Grafitti : From Street Art become an Ideology

With their sprays, stencils and ideas, the artists may be terror or joy of the urban landscape. Since he was young as art in the ’60s, the contemporary form of graffiti has fueled controversy. He was born underground and persecuted, conquered space, artistic acceptance and recognition over the decades. To the point that in 2007 four young Brazilian artists receiving the task of graffiti outside the walls of Kelburn Castle, a historic 13th century building, in Ayrshire, Scotland [source: BBC Brazil]. Moreover, the same year, at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York, a picture of former graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat reached U.S. $ 14.6 million [source: The New York Times]. Facts like these prove the consecration of graffiti art, but do not take the condition of marginal and illegal in most situations.

The graffiti of today began as street art and protest in the late 60s, came to art galleries in the ’80s and has become a valuable asset in the new millennium. But long before that, he was already an artistic expression of mankind. He was part of the rock art of the times of the caves and expressions popular in the Roman Empire. Already the current version of graphite is one of the aesthetic and ideological legacy of Pop Art and began to emerge in the late 60th and early 70th streets in Philadelphia and New York. Public walls, facades of buildings and subway trains have become an area of dispute between teenagers who wanted to make their mark in the cities or express their dissatisfaction with the society around them. What began as a simple signature, considered graffiti and seen as an act of vandalism, has evolved into gigantic paintings, sometimes encouraged by the government that makes the colorful urban landscape.

Product of youth culture, graffiti art has teamed up with music, especially hip-hop. Because of this, many album covers were eventually created by graffiti artists and many of the urban graffiti were inspired by songs of the genre.

In recent decades, it has established itself as an important part of pop culture, and especially after the recognition of talent and quality of graffiti by Jean-Michel Basquiat, several other graffiti artists have gained space in art galleries and exhibition worldwide . But there remains much controversy. In large urban centers, many legal standards were adopted to combat graffiti action, regarded as vandalism. Also, anti-graffiti paint and other protective systems have been devised to inhibit this practice. Signs that graffiti art is still far from a unanimous vote.

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