Street art began as tagging by gangs in the 1920s-30s and evolved over time. By the 1970s-80s, artists began tagging their names on public transportation and walls in New York. Street art gained popularity in the 1980s and 21st century due to technology and the internet. It has transformed from vandalism into a widely accepted art form that communicates powerful messages. Well-known street artists like Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and Invader have helped establish street art as a legitimate art movement through their unique styles and meaningful works.

1. FROM GRAFFITI TO STREET ART
By Dom Knowles

2. Bibliography
• McCormick, Carlo. Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art. TASCHEN Gmbh. 2015
• http://www.widewalls.ch/defining-street-art/defining-street-art-repetition-and-evolution/
• http://globalstreetart.com
• https://www.fladgate.com/2013/05/street-art-the-legal-issues/
• http://www.penningtons.co.uk/news-publications/latest-news/graffiti-clean-up-cost-or-windfall/
• Bomb It Documentary - 2008

3. The Brief History Of StreetArt
Between the 1920s & 1930s gangsters and rival groups used to tag a wall within an
area with their name or group name, this caused turf wars and other kinds of
violence between rival gangs.
Moving forward in time to the mid 1960s a famous jazz musician named Charlie
Parker (also known as ‘yardbird’) died, in honour of his music and career as a whole
people would tag “Bird Lives” on walls and other kind of property.
In the late 1970s and early 80s people began using private property and public
transport to tag their nickname and street address on, popular graffiti artists Taki
183 and Tracy 168 were well-known for starting this trend within New York.

4. Historical & Contemporary Developments In StreetArt
Street art is art created in public locations such as; shop shutters, walls, signs,
billboards and more. The term gained popularity during the graffiti art boom in
the early 1980s, even today it continues to be used on a large scale inside of
city centers and towns.
Street art became popular in the 1970s & 80s but gained a huge following in
the 21st century, many people believe the explosion of technology and the
internet lead this form of art into success, what was once considered vandalism
and illegal is now more commonly accepted and portrays a different message
to old forms of street art. Artists can use street art to speak to other kinds of
people that may not find art particularly interesting or appealing to them.
Some of the earliest forms of street art were graffiti that was sprayed on the
sides of trains and on walls, this was originally just used to tag words and gang
names around cities in the early 70s and 1980s. Like other art movements
street art evolved and changed into what it is today.

5. Definition Of Street Art
Street art is not easy to define and even if you manage to find your
interpretation it doesn't conclude there, others may have different opinions and
feelings towards a piece of street art that are the complete opposite to yours.
Street art can completely vary in styles and meaning, just like other art forms it
is used to express feelings/emotions or send an important message, street
artists use inspiration from many sources including the web, digital media,
famous old art pieces and world problems. As street art became more popular
in the 1980s and early 90s it transformed into a more widely accepted form of
art and a way to communicate different things through images.
Street Art By Space Invader
Street art, like any other form of art, has
many other terms or variations of itself. The
terms "urban art", "guerrilla art", "post-
graffiti" and "neo-graffiti" are common and
represent a more art inspired form of street
art rather than pure vandalism.

6. Art/Design Movements
Street art has had an impact on modern art movements as a whole, it has
inspired new styles and artists to appear online or in galleries, due to its young
age street art has a very modern feel that appeals to younger people and
others that understand problems relevant to our society today.
Although street art can seem very similar each artist has a unique style and
meaning behind their work, this is also more notable amongst different
countries street art. Street artists in different countries aim to target problems
relevant to that area and feelings and emotions people may have towards the
idea.
Street Art By Banksy
The cultural context of street art is what matters the
most, how it works to speak out against war, police
brutality, politics, freedom of speech etc. I believe
street art deserves the recognition it gets for
portraying messages clearly and in a powerful way
that many people can understand and relate to.

7. Methods Used To Create StreetArt
Many street artists use stencils and templates for their
art, the use of stencils makes it much easier to spray
onto any surface and allows the artists to recreate the
image many times using the same stencil. This method
also gives the art a certain style because of all the
parts having to be connected together, famous street
artist Banksy uses this method and makes it work well
with his unique images.
Stencil/Template
Tiles
Street artists can use tiles to make their art, popular
street artist Invader is well-known for using tiles in his
work. It gives the street art an 8-bit old video game
feeling which is exactly what Invader uses to base his
ideas off of, it is also relatively easy to do this well and in
a way that works.

8. Methods Used To Create Street Art (continued)
Posters
Posters are another popular method of creating street
art, they can be printed large or small to be placed
around a town/city. Printing on posters means that the
artist that designs the street art can put more work on
perfecting the piece and later printing it.
Shepard Fairey is a popular contemporary street artist
that uses this method of street art to create his work,
one of his famous pieces named ‘Obey’ has become
it’s own clothing brand recently.
Similar to posters, stickers are used as a
method of street art, they can be placed
anywhere such as windows, signs, public-
transport and more. Unlike other forms of
street art this requires the additional pro-
cess that you need to make the sticker
which can take some time.

