Final Post

Overall, there's clearly an array here of art forms here - in this blog we see black lettered tags, wheat pasted commodities, stickers, contemporary-like painting, tile installments... yet the same central idea prevails through all of these works - getting the artist and their work out there, and getting seen. Even if the artist has an agenda they are trying to promote, they too are trying to promote themselves at the same time. 

Some of these works were small, hidden, almost to the point of having to scout them out to actually see them. Some stood alone, huge, obviously waiting to be seen. Regardless, each of them had a purpose, and the artist put them there for a reason. I think that the one thing I took away most from this blog was to get out there and really LOOK at the surrounding world. Street art is everywhere, graffiti is everywhere. Especially in cities near to us like San Diego, or DTLA, it is an ever-present aspect of urban landscape.  These types of works are important because they open up a new level of art that is unseen in (most) galleries and museums, they shed insight into the culture and the scenery of the area they are presented in. 

Each of these artists undoubtedly had a different thematic element for their work, but overall, just SEEING the work and knowing it is there is what was most important from the cultivation of this  blog. We do not need to know the answers to everything we come across, yet sometimes it is just nice to take some time to admire the scenery around us. As Norman Mailer recants in his 1974 Esquire article, "We are trying to digest the aesthetic experience... for a new civilization may be stirring in its roots". By examining street art and graffiti, we are opening up a new passage way into the future teachings of art "history" and identification. 

Sources: Norman Mailer, "The Faith of Graffiti", Esquire Magazine 1974.

Skullphone - Sticker Art

Found: Camino Rosa & Ola Vista, San Clemente (SC okayed by Lara)

High up on a wall littered with stickers in San Clemente, I found this Skullphone Sticker slapped up next to quite a few other stickers on a wall near a liquor store. The area was in a slightly seedier location, so the amount of sticker and graffiti was non surprising to me. But, what was surprising to me was due to maybe the amount of stickers there, there was no effort to take them down or rid the area of the street art. In many different things I have read, cities and locations oftentimes try to rid themselves of their label as a dirtier, seedier area, and attempt to clean and rid itself of the street art and graffiti within the area. Seeing as in general, San Clemente is a fairly affluent beach town, this wall came as a bit of a surprise. Regardless  so far, a multitude of different methods of street and graffiti art were presented in this area, but sticker art reigned as the supreme method. 

What struck out first and foremost here with this piece is that we've moved away from methods of "graffiti" in the way of tags of wheat pasted projections, and instead moved on to the medium of sticker art. And as such, with such an artists with high notoriety like Skullphone, I found it interesting that the medium, sticker, is so versatile and can be used essentially anywhere. Thus, the sticker is this medium that makes it easy for any artists, known or not, to get their name out in the public eye. Just as it would be acceptable for national companies ranging from stores, schools, etc use stickers to get their message or their advertisement out, the stickers used in street art saved that same function. We as consumers use stickers to promote our loyalty and devotion, proudly showing off our favorite bands, or schools we go/went to, even churches we attend. Why would it be any different for a street artists to continue to be marginalized for presenting and marketing themselves in a similar manner?

Continually, this action really fuels the idea of creating works of street art and presenting them as a more mainstream art due to its skill level. Anyone can slap a sticker on an object, and walk away quickly. It takes less time, effort, even skill than bombing a wall or scouting a location and a perfect time to finally cover a wall. For example, this past weekend I saw Shepard Fairey and his wife stopped at a stoplight. His wife got out, slapped on Obey sticker on an electrical box, got back in the car and drove away. There was no need for planning foresight, stress, gathering supplies. Just like this Skullface sticker, she peeled off the back, walked up, stuck it on, and walked away. Simple as that. 

I was really impressed with the medium of sticker art  as a subculture of street art because it seems so widely accepted in other contexts. It would probably be somewhat unacceptable for McDonalds to start a campaign of tags and bombs on city walls and street. But, it probably wouldn't be as big of a deal seeing and McDonalds sticker on a wall, or a window, or a car. I question the double standard that it presents in other categories, specifically street artists (such as Skullphone) and their presentation and representation to the general public. 

