Street Art

When you hear the phrase street art, what images instantly pop up in your mind? Personally, I imagine graffiti scribbled onto abandoned walls, street fashion, and the ambiance of downtown New York. I also think of artists creating art and telling stories using their cities as their canvas and inspiration. Street art in my eyes has always been this edgy style of art that stands out from commonality. My knowledge of street art was pretty vague before doing any research on the art form. I had no idea that graffiti art was, in fact, the inspiration for street art and street art inspired public art to be created. Before, I looked at graffiti art and street art as the same thing, but they do have their differences and I never even thought of public art as art at all. I merely saw public art as decorations or statues made to make an area’s environment look better. These three types of art all share their commonalities, but they are still very distinct from one another.

Art in general is a tricky subject to explain because everyone can have different outlooks on what it means to them. I consider art to be very individualistic because every human being is unique and thinks in various ways. Art should be a platform for people to express their uniqueness. Graffiti art is one of the many categories art has. Graffiti art, like most art categories has plenty of subcategories to follow it as well. Sentrock, a well-known and valued artist in the Phoenix helps me understand the art of graffiti art in the article, An Unselfish Act: Graffiti in Art Education. Out of all the many types of graffiti, Sentrock set out to explain the difference between vandalism (illegal) and graffiti art (legal) to middle school kids. In Sentrock’s words he explains his general theory of graffiti, “It is something that goes against the grain, or always pushes the envelope of what people are thinking or how people react in society. In a sense I think that is good because it keeps society on its toes or not just so black and white” (Eldridge 25). So all works of graffiti aren’t just a bunch of kids going around, putting some cool looking pictures and words on buildings for the sake of it. They have a purpose, they have a mission and they want to be heard by the public. Now he also goes on to explain how vandalism, an illegal form of graffiti, is the act of someone who carelessly paints on someone else’s property as their canvas without their permission. That’s what he doesn’t want the kids he mentors to grow a habit of. His goal is to help the kids understand the beauty graffiti art can hold. Something that really stood out to me out to me throughout this whole article was this quote, “When we shine don't dim us down because we've seen enough darkness” (Eldridge 25). This one phrase truly embodies the power graffiti holds for artists like Sentrock and many others. It’s their outlet to express themselves whether it be politically, socially or just emotionally.