A Shout With A Paintbrush: An Examination of How New York Street Art Expresses Social and Political Issues
At this very moment a man’s quiet, calm hand moves across a white wall. The more the hand moves, the more vibrant the wall becomes. A sigh of relief overcomes his body as he takes a step back to see all the work he has just done. Hours put into a piece for the entire city to see. A grin spreads across the man’s face as he slowly walks towards his car. He gets into his car, sets his paints and spray cans in the passenger seat, and drives away. A wash of energy and pure happiness fill his body. The wall that had once been abandoned and lonely is now glowing with colors and images for all of New York City to see.
This painting, and pieces like this from the past, represent the life of art and expression around New York City starting in the early 1970’s.
Street art is commonly defined as art created in a public place created without official permission. This artistic movement, which began with doodles on concrete, started to become more common around the streets of New York when nicknames and tags started showing up on the sides of train cars and walls. In 1973, this movement turned into it being more about artists getting their name out there. The mid 70’s was when more intricate pieces with bigger typography letters were beginning to show up. Spray paint became a very popular tool and tagging the inside of trains and subway cars became commonly noticed. In 1995, the “standards were set” for graffiti artists- specifically in New York, the city in which artists were becoming competitive in getting there pieces out there. This was also a time period when New York City was lacking wealth so the transit system was very poorly maintained and very few people cared about the graffiti that was slowly being added. In this decade, young people were responding to their environment by expressing themselves and they began to expand their style by creating bubble letters with more intricate designs in them. In the late 1970’s and through the early 1980’s, the Metropolitan Transit Authorities of New York spent around 150 million dollars removing graffiti from public areas of the city. Because this art was being removed, it created tension between the artists and some began to switch their canvases and create large murals. (Speerstra).
Street art in this time period started to take many forms. An example of a unique artists who roamed the streets in this time period is Lady Pink. Lady Pink was among one of the first women to make graffiti art in 1979. Her experience with graffiti began when she wanted to have fun with friends and be “down with the cool crowd” (Pink). She started by just tagging her name in train cars in the South Bronx because for her she says, “It was all about me. Look at me, here I am” (Pink). In an interview, Lady Pink summarizes that when you are young, it is about the fun, and when you get older you start to notice the larger world issues. She says, “I try to tell a little story with my painting and it’s platform, it’s a voice for the artists. So, If i can bring attention to some kind of issue or injustice some, something I need to scream out- my art is the way to do it. So I don’t work like a poet. I don't write little words. I just tell my story using imagery, using pictures and stuff like that” (Pink). Lady Pink now works on commissioned fine art paintings and murals in New York. (Pink). People like Lady Pink have turned this illegal activity into a form of artistic expression, which has moved around the neighborhoods of New York City, all the way into the contemporary art world.
People use art to express their opinions and the way that they feel about life around them. Growing up, I learned how to express myself through music, and I am learning how people can do the same thing, but with art. Street art provides New York City artists and the communities that they represent (especially ethnic communities) with a medium through which they can communicate a specific message about the social, economic, political, etc. issues that they are facing. Artists turning blank walls into explicit messages can tell an audience a lot about New York, as well as give artists a voice and the ability to express their opinions in whichever way they choose.
Some artists choose to make their name broad for everyone to notice, while others choose to hide behind a shadow and let the art speak for itself. Artists signing their work (tagging) is not very common on the streets of New York City. (Colucci). When you go to a high class museum such as the Met, you learn about the background of the artist and the background of the piece and the experience is controlled. However, when you go to see street art, you have a more freeing experience in the raw streets of New York. It is a spontaneous surprise to what you will discover next, and it allows you to see the art in context and ask yourself- Why is this here? Why is this art right here? What is happening in this neighborhood? What do people love/hate/fear here? The act of leaving a mural anonymous is to leave the audience with their own interpretation without the influence a museum may give them. It is a true feeling of freedom, which is something that cannot be replaced.
To some, street art is just a backdrop for their next picture on Instagram, but to artists, it is a way to show their voice and express the social and political issues that intertwine within the city. There is no better way of experiencing artwork in New York then exploring alleyways and empty buildings to discover it. Walking through the various streets of the city, you are bound to find images and random sketches along the way. There are places, such as the Graffiti Hall of Fame, which is in near Park Avenue, that are a preserved free space for graffiti artists to paint. If an audience is looking more into pieces, specifically murals displaying colors and images that are mind blowing, some maps can guide you around the city. For example, some great paintings are in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. These areas are home to many of the most “eye-catching and inspirational” pieces around New York City (Brooks).
