Urban Art Association

Not the ones I like

have to laugh

what made you create this poll? obviously they're more than entrepreneurs because they're using their gift to earn a living doing something they love.

does anyone else get the impression that quite a number of professional footballers are no more than entrepreneurs?

When in doubt, go left.

lol word

can we name names? that be fun...

who to cast the first stone? yeah!

You want a list? Every self serving artist out there that is too afraid to cut their own path. This whole thing has turned into animal farm, all the pigs are walking on two legs and the rest of the animals want their new hula-hoops.

There are just too many people seeing a now viable revenue stream that they want to exploit, they see a Banksy selling, don't think the image is too out of reach for them to produce with their current skill set and they say to themselves "I can do that", not ever thinking to themselves what the art is about (and I don't mean the message, I mean why it exists in the first place). These entrepreneurs drown out the voice.

Then the prophet (intentional spelling) buyers just want whatever the new thing is, so they factor different variables into their equations; how long has he been doing it? how much street cred does he have? can he draw? is he cool enough? who has bought him? how does he explain his actions? is his website cool? is he good looking? how does it look? what does it mean? Once they find someone who fits their particular bill, they eat it up until proven otherwise. These sorts of people fuel the hype which the entrepreneurs exploit.

Then there are the fanboys, they turn artists into brands. They like x artist because he seems more sophisticated or y artist because they are more punk and probably listen to the same music as them, z artist because he is keeping it real and knows x anyway. They buy it to support people who they feel represent them, sometimes to extremes or sometimes in the same way one might buy an Adidas shell toe because you want to say you're hip hop, a death metal shirt to say you're rock or your funny t-shirt because you're just sooo crazy and funny. These people create the hype the entrepreneurs exploit.

Everyone has a part in it. Art is a shit word.

No Mike, graffiti/street art is the punk of this generation. A game where anyone can play because in order to play, you have the break the law so you can do or say whatever you want anyway. To some an act of soma for their other life, to others an artform.

Urban art is the toss people spend money on. A profession where you amass points in order to build up a rep, and then get on this forum and use that rep and your new website to sell shit to flies.

Thebleedingedge - What I find sad about the majority of what you post, is the huge vein of bitterness that runs through generally very intelligent comments.
No-one owns street art nor it's development, it is not elitist therein lies it's undying appeal.
As a result you will find that in certain quarters it is abused by those wanting to make money, misunderstood & dismissed by traditional art circles and resented for success by guys who have been painting / writing un-noticed for years (which the last set I feel you lend yourself to)
What would be more refreshing in your posts would be the same level of intelligent comment with more humour, and less bitterness. I read that you posted elsewhere that you were fired by anger, and whilst this does fuel passion it is als an incredibly destructive mindset.
Looking at what MM has on Edge Art it is not another secondary art site, but a primary site supporting new and unheard of artists who have cut their skills on the street. Now does this make them better / worse artists who knows, but I don't see this as a cyncial exercise in selling sh*t to flies. No one is forced to buy and MM should be appluaded for offering a public avenue for artists to be put in front of people. If you don;t like don't buy.
All in all personally does it matter if people are entrepreneurs? If you can't or don't want to see through the hype so what?

It's stuck on urban? Whilst I appreciate you might be some sort of street art expert with all those gold stars next to your name, I can assure you that nobody I know that picks up a can calls what they do "urban art", infact the term is laughable, so let that debate rage my friend. Maybe you guys call what shows up in your tubes urban art, the shit at auctions urban art, but that stuff on the street isn't, no matter how blurred the lines between business and play become.

I was just using the term punk to fit in with your argument, personally I think the whole punk thing was a false starter, a revolution that wasn't televised because it never happened. Of course punk musicians sold, and street artists sell, Bob Black sold essays and books, nobody is saying you cannot make money from this thing if you are in the game. But are you in the game to sell? Are you calling yourself an artist and following Banksy's lead? Are you trying to mould yourself on Banksy purely for the perceived economic gain? There is a huge difference between the two, and if you can't see that line, then it's no wonder you can't tell the difference between street art and that toss you spend money on.

Well I guess it's a good thing I'm into vandalism then

Jeepers: did you stick that art in the public space to get people to look at your art or did you put it there to sell your art? If the latter, then yeah, it's jumping on the bandwagon. The art is the act my friend and motivation is everything. If that's what people are into I'm not saying don't play, I'm just saying you can't win

Mate, I was going to say you were doing it for the exact right reasons, the money is a spin off from something else, a by product, just like the art, thats how it's supposed to be.

I was going to say that until you assumed you could stick me in a box without knowing anything about me. Now you just sound like a p*ick so I'll choose at this time to tell you to fuck right off.