9. Other Relevant Methods
Jenny Holzer LED Lights
Knitted Graffiti Movement
Jan Vormann Lego
Classic Free Hand Graffiti
Sculptures/installations

10. Destruction Or Creation?
Graffiti started out as vandalism, it was originally known as tagging, it involved
people tagging their name on walls, billboards, windows and the subway. During
this time graffiti writers such as Taki 183 and Tracy 168 became popular for their
tags on the trains that moved around New York City.
As graffiti evolved and became bigger and bigger, people began to experiment with
other methods of showing their art. In the mid to late 80s graffiti artists would paint
art pieces that gave a strong message to governments and authorities, they
needed a creative way to portray what they wanted to say and it worked.
When authorities began to punish people that
were caught tagging subways, other graffiti
artists moved back onto tagging and spray-
painting walls. They now had a lot more time to
design and create their graffiti which allowed
them to try new images and focus on detail, this
led graffiti to become more complex and
interesting from the original tags.

11. Destruction Or Creation? (continued)
Street art has become it’s own kind of artistic expression, even with it being
relatively modern it has gone through many changes and forms and is still
transforming today. I believe street art is one of the few forms of art that will stay
relevant throughout the future, it moves with the times and focuses on relevant
styles and topics unlike other forms of art.
Nowadays street art, if done legally, is widely accepted and people enjoy looking at
it whether it’s on a shop shutter or in a gallery. Older street artists such as Shepard
Fairey and Taki 183 aren’t as comfortable with street art moving into galleries and
art exhibits, they feel that street art belongs on the streets to keep it raw and
unique like it still is and that to put price tags on street art in galleries makes the art
form more commercial and less enjoyable/understandable by the majority of the
public.

12. Social Impact
Although some street art is well-made, legal and fits well within an area, a large majority
is just generic tagging of names, areas or racist slurs. Council’s within an area will try to
combat this form of illegal street art by removing it with pressure washers or painting over
it, this costs tax payers money. In 2015 Penningtons website reviewed the price of
cleaning up graffiti in the UK and valued the cost to be over £1 billion, London
Underground alone estimated that the cost of removing glass marked with graffiti costs
up to £10 million a year and up to £2.5 million to clean up other types of graffiti. Does the
end justify the means when people use graffiti to get their point across, does vandalism
and the damage it causes make it worth it?
The broken window theory is the idea that if
graffiti within an area is not cleaned then it leads
to others neglecting that area and it building up
a bad reputation, if they choose to remove
illegal graffiti and monitoring an area it helps to
prevent against small crimes such as vandalism
and public drinking helps to create and
atmosphere of order and lawfulness. The idea
was first introduced in a 1982 article by social
scientists James Q. Wilson and George L.
Kelling.

13. Links To Pop Art
Pop art was an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the
late 1950s in the United States. Many artists contributed to pop art in it’s earlier
years; Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton in Britain, and Larry Rivers, Robert
Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns among others in the United States.
Pop art includes aspects of mass culture with things such as, advertising, comic
books and average every-day objects such as soup cans, microwaves and other
technology. This links it well with street art because of how it relates to life and other
things you see regularly. Although pop art is still popular today the hype around it
died out only shortly before street art boomed and became really popular which
leads people to believe that modern street art is the direct product of pop art.
Andy Warhol and fellow pop-artist Roy Lichtenstein
seem to celebrate modern society and a modern
way of life whereas famous street artist Banksy
seems to despise it and often mocks things such as
governments and modern technology within his work.

14. Difference: Graffiti Or StreetArt
• Graffiti & street art are often confused of being the same thing, both of them are
art movements where work is displayed in public on streets rather than a gallery
setting (although some exceptions apply for artists such as Shepard Fairey,
Banksy etc).
• Graffiti artists work in public spaces, however, they don’t generally care about
what authorities see there work as, vandalism or art, they try to target other graffiti
writers and people interested in the topic within that area instead.
• Street artists want others to see their work and be engaged by it, they are trying to
make a statement and make people think about a deeper meaning. Graffiti writing
and Street art are closely related art movements but both differ in terms of
technique and function.
• Graffiti derives from the italian word sgraffiti (scratch), meaning drawings or
scribblings on a flat surface. “Tagging” is a modern form of scratching your name
on a wall, it is usually done with spray paint or markers.

15. Laws On Street Art
• Trespass: Unless the surface is public property the artist will have to trespass to reach
the area, this is a civil wrong and the the owner could claim for damages or get and
injunction if the artist can be identified.
• Crime: An old debate is that if street art is classed as criminal damage to property or
not. In order to prove if something is criminal damage you must first show obvious
evidence of whether or not someone destroyed or damaged property which belongs to
someone else.
• Attribution: This concerns buying and selling street art, a buyer needs to find out if the
street art they’re buying was in fact made by the person selling it, for most street artists
there is catalogue giving a full list of works done with respectable credits which allows
them to sell their work easily.

