Ever seen yourself wandering around in your car, looking out the window and seeing signs and names written in fancy colours and fonts in the most public places such as walls of flyovers, institutions, road signs, and your inner rebel saying that’s so cool. Definition of spray painting would be something like that, as it’s an art made and popularised by the streets. Some believe that it originated from Mexico City int the early 1980s when hip-hop was making its mark on the world and the streets. Spray as paints were made out of convenience as they could paint a large area with relative ease. It laid foundation to one of the most radical art styles called “Graffiti Art”.
Graffiti art originated from New York in the 1970s, when young people were spray painting into the tall buildings and subways to create graphic images and stylised monograms. Graffiti art is something that you’ll rarely see in the galleries or museums of art, but now it has become something so profound that there are famous alleys full of graffiti like the Graffiti alley of Toronto. These alleys are covered with bright colours of the spray paints and different styles of graffiti such as street gang and anarchists’ style of street art.
Modern Day graffiti is mostly done by ‘tagging’ and text-based matter, street art has no boundaries. Street artists will regularly work in studios, hold display shows or work in other creative areas: they are not hostile to craftsmanship, they just appreciate the opportunity of working in broad daylight without agonizing over what others think.
The graffiti art in India is a mix of ideals, movements, justice and politics. Street art erupts in the metropolitan cities when there’s unjust killing or rapes happening, political rivalries and just riots. While some of the paintings are considered acts of vandalism, the message that they portray cannot be ignored as they are fuelled by the rage and angry youth of India and injustice done to them by their own government. Bengaluru-based visual artist Shilo Shiv Suleiman, for instance, paints murals and street art that promote women’s issues. These works are informed by her own aesthetics, but she also collaborates with communities to remain sensitive to their concerns.
Graffiti has gained a lot of popularity over the span of 10 years recently in India. The rise in its popularity has meant more commissioned work for artists in this field. There are a lot of more mural artists now who specialise in Graffiti. It’s about taking something which is worth nothing and making art out of it. It is integral to understand who you are making the art for. Capturing the thoughts and ideals of the audience is worth more than capturing the essence of creating a random art.
Despite the lack of money to buy spray paints or willingness of individuals to paint graffiti’s in public areas, they have sure been influenced enough by the new generations and spread the word out about various issues or cultures that are being spawned into different parts of our societies and its our job as youth of this country to make sure those unheard voices of the minority or the oppressed reach the ears of our nation’s leaders.
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