Along with provocative pieces comes an inspiration for the artist. Rising race tension, ethnic tension, social issues, and class issues are all some of the problems that New York City has faced. These issues have exploded in riots in the city and have caused violence and discrimination within the people. An example of a violent riot is the New York Race Riot that began in Harlem, New York, in 1964. When James Powell, a fifteen year-old, was shot by a white off-duty police officer on July 18, 1964, around eight thousand people living in Harlem sparked a riot in the city. This riot rose to a new scale of violence when people started breaking windows, setting fires, and destroying properties of local businesses. This riot was caused by race tension, and the violence in the city spread to all different neighborhoods and continued for six days. This riot emphasized the racial tension within the streets of New York, but also served as a voice for the people who felt the “civil unrest” that had overcome the communities in New York City (“New York Race Riots”).
Tensions such as those felt during these riots, began to be reflected by street art. People spoke through riots in the 60’s and after discovering a way to express themselves through art, it became more commonly seen. In the 90’s artists were defining the practice by making it more recognizable, and throughout the 2000’s street art become more mainstream. This all led to today, where street artists speak their visions through their art. We as an audience see these current issues being reflected through today’s larger murals. Artist’s emotions fuel their creativity, and this leads art like street murals to be painted. Street art creates a life to the neighborhoods of New York City and adds a personal aspect to the city.
This is a chimney in Long Island, Queens which is decorated by brothers and artists Icy and Sot. Icy and Sot are stencil artists from Tabriz, Iran, and are currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Both brothers have brought some of their international urban art culture depicting economic justice, human rights, and social political issues and have globalized their art around Iran, the USA, Germany, China, and Norway (Bruner).
This is another piece in Long Island, Queens by a Brazilian artist named Alexandre Keto. He was influenced by the Hip Hop movement and began to creating street art ten years ago. Keto had a large sense of social awareness and is famous for his murals. His inventory includes over 1,000 pieces in over 12 countries. This piece highlights contemporary social issues and displays awareness of race and class issues (Bruner).
This piece is on a building in Harlem has been given the “Lunar New Year Treatment” and was painted by Laiqa Nuna Yawar, a large scale muralist and educator who paints about injustice, racism, and xenophobia. Yawar says, “My work focuses on amplifying the silenes narratives of underserved communities, migrants, and people of color by using the power of public art and figurative representation.” (Bruner).
This graffiti portrait was painted by LMNOPI and is located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The artist chose this canvas because of how the face blends into the wood surface. This piece highlights and addresses social and political issues and is supposed to highlight overlooked communities such as immigrants, people of color, and most of all: women. LMNOPI says in an interview, “All of the problems facing people on the planet at this time stem from the capitalistic system which is a global scope. It’s exactly like a malignant cancer on the planet, only the planet cannot be killed, ultimately.” LMNOPI is passionate about her work and had a spiritual connection to the way creating art makes her feel (Bruner).
These artists have all taken personal opinions and experiences and created murals for all of New York City to see. By living in the diverse city of New York, we can see that expressing yourself can be done in a number of ways. Some use violence, riots, and discrimination while while others use the peace of music and artistic expression. Riots are run by people who have a loud voice who are willing to shout to the streets with their opinions with no caution about how they may be getting judged. On the other hand, many people want to scream, but are unable to build up enough rage or enough voice to do anything about it. They are scared- scared of being judged or being thought of as wrong. Some do in fact have enough of a voice to scream, but in a different way: through art. Each color is used as a different emotion depicting their every tone, each stroke of the paintbrush is the equivalent to one sigh of relief, and each piece is used as a voice, a voice for all people.
This painting, and pieces like this from the past, represent the life of art and expression around New York City starting in the early 1970’s.
