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Digitized Street Art

  • Chapter
Media Art and the Urban Environment

Part of the book series: Future City ((FUCI,volume 5))

Abstract

This chapter argues that “street art” is a mode of artistic expression reliant on the vagaries of the urban environment as its canvas and, as a result, is ultimately dependent on digital technologies to document, disseminate, and reproduce these inherently ephemeral artworks. Whether altered or destroyed by another artist or tagger, “buffed out” by overzealous municipal authorities, or simply decayed by the elements, street art is fundamentally ephemeral. It is this inherent ephemerality that requires the original piece be digitally documented and preserved. The digital camera and the Internet in particular, then, serve to preserve the work of street art that, in their absence, would otherwise be lost to time. By reference to firsthand field research undertaken in Detroit , Michigan, shortly after an “original” Banksy was relocated (and depending on one’s perspective, destroyed or saved) by a local art gallery, this chapter concludes by exploring the idea that street artists working within the very physical and concrete confines of the urban city are better regarded as digital artists, albeit digital artists that go to great lengths in the preparation of their compositions.

I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone, than to create things that will remain.

(Christo)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Banksy’s true identity remains a contentious topic of debate. Although never confirmed in an official capacity, the Daily Mail claims to have uncovered the “true” identity of the elusive street artist, believing him to be named Robin Gunningham (Tapper 2008).

  2. 2.

    Some authors argue that “street art” is better thought of as “post-graffiti” (Dickens 2008) due to its similar yet different mode of urban inscription. This chapter, however, employs “street art” as its primary signifier to describe in general terms the contemporary state of a subcultural artistic movement that creates art on the street.

  3. 3.

    It should be noted, however, that there were stylistic progenitors to what is commonly known and referred to as “graffiti.” The widespread diffusion of the “Kilroy Was Here” marking by American servicemen throughout World War II as well as the “Bozo Texino” marking (see Daniel 2005) used by so-called hobos in the mid-to-late nineteenth century are early iterations.

  4. 4.

    For an interesting assessment of legal graffiti walls, see Kramer (2010).

  5. 5.

    “King” is a term of respect bestowed upon those individuals who have proven themselves particularly adept at creating a large number of pieces that are artistically accomplished.

  6. 6.

    In a telling indicator of the paradoxical nature of street art, a copy of the image of Obama placed on the street illegally by Fairey now resides in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery of the United States alongside the works of Gilbert Stuart, Edgar Degas, Irving Penn, and Paul Cézanne.

  7. 7.

    For a rare exception, see the work of Gregory Snyder (2006). Snyder argues that the process of capturing photographs and publishing them in physical form, primarily via underground “zines,” was an important element in writers honing their skills and being inspired. He argues, “Photographs made ephemeral graffiti pieces permanent, allowing writers to view the work of others without attachment to a specific place or time. The inclusion of these ‘flicks’ in magazines created a space where graffiti pieces from all over the world could come together to be judged, critiqued, and offered as instruction” (Snyder 2006, p. 93).

  8. 8.

    This was one of the central differences between the work of early graffiti photographers Chalfant and Cooper. Whereas Chalfant focused his lens as tightly as he could on the tag itself, Cooper framed her subject much more expansively so as to include the broader cityscape in the frame of the photograph.

  9. 9.

    Though plentiful and easily retrieved online, none of the images referenced herein are included in this chapter. This was an intentional decision on the part of the author in that it further reinforces the archival and documentary dimensions of the digital camera and Internet and underscores one of the central arguments made throughout. It merits mention, however, that Banksy has a rather ambivalent relationship with copyright protecting his right to his creative work in some instances, then claiming in one of his books: “Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head” (2005, p. 160).

  10. 10.

    See Luke Dickens’ article (2008) on the “journey” of the Peckham Rock for an excellent take on how the manifold interests involved in street art fundamentally alter the work of the artist himself/herself.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Media & Film, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

    Brian A. Brown

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  1. Brian A. Brown
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Correspondence to Brian A. Brown .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Pace University, New York, NY, USA

    Francis T. Marchese

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Brown, B.A. (2015). Digitized Street Art. In: Marchese, F.T. (eds) Media Art and the Urban Environment. Future City, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15153-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15153-3_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15152-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15153-3

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