I have been thinking of writing a post about the gentrification of Street Art for the forthcoming Youthweek and Hoodie Day – their slogan “It’s what’s under the hood that counts” makes a lot of sense to me. I upset a few people by bemoaning the lack of street type art in a recent youth art exhibition and also in my area there seems to be very little tagging let alone an major work so I was mulling over the idea of bringing some “good examples” inside for an exhibition and/or providing a legal area for some ‘youth’ to develop their work. (Of course it won’t fly but I like thinking up these schemes). My problem with this idea was that simply the fact that old/white/middle-class/educated me wants to do/see this, mainstreams it.
Also, while doing some research in this area, I found an article that does a great job of commenting on gentrification and what is or isn’t wrong about ‘gallerising’ street art.
“It’s a cycle that has become all too familiar. Anything subversive, anything meant to disrupt the status quo and challenge traditional models of thought and behavior is eventually adopted into the mainstream it is swimming against. Once caught in the currents of convention, it becomes powerless. Just another commodity to be traded in the system…It’s not enough that it exists, it must be owned. Street art grew out of a resistance to this fact. It was a fuck you to the fastidious little gallery owner and his 50 percent cut. A rejection of the exploitative nature of the collector. It was democratic rebellion. Art for everyone. But then we started buying it. And now we, as a culture who demand ownership and insist that art be hung on gleaming white walls, are the ones being splashed.”
And yes – I have considered buying – on one hand Otis Frizzell’s Geishas (an ‘older’ established exhibiting artist) and also Component who does amazing stencil work. I’ve written on this topic before and I still am divided over what it all means. However I know that there are some definable reasons I like graffiti. First its immediacy (for example Satoboy’s flame bearing Dalai Lama) and the surprise factor but also the fleeting nature of it – which ‘gallerising’ totally defeats.
Which brings me to guerilla art, the term brought to my attention by a friend today (hat tip Showyourworkings). I absolutely love the concepts involved in this. “Guerilla art is a fun and insidious way of sharing your vision with the world. It is a method of art making which entails leaving anonymous art pieces in public places…My current fascination with it stems from a belief in the importance of making art without attachment to the outcome.” which I think stands up very well to public art ‘by committee”. Also it brings us wonderful things like this….
by Dan Witz – worth checking out!
Love the Dan Witz stuff!
I understand your point about gentrification Artandmylife.
And you also have made good point about the cycle where rebellious gestures are co-opted and neutralized when they are put to use by mainstream.
However I dont think you should fall into the trap of thinking that everything you personally do will automatically be mainstream because of the demographic you belong to…
Im gently arguing with your assumption that you would ruin the strategic worth of grafitti as soon as you went anywhere near it by osmotic transfer of your ‘middle classness’ . mainstream is an attitude not a demographic.
I would extend that gentle prod to include the way you think about ‘Gallery.’ An idea of hegemonic Art Institution is one that resides in another assumption of what and where ‘mainstream’ might be.
not all gallery situations are mainstream and neither are all old white middleclass women*, just as not all graffiti artists are young, off-white or disenfranchised…conservative norms are established by behavior, potential for change is part of innovation…in both: you are as you do (and not summarized even remotely accurately by color age or relative bank balance).
go right ahead with your plans to work with grafitti/ geurilla artists if you are excited by the idea. why on earth do you assume that its doomed to fail?
Obviously you would need to bear all those pitfalls in mind, but with sensitivity and intelligence (both of which you clearly possess) it’s entirely possible to think around them.
(*btw: enough of the old already…Im the same age as you, Im not ready for the old tag!)
i like this blog! :)
Wow- alibi as usual lots to think about (If I ever get back down your way we have having coffee!).
As for my involvement ‘mainstreaming’ the art – well maybe not but I woudl anticipate a certain difficulty in accessing the artists here by who or what I am perceived to be. Also I should have put ‘middle-aged’ insetad of old but even that grates as in some part of my mind I will always be 18 :-) And my term ‘gallerisation’ was meaning the ainstream public art forums and dealers galleries – not the smaller co-operatives and art run spaces.
I wrote this with my town in mind, although rapdily growing it has historically had a huge retired population and now there is a lot of friction between the older residents and the fast growing youth population. Although there is an “arty” reputation I hate to say it tends all to be conventional. In fact I witnessed the difficulty a curator had in explaining some more contemporary works to much older gallery patrons and volunteers who for the most were quite dismissive. Also I know there is a policy of not encouraging street art in ANY way shape or form examplified by our skate park which is probably the cleanest I’ve ever seen and a while back the council painted out a commemorative mural the kids had done. So this is where my “doomed to fail” thoughts lie. Do I have the energy to pursue this? Maybe
[…] the Wall Continuing on with my internal debate around street art and gentrification, I found this article at Wooster Collective “30 […]
Hi,
Have you read the work of Herbert Marcuse, much under-read philosopher —
His critics accused him of a religion of art and aesthetics that leads to an escape from politics and society. Yet, as this volume demonstrates, Marcuse analyzes culture and art in the context of how it produces forces of domination and resistance in society, and his writings on culture and art generate the possibility of liberation and radical social transformation.
Art and Liberation and One Dimensional Man are great.