Urban Art Association

banksy

Banksy - Girl with balloon
Dolk - Girl with teddy

I liked the loneliness, the loss of something, the sadness, the darkness of these images. Street or print, same deal.

Girl With Balloon - You can slowly see something you Love drifting away, while you are a helpless child.
GWT - You are attached to something that you dont want to, or is not of your choice.

When seeing these two on my first show, i stood watching them for a long long time. I can relate to them. Have GWT on y wall now, but as i refuse to hang fake stuff i am missing Girl With Balloon

what does the whole street art scene mean to you ...?

This image by Shepard Fairey got me hooked onto street art. It looked great, was cheap and accessible.
This was my first "street art" purchase. 40 bucks!




www.flickr.com/photos/25509997@N00/

What does it mean to me?

For me it's more than one reason, i don't like to follow the mainstream like a bunch of sheep that have to look, dress, and act like the latest trends.

Also the fact that an artist can express himself in everyway he want, and not be constricted to a piece of canvas.

But don't get me wrong, i can enjoy a good canvas too

When I was studying Higher Art (A Level) at school many moons ago, I wanted to draw everything in black and white. Whether it was pencil, black pen or an etching, I wanted everything to be simple and as lifelike as possible. I didn't like painting, but could copy a picture pretty well and my teacher told me I'd never do well in an exam scenario using a technique that displayed no expression.
I stuck 2 fingers up at them when it came to exam time, and did the whole thing in black and white using pen and pencil using various images layered on top of each other - I was marked down for lack of expression.
What amazed me, was that anyone could say what was or wasn't expressive. I preferred black and white drawing that verged on graphics, whereas most others painted and were lauded for their efforts.
When I discovered street art, it really struck a chord with me, as it was individual interpretation and artists used whatever subject and medium they saw fit. There can as much expression in the simplest of stencils as there is in a complex collage of colours - amazingly, the majority of the art on my walls is simple and there's a lot of black and white!

Being a massive fan of The Sex Pistols I used to go around various shows and galleries to view Jamie Reids work, as well as having a huge collection of his Pistols work. Whilst in (what used to be) The Tom Tom Galllery one day viewing some of Jamies work, I noticed a large oil painting behind the counter that had been painted over, with a small bird holding a grenade. I asked who this was by and I was told it was by someone called Banksy (who I had never heard of) I think if my memory serves me right it was up for sale at about £2-3k.
I told the guy that although I appreciated the humour and liked the piece alot I was not prepared (or, even able to) pay that sort of money! Hindsight is a wonderful thing!! The rest is history. I now spend hours and hours cutting stencils all because I bought Never Mind the B*llocks in 1977

Reading an article about Santas ghetto in around 05 or 06.
Lead me to buy Wall and Peace. (1st ed).
Then I started collecting news articles.
And then I found POW. And it started getting expensive!

Walking to school everyday in the mid 90's, hoping to discover new invaders and miss tic's stencils

I do believe "style wars" and "subway art" hold great significance in the exporting graffiti culture internationally.

May be "hip-hop" culture... is Americas greatest export...

Henry Chalfant and Martha Coopers documentation of the NY Graff scene and Style Wars, following it into the galleries of New York where for the first time the pieces were being transferred to canvas and other mediums. I have hundreds of photos of graff from 80's London and you can see the evolution in style and technique.

fearlessness, intelligence and art combined attracted me back when...

sometimes innocent people get caught up in things/politics etc. they have little to do with and i like when the environment confronts them, some street artist warriors, empower themselves and use their talent to effect change and beautify the street (they don't take 'no' for an answer) - that's heart, i dig that!... thank goodness they have guns (paint?), little fear and passion!... and most are so good, they say, God, please forgive me if i hurt anyone (building) - so sorry... it was that attitude that did it for me... society can look at some of these artists as something other and less than what they really are - they don't understand.... i look at some of these vids and interviews of street artists on here and learn or am reminded of so much - most are so intelligent... they're not the idiots some think they are!

Lots of people talking about prints, when the question was about Street Art

Very romantic view and very well written but no! The fact that I liked punk did not lead me onto Street Art for the same reasons. It was purely a link, in that, whilst viewing Jamie Reids work I was introduced to Bankys work, which I liked, and in turn this got me interested and, I myself turned my hand to painting 'Street Art' You could maybe say it is in my personality, but I am no vegetarian, dog on a rope type anarchist!

You would make a great ghost writer if ever I bring out an autobiography