The UK has been a bastion of free speech for many years now and it is something I am very proud of. Our recent heritage is full of great bands, writers, artists and film makers that have thrived in tolerant society that has welcomed free expression. The UK’s artists are known the world over for pushing boundaries and mixing together genres of art to create sub-genres and in some cases completely new genres!
However I sometimes wonder what this tolerant, free society is going to make of the latest trend to hit the streets of the city, political urban art. Of course I realise Its not a new phenomenon , look at the scrawl on the old Berlin Wall or on the walls in Northern Ireland and you would find political graffiti slogans left in protest and to provoke thought. You can even find the ancient paintings of any native race anywhere in the world on rock faces or cave walls, whether they were made as decorative pieces or with some social impact in mind, who knows? Even in its most recent form as scrawl with spray can on a wall it has been alive in this country for years.
The point is it is becoming very evident to me that this is becoming something of an epidemic here in London. When I say becoming, well I travel the streets searching this stuff out and I can tell you it is on the rise in quite a dramatic fashion here! Kids, young men and professional artists are getting more and more confident and ballsy about making bigger and more controversial statements on the walls of our city.
The obvious answer is Banksy has created a precedent for the flood gates to open… although he was not the first to create this form of political graffiti in London, he is just the most well known and the first to achieve worldwide fame and fortune. But I feel to blame him or to even praise him for this would be wrong because to me he is only responding to the problems in society not creating them. Almost like blaming Hip Hop for the problems in Harlem, it’s short sited and completely missing the point. These artists are responding to the way the people are feeling right now and trying to get their voices heard the only way they can.
For me this rise in political graffiti stems from the feeling that the noise society is creating is so loud and inconsequential the important points are not reaching the people. For example, a messed up singer will get front page headlines of our major newspapers while continued atrocities are being committed the world over by that do not even get a mention! How can a footballers affair be more important to the people than 2 million refugees going without food, water and medicine in Dafur. We are being drowned in a sea of pointless messages, with the substance floating past unnoticed. Whether you think it’s a problem with society or a government ploy to control us it’s clear that that to get the message across artists are resorting to more drastic measures. These measure are to take to the streets and to paint them on our walls for all to see… and in that respect I support what many of them are trying to do.
Now I’m not saying all of this is political, some is just a beautiful piece of artwork designed to brighten up a… well Urban sh1thole! As well as this much of it is blatant vandalism that causes distress to its victims and actually ruins a perfectly beautiful building. Whatever the point is I have been documenting these images in my own way for years now. I don’t want to just show the images, I want to show them in context, this means including a bit about their surroundings and even the people that pass them on a day to day basis. The rest is up to you as to what you consider art, political messages, vandalism or even all three put together!
So I am making it my mission to bring these images to you in what will be called my URBAN DÉCOR Journal, this is part 1
Ben AKA Redtempa
rochelle, 7 months ago
I love to see public art, community art, street art and graffiti – whatever we choose to call it – though I must admit i hate tagging. We have always used our surroundings as the backdrop or canvas to express ourselves and will continue to do so. I love your work, you are recording important social commentary. So please keep doing it. I look forward to the next instalment.
Redtempa in reply to rochelle’s comment, 7 months ago
Thanks Rochelle, your right it is important to see both sides of this issue, tagging causes a lot of distress to people and I always try to respect that many people have had negative experiences of graffiti. The whole subject intrigues me because of how thin the line is between what is art and crime, what is a positive addition to its surroundings and what is negative. I’m glad that the public as a whole in the UK are reasonably open minded to artwork from talented artists rather than condemning them all as criminals. In that respect Banksy has done a good thing to promote this form of art in a positive way. The increase in tagging has been the flip side of his fame. I’m sure this subject will boil over at some point so watch this space!
cdwork, 7 months ago
Love your take on the art graffiti issue! It’s the lack of respect for others’ property that really irks me! Perhaps an indication of bad parenting, which indicates a big flaw in todays society and on and on! Perhaps we all should start giving it more than lip service- like you! well done
Redtempa in reply to cdwork’s comment, 7 months ago
Thanks Cdwork, much appreciated :)
Jonathan Russell, 7 months ago
I like that you’re lookign at these things inside their urban context, Redtempa. Not sure about the link b/w political graffiti and the mass media however – here in Melbourne at least, we’re also seeing a lot of graffiti writers picking up on themes from celebrity culture – Paris Hilton stencils etc.
My personal impression would be that if political graffiti is becoming more prevalent, it may have something to do with the icreased availability of information (and hence awareness) about such things, especially through non-traditional media (thinking especially about the internet here). Seems like people can, if they so desire, have access to more news about the world around them than they ever did before – and maybe that’s making them want to go out there and make their statement more than in the past.
Either way, interesting article, and I look forward to more.
blamo, 7 months ago
the brixton mural uk has been up for years ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i just see the latest stuff as following a trend
Redtempa, 7 months ago
Very true Blamo, thank you for your comment, however if it is the one I’m thinking of it was put there with the permission of the local authority and therefore has a message that has been censored at some level. This is slightly different to graffiti and urban art I am talking about that has been put there illegally and has the freedom to express whatever opinion the creator desires.
Juilee Pryor, 7 months ago
great post…. wonderful images and great bit of writing… and people have been drawing on walls since the cave days and they always will. I love street art for it style and truth and urgency and power…. fantastic
berndt2, 7 months ago
Spectacular work and a great portfolio of images. I like the underlying theme, too : it’s art, it’s commentary, it’s vandalism, it’s compelling, it’s offensive, it’s victims and victimhood, it’s innocent bystanders, it’s conscious offenders.
Can’t wait for part 2!
MuscularTeeth
,
7 months ago
my friend has a DVD of street art from japan, china, UK, thailand etc..
it was a really interesting DVD 0 i cant remember its name).
but what was really interesting was they were saying that places like thailand where there is national service – there is little grpahiti, and what there is is allowed by the govt..
your article is excelltn.
Tina Renaud, 7 months ago
Brilliant idea Ben…
it just shows the more control governments place on the people, the more they are going to act upon it. There are some beautiful works out there, and tho I don’t agree with tagging…I do feel there are some strong messages being made, and people should pay closer attention to some of them.
Well Done!
Eleni Sofroniou, 7 months ago
Thanks for that Ben, you touched on some very important issues.