Essay On Street Art

Street art combines graffiti and classical art and as a result brings art out of the museum and onto the streets of cities where all citizens are able to view and interpret it in their own way. Nicholas Riggle described it as “an art practice that, instead of delighting merely the refined sensibilities of an elite few, has the power to engage, effortlessly and aesthetically, the masses through its manifest creativity, skill, originality, depth of meaning, and beauty” (243). While to some street art is artists vandalizing property or causing a disturbance, to those who create street art it is their form of self-expression. Street art offers an artistic freedom, different from other art forms, in its independence from museums as a means to gain attention. In the past artwork was viewed only in museums, typically by upper-class society. Street art; however, inserts itself into the lives of all citizens by its artist. Rather than go through museums, where a curator decides what to show patrons, street artists present their work directly to the people so they can interpret it in their own way

The works are usually too expensive or too time consuming to speak on a subject relative to that point in time. Street artists are capable of producing art that is the opposite. Street art contains satire, societal injustices, and humor (Lacktman 17). Seen on the streets in ways similar to advertisements, artworks provoke the viewer to act on the feeling they gain rather than persuade them to spend on a product (Gatewood 77). The blend of current events and art only furthers the popularity of street art as it allows artists to give their opinion and viewers to react. By adding controversial elements, artists hope to engage viewers to move outside their lives. The artistic freedom given by the street allows artists to attempt to spark social change or conversation that is forgotten when looking at most works in