16. Legal StreetArt
Buff Diss is a relatively well known street artist
that works with masking tape to create non
permanent art pieces, he works legally and in
public places so that others can see his work.
The art is usually like outline art because of how
masking tape works and the challenge that
comes with trying to create curved or obscure
lines.
Street Artists sometimes use chalk for their work, chalk
is non-permanent and cleans away easily. Most artists
that use chalk move into public spaces to do their
pieces of work.
A popular style of this art is illusions and 3D art that
looks photo realistic. Similarly to masking tape art this
is done legally with permission to draw on public
spaces.

17. Legal StreetArt/Commissioned Work
If any form of street art or graffiti is commissioned (paid for) by someone who owns the
property it is legal as long as it isn’t offensive in any way. Commissioned street art is
actually very common, An area filled with legal, and illegal, street art is The Northern
Quarter in Manchester, England. Artists from many different countries and areas come to
the northern quarter to leave their mark and their art in an area known for it’s wide variety
of street art.
The area is filled with commissioned work and other professional street art for people to
look at and interpret in their own way, as well as this there is also some illegal street art
including littering with stickers and advertising, however this tends to be non permanent
and eventually washes away or falls off.
Legal street art is easy to notice because of the time and effort
that has gone into it, street artists have the time to think about
and plan their artwork before they begin working on the final thing.
Once it is completed and the artist has proven that their work is
theirs and original then it can be copyrighted and protected just
like art in a gallery or online.

18. Bomb It - Reference
• Bomb it is a graffiti documentary all about the history of graffiti from ancient cave
paintings to a contemporary boom in the 1970s, it follows many well-known graffiti
artists and original taggers showing them in action and their history within the graffiti
movement.
• Because of the way it presents each graffiti artist it makes you think
about their reasoning for their work and why they choose to do it on
walls and other buildings rather than anywhere else, the question why
is often what most people ask about street art and other graffiti.
• Shepard Fairey is just one of the popular street artists that was involved within the
bomb it documentary, Fairey’s most notable work is his Obey posters
and Obama Hope poster that was used within his presidential election.
Fairey works from commissions and tends to have 1 style for every
piece he does, his newer work is also done legally and is protected so
that it cannot be repeated elsewhere making it unique and special.
Other artists have copied his style online but including their own thought
and design into the image, changing colours, text and using different
images to make something their own.

19. Primary Research: Northern Quarter Photos

20. Primary Research: Edited Images

21. Shepard Fairey

22. Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey is an American street artist, graphic designer, illustrator, activist and founder
of the clothing line OBEY that came from the skateboarding scene. Fairey’s work began in
1984 when he began drawing his artwork on skateboards and T-shirts, in 1988 he graduated
from Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. In 1992 he also earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in
illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design.
In 2008, Fairey designed the ‘hope’ poster in a series of posters supporting the candidacy of
Barack Obama, this quickly gained popularity by the public and was adopted to be used by
Obama within his presidential election.
Fairey had already been making posters and street art for some years and with his new
found public popularity his work began to get noticed on streets and more requested
commissions were designed by him, he followed the legal side of street art by painting on
walls that were owned and commissioned for him to design on.

23. Conclusion
As a conclusion to my street art essay I will give my opinion on what I think about street art and
whether or not it is a valid art form.
I like street art styles/ideas and for that reason I will always support it being a legit art form that
should be shown the attention that it deserves, I also feel as street art is a very influential art
style that is an affective way of delivering a message or voicing thoughts & feelings. I enjoy art
that is larger than life and can be done on walls, murals or as an installation such as
sculptures.
Just like other art movements, street art is a modern example of how art goes through many
changes to stay relevant and interesting. First recorded street art appeared around 30 years
ago with rival gangs tagging walls and windows around New York, it has quickly evolved like a
snowball effect to become a more meaningful and impactful like other art forms that came
before it, it has traveled the entire globe and become a career choice for many people around
that do it regularly.
Street art is international, it is an art form that is portrayed and incorporated in many different
countries and nationalities, although they are different in style and what message they are
trying to communicate most street art is larger than life and communicates to the many or the
few.
Street art relies entirely on how the general public feel towards the certain subject or image, if
the street art is exploring the idea of politics or the government the general public tend to view it
as humorous and relatable because it’s something that affects them all, whereas, if street art
was to go down the path of bringing global issues to light such as refugees or discrimination
then it becomes more taboo and people feel as though the issue is relevant to them.

24. Final Outcome Research
For my final outcome on street art I wanted to
create a 2 point perspective sticker that would
give the illusion of writing in 3D, I worked on a
couple sketches by designing the word
‘Manchester’ in 2 point perspective and 1
point perspective.
I later moved onto the computer to get a more
refined idea of what the finished design would
look like and how I could edit and change
certain things within it.

25. Final Outcome
This is a first draft of my final outcome, based off of
my initial sketches. These screenshots show the
steps involved with making the design, I started out
by dragging the text into 2 point perspective. I then
began filling in the area behind the word to give the
illusion of 3D and added some colour shading.
Adding colour will make the writing stand out more
and will make it a lot more eye catching so that
people notice it. The current colour’s are too light
and don’t contrast or stand out that well from
certain backgrounds.

26. Final Outcome Designs