Street Art Essay

I think that for our time the street art is no longer a novelty as more and more often we meet on the streets of our cities different pictures, drawings or graffiti. They embellish the grey walls of buildings, roads, public spaces and can appear in any of the most unexpected places.

Is it there any definition for street art? Actually not as it combines a wide range of various kinds of art forms and it is difficult to describe them by one common definition. Generally it is a free public art that is inspired by the urban environment and includes a lot of extraordinary styles such as graffiti, wheatpasting, sticker and guerrilla art, video projection, street posters and installations, art intervention and many others.

Street artists use different tools for communicating with everyday people, asking questions about social matters and expressing political concerns. That is why street art often refers to an unsanctioned art as opposition to government initiatives, and can be a powerful platform for reaching the public and acute issues. For other artists urban art is simply an adaptation of visual artwork into a format of public space that makes possible for artists reach a much broader audience and be seen in the off-centre places.

But is street art illegal or vandalism? This question is quite difficult to be clearly answered as with permission of public authorities the urban artworks are considered as public art. But many artists paint without any permissions and are called vandals or even criminals. They are confident in their ideas and feel freely to show them in any place they wish to. So, why should they be banned for that?

The purposes and motivations that drive painters are as varied as people themselves. Some artists express their thoughts on canvas, wood, stone, glass and others just would like to put away all traditional ways and find different public spaces the best for the expression of their ideas. And I think that it is so terrific that we can be witnesses of the rise of new arts, be delighted with them and be inspired for our own art feats.