Image slideshow
Forward by Mike Snelle, Black Rat Projects (formally, Black Rat Press)
The last five years or so has seen an explosion of artists working in the outdooors, often in an urban environment, and the interest from newspapers, television news, magazines, books and radio has been matched by the public's appetite for this growing phenomenon. Stencils, woodcuts, sculptures stickers, freehand paintings, pasted posters, ceramic tiles and photographs have been put up in cities accross the world. In order that these outdoor, usually unsactioned, artworks could be discussed people have come up with various terms, none of which is entirely satisfactory.Some people favour 'outsider' or 'urban art,' which allows for artists who don't work in the street but whose aesthetic and attitude somehow makes them fit alongside artists who do, but the most widely used term is 'street art.'
Under this definition anyone who creates an artwork and places it on a wall in the street is 'doing' street art. Indeed, this is one of the great things about it, there is no traditional art world esstablishment deciding whether or not an individual's work is worthy of being shown. Anyone who feels they have something to say or share, and who can avoid getting caught, is free to do so. It is truely a democratic form of creative expression.
However there is a flip side to the term 'street art' being so broad. It has led to a somewhat dismissive attitude from museums and curators, traditional galleries, the public, critics and parts of the art media. People talk of liking street art or not liking street art, or of street art not being 'proper art'. But this is a mistake. It makes no more sense to make value judgements about 'street art' than it does about 'museum art'or 'gallery art'. The definitionis so wide it renders such value judgements meaningless. Street art is not a movement or genre like expressionism, minimalist, or pop art. Its only unifying feature is that all of the works included within it are to be found in the streets of towns and cities around the world. Much of the work people put up in the streets is not meant to be significant works of art or important or visionary, and perhaps, like within any creative endeavour, some tries to be and misses the mark. But amongst the wide grouup of people who have chosen to express themselves in the street are some of the most interesting artists working today. What unites these important artists is a refusal to play by the rules, to conform to the establishment, to follow the traditional paths set out by the art world. This refusal to be constrained or dictated to has led to some of the most exciting artworks and projects to be seen in any area of the arts. The freedom to communicate directly with the viewer outside of a traditional curated white cube environment ha not only allowed art to be seen much more as an integrated part of everyday life, but it has also introduced the dialogue between artist and viwer to a far broader audience that ever before.
-Mike Snelle
The Thousands: Painting Outside, Breaking In by RJ Rushmore
Published by Drago