they’re appearing in The Independent, named and shamed and plugging they’re shiny, well-produced new book? It seems as ever, the spotlight loves picking the next-best-thing out of that murky cesspit we like to refer to as anti-culture. Move over Banksy. But judge for yourself, it is pretty goddamn cool....http://www.crackandshine.com/
Post image by Toots Fontaine
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