You see it when you walk to a train station or drive underneath a freeway overpass. Massive multicolored stretches of intricate figures and designs. What is it? What does it say? What does it mean? Who put it there? How did they do it? Why did they do it?
It has been called graffiti. It has been called mural art. It has been called vandalism. It has been called a crime, and people have been arrested for it. It all depends on where it is, who made it, and who is looking at it. Nowadays, many cultural critics and art proponents call it Aerosol Art. But, whatever people call it, they have to admit how amazing it is.
Back in the day, "graffiti" was an act of vandalism and protest. Artists would sneak into the subway yards in New York City and write their names in huge letters on the outside of trains. They were throwing up a flag, trying to remind the world that seemed swept up in the materialism of the disco era and the 1980s that they were there, and they mattered. Over the years, the style and names have changed. Some graffiti is done illegally on public property and some of it is done legally in designated areas (like this picture of 17-year-old Detroit artist Rudy Alcala).
Now, some businesses and popular culture merchants have co-opted the graffiti style to sell products.
All in all, Aerosol Art has become a case study in how the counterculture is absorbed by the culture. In some cases, the art form is no longer a rebellion, but a sales tactic. However, that doesn't mean that the artistic spirit is dead. On the contrary, creative public art can be a part of every day life and still rebel against materialism.
If you ever have the opportunity to choose your own research project, consider investigating Aerosol Art: that mysterious writing on the wall. Everyone sees it, but not everyone knows what it is. People dismiss it as the work of gangs, but if you stop to realize how huge an undertaking these murals are, you'll quickly see that they are the work of artists. (In some cases, misguided, misanthropic artists, but artists.)
Now when you see those giant spray-paint murals, be inspired by the human ability to create art in adverse conditions. But please ... don't spray paint anything because you read this blog.
For an interesting starter interview about Aerosol Art, go here.
To see some examples of urban youth practicing Aerosol Art, go here.
