Street Art started in the 0s in New York in response to the city's hard times and going through bankruptcy. This era motivated young creative artists to create visual art in public locations such as buildings, vacant lots, closed-down factories, construction sites, murals, and subway cars. Street Art is for public visibility; today, it is more a commercial form of art to promote a message from a group or artist. To raise awareness of social and political issues. Some artists don't necessarily have a deep meaning, they simply use the opportunity to showcase their personal talent or artwork. Street Art is becoming more and more popular and successful and you can certainly make money with it compared to the old times when people mostly called it vandalism. The art community has grown and we should be excited to see what our talented and creative artists could come up with in our city.
A famous mural called We the Youth by Keith Haring,in 1987, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania First and most famous artwork by Mr.Brainwash called Charlie Chaplin's Pink. It was sold for 100k at Phillips, De Pury & Luxembourg New York, in 2010. Cornbread also known as Darryl McCray is known for being the first modern graffiti artist.
Banksy, a pseudonymous street artist, political activist, and filmmaker based in England, has maintained an air of mystery by keeping his real name and identity undisclosed, leading to ongoing speculation. Banksy started at first with two other artists known as Kato and Tes as freehand graffiti artists in the 90s in a crew called Bristol's DryBreadZ. He is arguably today the world's most famous Street Artist. He also created one of the most shocking stunts which we will talk about lower on this page. Since the 1990s, Banksy has been active in creating satirical street art and subversive epigrams, using a distinctive stenciling technique that combines dark humor with graffiti. His thought-provoking works, focused on political and social commentary, have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges globally. He inspired many artists in our era and collaborated with some other famous street artists like Mr.Brainwash and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He will be remembered as an art legend. What else could this genius come up with?
"Girl with balloon" is an original artwork by Banksy. It is also his most famous and iconic series of artwork. This artpiece is a series of stencil murals that Banksy created in 2002 all around London. Even though their was plenty, only one remains today and it is on the Waterloo Bridge. "The "Girl with ballons" depicts a young girl, whose hair and dress are blowing in the wind, reaching for (or releasing) a red, heart-shaped balloon that has slipped from her grasp. The red balloon, as the only spot of color, is an archetypal symbol of childhood and freedom many of us connect with. More than a simple child's toy, it evokes fragility of what it stands for: innocence, dreams, hope and love". (banksyexplained.com, girl-with-balloon-2002) This perfect explanation explains us the artwork and the deep meaning the artist tries to portrays. Beside the artwork on the wall, Banksy wrote :"THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE". "Love is in the bin" is an art intervention by Banksy at Sotheby's London in 2018. In the auction, the painting of "Girl with balloon" suddenly strated to shred by itself right after the art piece got sold for 1.05m pounds. It was so shocking that nobody in that room and on television knew what was going on. It was later revealed that behind that the mastermind was Banksy itself. He posted a video on soial media on how he built the canvas to start shredding by itself with some engineering. The reason behind was explained as :"Shredding “Girl With Balloon” was more than an act of defiance; it was a message that criticizes the art collectors who tried to buy it. It said “you can't have something that belongs to the public,” a sentiment expressed in an older Banksy piece that showcased his opinion of art auctions." (Angelina Dequina,Banksy's “Love is in the Bin” calls out art capitalism, 2020) Later, the art piece got the name of "Love is in a bin" and it ws sold for 18.5m pounds. Pretty ironic. It was also the the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction according to Sotheby's.It is today one of the most famous art piece creaed in recent years and the most famous artwork by Banksy.
Flower Thrower, 2003 Kissing Coppers, 2004
