This weeks lesson task is for me to research some influential street artists and learn more about who they are, what they do, how they do it and why they do it. I also had to choose a specific street artist who made a conscience provoking message go viral through their art and learn more about the background, artistic style, and the impact it made.
There are no rules in street art, so anything goes. However common materials and techniques include fly-posting (also known as wheat-pasting), stenciling, stickers, freehand drawing and projecting videos. Street artists will often work in studios, hold gallery exhibitions or work in other creative areas: they are not anti-art, they simply enjoy the freedom of working in public without having to worry about what other people think.
Stencils have been a part of history parallel to graffiti and street art, and one of the most famous graffiti artist is Banksy. Banksy is anonymous to the public and his most famous work is “Girl with Balloon” stenciled on Waterloo Bridge in London in 2002. The work was later removed.
Banksy is a world-renowned mystery man. Street art fanatics are consistently impressed by the far-reaching scope, variety, and bravery of every artwork he delivers, but are always left wanting more. Banksy began his graffiti career by admiring the works of Blek Le Rat. He often recycled the artist’s old ideas, moulding his own distinctive voice and style as he went. After nearly getting caught vandalizing public spaces he noticed stencil letters getting sprayed onto a truck. This was the faster way to paint he was looking for and decided stenciling would be his new graffiti style.
Banksy would often use multi-layered stencils combined with other media sources in his art. He sometimes includes objects that already exist on his chosen ‘canvas,’ such as street signs and fire hydrants, to turn his work into striking street art installations. His artwork is often satirical, combining dark humour with messages about art, philosophy, and politics.
Because of the type of canvas Banksy often uses (public walls ect.) many of his famous artworks is covered up, but luckily his most iconic works have been re-shared and repurposed beyond measure.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 