mural jamming

there’s a rivalry between people who practice “graffiti” and people who practice “street art.”  if you’re on the outside, you might not even realize that there’s a difference between the two.  while there is much cross-over, from a classic, purist (read: elitist/snobby) point of view, there is a difference.  from my own observations, here’s what i’ve gathered are the marked distinctions:

- true to the methodology used in the 70s when it emerged, “graffiti” only uses spray-paint (and sometimes marker pens). “street art” is allowed a more varied methodology that can include stencils, wheatpastes, sculpture, waxed crayons, and brush paints.

-”graffiti” is woven tightly with calligraphy, and most graff murals depict creative lettering. people who practice only lettering are called “graffiti writers.” the calligraphy emerged as a way to communicate amongst or between crews, and the more obtuse and indecipherable the letters, the better the graff writer. while graffiti does often depict people, places, or things, they must be done with free-hand spray-paint.

-”street art” can involve calligraphy as well, but the lettering will usually play second-fiddle to the imagery accompanying it. or, if the lettering is just as important, it illuminates the meaning and significance of the imagery (or vice versa).

-”graffiti” is a way of getting your street name or your crew’s name out there.  like tagging, it is boastful and aggrandizes the talents of the graffitist by enlarging their name with vibrant (often fluorescent) colours.  unless commissioned, graffiti rarely operates within a unilateral theme.

-”street art,” while also boastful, predominantly operates amongst many themes that historically were tackled amongst conventional “artists” who emerged from institutions of higher education … such themes include Politics (which is the tantamount theme), Sex and Relationships, Religion, Culture & Ethnicity, War, Gender, Pop Culture & Media, Music, Health & Addictions, etc ….

-in addition, “street art” is allowed to be humorous, highly-ironic, tongue-in-cheek, satirical, and can lampoon any and/or all of the themes mentioned above. Political figures and notable personalities are the usual targets.

-”culture jamming” is a sort of hybrid form of graffiti and street art, which calls upon the viewer to re-think and re-contextualize state-run messages, advertisements, and cultural-norms by altering public spaces and billboards (with either the tools of graffiti or street art), usually from ever-so slight tweaks to the pre-existing message in order to create a new and thusly more provocative message.

-”graffiti” is usually hailed as the purest form of the medium that emerged from the street and was free of institutionalization or canonization. “street art” is considered by these purists to be a bastardization of graffiti, used simply as a publicity stunt in order to propel the artist into a conventional gallery-setting, therefore motivated purely by old-fashioned, material greed.

- but “street art” has a bigger, more inclusive audience than graffiti. it is more readily accepted by governing bodies and authorities as ‘art’ worthy of protection, and is less associated with gang culture and criminal activity than graffiti. it is considered to be democratic, liveable, ephemeral, and a truer form of expression. it is infused with greater potency and meaning.

but the main reason that street art has overtaken and superceded graffiti as the real urban art is:

it annoys idiots.

February 7, 2012 | Categories: academic essays, graffiti, photography, street art, street culture, toronto, Tower Automotive Building | 1 Comment »