ONWARDS UPWARDS

Street Art is increasingly being misinterpreted in public perception and communication as art on the street.
This misinterpretation has its origins in the early 2010s. At that time, the economic relevance of artists such as BANKSY, Mark Jenkins, BLU, Shepard Fairey and INVADER, who had steadily gained popularity since the 2000s and are now considered pioneers of the street art movement, became established.

In this context, it was commissioned artists and art dealers, book authors and tour guides, as well as advertising agencies who, in their press releases, on book covers and in interviews, wanted to sell any form of creative expression with spray cans and the like as potential next BANKSYs and therefore as street art.

The artistic work of these usually anonymous actors is not defined by a common visual aesthetic or by working in public spaces per se. In this context, the term street reflects the critical examination of the art activists with the “topics of the street” - that is, the everyday life and challenges of a society. Whether or not an actor in this movement can be categorized in the art historical sense is not determined by their artistic activity in public space, but depends solely on the idealistic intention of their artistic creation and their continuous engagement with socially relevant topics.

Street Art has always been referred to as democratic art by its practitioners themselves. Whereby democratic refers to the cross-societal dialogue and discourse made possible by the artistic positions, but not to a participatory execution, for example in the context of art workshops.

Contrary to the public perception established since the 2010s by misinterpretation and misinformation, Street Art is not the generic term for all forms of artistic expression implemented in public spaces, let alone a style.

In terms of their impact, their work and, above all, their intention, graffiti, street art and urban art are, for the most part, completely opposing genres.




STREET ART - The Street Art movement, which has become well known since the early 2000s, thanks largely to pioneers such as BANKSY, Mark Jenkins, BLU, Shepard Fairey and INVADER, was initially also referred to as “Outsider Art”, since its autonomous work and creativity could not be clearly assigned to either classical graffiti or other art forms. Although the protagonists of the street art movement also used public space for their art, as had been the case with graffiti culture before, they did not do so to draw attention to themselves, but rather to reclaim public space in order to draw attention to and discuss social injustices. Furthermore, street art activists are inspired and oriented (unlike graffiti) not by hip-hop culture, but by the punk rock movement, and find their topics on the street in grassroots movements such as anti-war protests or social movements like Occupy Wall Street, which the artists also regularly refer to in their works. Unlike in classic graffiti, the protagonists of the street art movement have always made use of the possibilities of the exhibition context and new media (YouTube, Instagram, etc.) as a platform to draw attention to the social challenges and issues discussed in their art. The street art movement, which can currently be narrowed down to just 10 important players internationally, acts as autonomous individuals in its artistic work. Although they are in private contact with each other for the most part, they cannot be defined as a scene, contrary to what is falsely claimed in public.


URBAN ART – The decorative urban art that has become known since the late 2000s is based on the success of the socio-critical street art movement, although it differs completely from street art in its intention. The term urban art was originally established by gallery owners and art dealers at the end of the 2000s. The background to this was that both contract sprayers and art dealers seeking short-term profit wanted a piece of the cake of the popular phenomenon that had become known as Street Art. To this end, they worked primarily with former graffiti sprayers who were now working as graphic designers, inspiring them to create decorative and at the same time subversive-looking canvases in the “Banksy look”. Since it was clear to both the art dealers and the commissioned artists that this was not street art in the style of BANKSY, BLU and co., they agreed on the term Urban Art because the studios were usually located in urban areas.
The Italian Muralista and pioneer of the Street Art movement BLU countered this commercialization with a website called artsh.it. Shortly thereafter, BANKSY's mockumentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop” was released, which originally served as a critical statement against the increasing commercial dilution of banal urban art with the socially critical street art movement.
However, the well-intentioned shot backfired at the expense of the street art movement and Pandora's box was opened. Since then, some self-published publications have trivialized tours along legal graffiti and open spaces, as well as “museums” and art dealers supporting commissioned artists, not only the original intention of the street art movement, but also established their personal definition of “Street Art” as a synonym for shrill and often amateurishly executed colorful images in public spaces in the public perception.


GRAFFITI - The international graffiti culture of today has its origins primarily in New York style writing and the hip-hop culture of the 1970s and 1980s and ranges from tags and lettering to elaborate concept walls, which may also contain figurative elements. The primary aim of the graffiti scene is to spread one's own name in public spaces, as well as to communicate and gain recognition within a self-contained scene. A large proportion of its actors therefore act anonymously due to possible criminal consequences and also shy away from public attention in this context. To date, classic graffiti is mostly unauthorized and non-commercial.