The Street Art Movement: Facilitating Humility Since 1970
The exuberant, colorful fruit stands and local, Ecuadorian restaurants lining the streets of Central Quito, Ecuador easily deceive ignorant passersby and tourists. After turning onto Garcia Moreno Street, however, these individuals become struck by the outrageously vivid scene depicted on the side of a building. Walking from the left side of the building to the right, a story unfolds. A disfigured boy looking only 15 years old stares in pure terror at his arm--or lack thereof. The source of his horrified gaze becomes apparent as onlookers continue to walk across the building to an illustration of an earless, one-eyed monster. With horns sprouting out of the creature’s head and chin and …show more content…
Graffiti, however, provides a “unique artistic courage” that allows them to grow intellectually and artistically (Kan 21). These artists discover new meanings behind life struggles and gratefully share them with the public. The “driving force behind these activities is” not to vandalize buildings or to rebel against authority; it “is to break out of anonymity, to be heard and seen, and to spread one’s name” (Parmar & Bain 145). As each artist grows, they develop their own, unique identity that travels with their work. For example, the graffiti artist, TAKI 183 in New York began the street art tradition of tagging (Rahn). In addition to establishing tagging, his style remains recognizable by almost anyone in the city. Once TAKI started to tag his pieces, other artists followed in his path. In fact, “eventually each tagger developed his or her own individual formal style to express identity” (Rahn). Graffiti provides a means “for many adolescents who despise following social norms and cultural conventions” (Kan 21). The art form vocalize deeper ideas that individual artists hold dear to them. By channeling their internal feelings in a non status quo fashion, street artists possess “the means to rebel against the established taste of society” without using …show more content…
Lisa Hochtritt, however, performed a study on the educational applicability of graffiti and discovered that students felt comfortable and lacked fear of chastisement when taking on difficult imagery and working through personal issues in the form of street art (106). Even outside of school, graffiti provides an outlet for inner city youth to establish a brotherhood of the inner-city youth’s community” (Summers). These relationships built from graffiti “crews” often times take the place of a family, as individuals in the “crew” look out for each other 's own safety. Since the majority of individuals who partake in street art regard the art form as an avenue of expression, their works can teach you insight into the attitude of the artist” (Kan 21). For example, one of Lee Quinones graffiti murals pleaded for the end to the arms race (Parmar & Bain 146). Not only does the artwork provide historical significance with its reference to the Cold War, but it also allows viewers to delve into Quinones mind and his understanding of world events. In addition to responses to exterior conflicts, graffiti enables artists to open up their own hearts and share their personal experiences. Administrators caught a high school student creating street art of a “figure balled up holding the word ‘why’ in her hands” (Kan 20). Her neighbor recently
The exuberant, colorful fruit stands and local, Ecuadorian restaurants lining the streets of Central Quito, Ecuador easily deceive ignorant passersby and tourists. After turning onto Garcia Moreno Street, however, these individuals become struck by the outrageously vivid scene depicted on the side of a building. Walking from the left side of the building to the right, a story unfolds. A disfigured boy looking only 15 years old stares in pure terror at his arm--or lack thereof. The source of his horrified gaze becomes apparent as onlookers continue to walk across the building to an illustration of an earless, one-eyed monster. With horns sprouting out of the creature’s head and chin and …show more content…
Graffiti, however, provides a “unique artistic courage” that allows them to grow intellectually and artistically (Kan 21). These artists discover new meanings behind life struggles and gratefully share them with the public. The “driving force behind these activities is” not to vandalize buildings or to rebel against authority; it “is to break out of anonymity, to be heard and seen, and to spread one’s name” (Parmar & Bain 145). As each artist grows, they develop their own, unique identity that travels with their work. For example, the graffiti artist, TAKI 183 in New York began the street art tradition of tagging (Rahn). In addition to establishing tagging, his style remains recognizable by almost anyone in the city. Once TAKI started to tag his pieces, other artists followed in his path. In fact, “eventually each tagger developed his or her own individual formal style to express identity” (Rahn). Graffiti provides a means “for many adolescents who despise following social norms and cultural conventions” (Kan 21). The art form vocalize deeper ideas that individual artists hold dear to them. By channeling their internal feelings in a non status quo fashion, street artists possess “the means to rebel against the established taste of society” without using …show more content…
Lisa Hochtritt, however, performed a study on the educational applicability of graffiti and discovered that students felt comfortable and lacked fear of chastisement when taking on difficult imagery and working through personal issues in the form of street art (106). Even outside of school, graffiti provides an outlet for inner city youth to establish a brotherhood of the inner-city youth’s community” (Summers). These relationships built from graffiti “crews” often times take the place of a family, as individuals in the “crew” look out for each other 's own safety. Since the majority of individuals who partake in street art regard the art form as an avenue of expression, their works can teach you insight into the attitude of the artist” (Kan 21). For example, one of Lee Quinones graffiti murals pleaded for the end to the arms race (Parmar & Bain 146). Not only does the artwork provide historical significance with its reference to the Cold War, but it also allows viewers to delve into Quinones mind and his understanding of world events. In addition to responses to exterior conflicts, graffiti enables artists to open up their own hearts and share their personal experiences. Administrators caught a high school student creating street art of a “figure balled up holding the word ‘why’ in her hands” (Kan 20). Her neighbor recently