Street art is commonly defined as art created in a public place created without official permission. This artistic movement, which began with doodles on concrete, started to become more common around the streets of New York when nicknames and tags started showing up on the sides of train cars and walls. In 1973, this movement turned into it being more about artists getting their name out there. The mid 70’s was when more intricate pieces with bigger typography letters were beginning to show up. Spray paint became a very popular tool and tagging the inside of trains and subway cars became commonly noticed. In 1995, the “standards were set” for graffiti artists- specifically in New York, the city in which artists were becoming competitive in getting there pieces out there. This was also a time period when New York City was lacking wealth so the transit system was very poorly maintained and very few people cared about the graffiti that was slowly being added. In this decade, young people were responding to their environment by expressing themselves and they began to expand their style by creating bubble letters with more intricate designs in them. In the late 1970’s and through the early 1980’s, the Metropolitan Transit Authorities of New York spent around 150 million dollars removing graffiti from public areas of the city. Because this art was being removed, it created tension between the artists and some began to switch their canvases and create large murals. (Speerstra).
Street art in this time period started to take many forms. An example of a unique artists who roamed the streets in this time period is Lady Pink. Lady Pink was among one of the first women to make graffiti art in 1979. Her experience with graffiti began when she wanted to have fun with friends and be “down with the cool crowd” (Pink). She started by just tagging her name in train cars in the South Bronx because for her she says, “It was all about me. Look at me, here I am” (Pink). In an interview, Lady Pink summarizes that when you are young, it is about the fun, and when you get older you start to notice the larger world issues. She says, “I try to tell a little story with my painting and it’s platform, it’s a voice for the artists. So, If i can bring attention to some kind of issue or injustice some, something I need to scream out- my art is the way to do it. So I don’t work like a poet. I don't write little words. I just tell my story using imagery, using pictures and stuff like that” (Pink). Lady Pink now works on commissioned fine art paintings and murals in New York. (Pink). People like Lady Pink have turned this illegal activity into a form of artistic expression, which has moved around the neighborhoods of New York City, all the way into the contemporary art world.
People use art to express their opinions and the way that they feel about life around them. Growing up, I learned how to express myself through music, and I am learning how people can do the same thing, but with art. Street art provides New York City artists and the communities that they represent (especially ethnic communities) with a medium through which they can communicate a specific message about the social, economic, political, etc. issues that they are facing. Artists turning blank walls into explicit messages can tell an audience a lot about New York, as well as give artists a voice and the ability to express their opinions in whichever way they choose.
Some artists choose to make their name broad for everyone to notice, while others choose to hide behind a shadow and let the art speak for itself. Artists signing their work (tagging) is not very common on the streets of New York City. (Colucci). When you go to a high class museum such as the Met, you learn about the background of the artist and the background of the piece and the experience is controlled. However, when you go to see street art, you have a more freeing experience in the raw streets of New York. It is a spontaneous surprise to what you will discover next, and it allows you to see the art in context and ask yourself- Why is this here? Why is this art right here? What is happening in this neighborhood? What do people love/hate/fear here? The act of leaving a mural anonymous is to leave the audience with their own interpretation without the influence a museum may give them. It is a true feeling of freedom, which is something that cannot be replaced.
To some, street art is just a backdrop for their next picture on Instagram, but to artists, it is a way to show their voice and express the social and political issues that intertwine within the city. There is no better way of experiencing artwork in New York then exploring alleyways and empty buildings to discover it. Walking through the various streets of the city, you are bound to find images and random sketches along the way. There are places, such as the Graffiti Hall of Fame, which is in near Park Avenue, that are a preserved free space for graffiti artists to paint. If an audience is looking more into pieces, specifically murals displaying colors and images that are mind blowing, some maps can guide you around the city. For example, some great paintings are in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. These areas are home to many of the most “eye-catching and inspirational” pieces around New York City (Brooks).
Along with provocative pieces comes an inspiration for the artist. Rising race tension, ethnic tension, social issues, and class issues are all some of the problems that New York City has faced. These issues have exploded in riots in the city and have caused violence and discrimination within the people. An example of a violent riot is the New York Race Riot that began in Harlem, New York, in 1964. When James Powell, a fifteen year-old, was shot by a white off-duty police officer on July 18, 1964, around eight thousand people living in Harlem sparked a riot in the city. This riot rose to a new scale of violence when people started breaking windows, setting fires, and destroying properties of local businesses. This riot was caused by race tension, and the violence in the city spread to all different neighborhoods and continued for six days. This riot emphasized the racial tension within the streets of New York, but also served as a voice for the people who felt the “civil unrest” that had overcome the communities in New York City (“New York Race Riots”).
Tensions such as those felt during these riots, began to be reflected by street art. People spoke through riots in the 60’s and after discovering a way to express themselves through art, it became more commonly seen. In the 90’s artists were defining the practice by making it more recognizable, and throughout the 2000’s street art become more mainstream. This all led to today, where street artists speak their visions through their art. We as an audience see these current issues being reflected through today’s larger murals. Artist’s emotions fuel their creativity, and this leads art like street murals to be painted. Street art creates a life to the neighborhoods of New York City and adds a personal aspect to the city.
This is a chimney in Long Island, Queens which is decorated by brothers and artists Icy and Sot. Icy and Sot are stencil artists from Tabriz, Iran, and are currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Both brothers have brought some of their international urban art culture depicting economic justice, human rights, and social political issues and have globalized their art around Iran, the USA, Germany, China, and Norway (Bruner).
This is another piece in Long Island, Queens by a Brazilian artist named Alexandre Keto. He was influenced by the Hip Hop movement and began to creating street art ten years ago. Keto had a large sense of social awareness and is famous for his murals. His inventory includes over 1,000 pieces in over 12 countries. This piece highlights contemporary social issues and displays awareness of race and class issues (Bruner).
This piece is on a building in Harlem has been given the “Lunar New Year Treatment” and was painted by Laiqa Nuna Yawar, a large scale muralist and educator who paints about injustice, racism, and xenophobia. Yawar says, “My work focuses on amplifying the silenes narratives of underserved communities, migrants, and people of color by using the power of public art and figurative representation.” (Bruner).
This graffiti portrait was painted by LMNOPI and is located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The artist chose this canvas because of how the face blends into the wood surface. This piece highlights and addresses social and political issues and is supposed to highlight overlooked communities such as immigrants, people of color, and most of all: women. LMNOPI says in an interview, “All of the problems facing people on the planet at this time stem from the capitalistic system which is a global scope. It’s exactly like a malignant cancer on the planet, only the planet cannot be killed, ultimately.” LMNOPI is passionate about her work and had a spiritual connection to the way creating art makes her feel (Bruner).
These artists have all taken personal opinions and experiences and created murals for all of New York City to see. By living in the diverse city of New York, we can see that expressing yourself can be done in a number of ways. Some use violence, riots, and discrimination while while others use the peace of music and artistic expression. Riots are run by people who have a loud voice who are willing to shout to the streets with their opinions with no caution about how they may be getting judged. On the other hand, many people want to scream, but are unable to build up enough rage or enough voice to do anything about it. They are scared- scared of being judged or being thought of as wrong. Some do in fact have enough of a voice to scream, but in a different way: through art. Each color is used as a different emotion depicting their every tone, each stroke of the paintbrush is the equivalent to one sigh of relief, and each piece is used as a voice, a voice for all people.
Works Cited
Brooks, Katherine. "Here's Your Definitive Map To Exploring Street Art In New York City." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Aug. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.
Bruner, Raisa. "A Photographer Embarked on a Mission to Document New York City's Best
Street Art before It Disappeared - Here Are Some of His Favorites." Business Insider.
Business Insider, 25 Mar. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.
Colucci, Emily. "Who Is The Artist? Thoughts on Anonymous Street Art." Hyperallergic.
Hyperallergic, 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.
Speerstra. "About Graffiti and Street Art." About Graffiti and Street Art - Speerstra. Speerstra,
n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
"New York Race Riots." Civil Rights Digital Library. Civil Rights Digital Library, 10 Feb. 2017.
Web. 23 Mar. 2017.
Pink, Lady. Interview by Grace Fitzpatrick. 7 March 2017.
Brooks, Katherine. "Here's Your Definitive Map To Exploring Street Art In New York City." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Aug. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.
Bruner, Raisa. "A Photographer Embarked on a Mission to Document New York City's Best
Street Art before It Disappeared - Here Are Some of His Favorites." Business Insider.
Business Insider, 25 Mar. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.
Colucci, Emily. "Who Is The Artist? Thoughts on Anonymous Street Art." Hyperallergic.
Hyperallergic, 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.
Speerstra. "About Graffiti and Street Art." About Graffiti and Street Art - Speerstra. Speerstra,
n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
"New York Race Riots." Civil Rights Digital Library. Civil Rights Digital Library, 10 Feb. 2017.
Web. 23 Mar. 2017.
Pink, Lady. Interview by Grace Fitzpatrick. 7 March 2017.