*Slightly anecdotal, but I worked for a printing company that made stickers for bands throughout San Diego county. The paper we used for them made it nearly impossible to get off of whatever wall or window you stuck it on. When you would try to peel off the corner of a sticker, that was literally the only part that ripped off. Essentially, these stickers were indestructible, and a perfect versatile medium for street art and public awareness. I still find stickers from some 5-6 years ago stuck on walls today.

Space Invaders - Downtown SD Tile Art

Found: Downtown, Horton Plaza (x2), 1st & F, 4th & C, 6th & C

One of the most prominent cult-followed examples of street art in downtown San Diego is hands down the 21 Space Invaders that take over the town, created by French Street Artist Invader during the summer of 2010. Invader worked alone to put these 21 8-bit themed tile creations up within the city. Though now some of those 21 pieces have been taken down, there is no denying that these pieces help define the culture of the San Diego Street art scene.

The most obvious aspect of this street art that separates it from the rest of the works I had seen would be that the invaders show a different element of street art placement and medium unseen (for me), at least on this blog. Where the works of graffiti like tags or bombs tends to be more of a fast paced, do it and go art form, the fact that tiles are used to create the works fascinate me. Rather than seek a spot, tag your name, plant your sticker/poster/whatever and go, here we're working with taking the time to get to a desirable spot and create a dimensional work of art secured on with industrial cement (per the artist's FAQ). I find that with works like this, the public may find them more desirable as works of art in comparison to, say, a bomb across a wall, and then the piece will likely stay up longer than other pieces of different medium because they are viewed as a piece of art, rather than a vandalized wall. Additionally, Invader notes that in the FAQ these Invaders are a pretty big pain the get off a wall... likely adding to their security in placement, as well.

Thus, a comment regarding these works in correlation with the state of graffiti and street art in SD may come through as if it looks "desirable", or even "nice" (subjectively, of course), the piece may have a better and longer chance thriving time in its spot. I would compare this to the Encinitas piece in earlier posts, as the piece is painted, seemingly more artistic than a bomb or a throwie up on a side wall. While some of the invaders have been taken down and removed, it seems that a majority of them have stayed.

Continually, I feel like a large thematic element coming from these pieces is the idea of celebrating and representing pop culture. In a city like San Diego, where we're most known for Comic-Con each summer, we've now (even if unintentionally) opened up this great element of gamer culture by having these classic space invaders adorning the streets of downtown, for interested parties to come and seek, while at the same time, opening up their knowledge of the San Diego area through this. In Wollans' NYT article "Graffiti's Cozy, Feminine Side", the author notes that the nod towards pop culture (in this case, Sayeg's yarn bombings) brings the artist more prominence and awareness in the art world. Undoubtedly, this has done the same for Invader, as his works are now featured on dive different continents and 35 different cities. 

Overall, these space invaders to me are the perfect representation of using street art "vandalism" to open up references of pop culture and contemporary fusion while gaining acceptance and following of otherwise unlikely interested parties in street art and graffiti.

Sources:

1. http://www.space-invaders.com/ (For any factual Invader information)

2. Malia Wollan, "Graffiti's Cozy, Feminine Side"

Downtown SD - Tag Wall

Found: Downtown San Diego, aprox 7th and C

Near the downtown trolley area, near a dilapidated building I came across this tag wall. Upon the wall were an array of different tags and bombs, all done in a simplistic black marker. What I found most interesting about these three works, (the 'name' tag, the 'slogan' tag, and the 'image' tag) is that they all three evoke a personal contribution of the taggers style, while each one is still depicting a different aesthetic element of the idealism of a simple graffiti tag. 

The first piece seems to have two different names, one of them Skylar, the other Tase (from what I can make out as an amateur). Rather than having any real insight into what the artist/tagger is trying to "make a statement" of, it seems that the statement itself is just getting the artist(s) name out in the open and into recognition, either by other taggers, or simply by-passers of the route.

 The slogan piece, "Bills" Kill All, gave me a similar vibe as the first piece, but worked with a different type of declaration. Rather than just a simple name tag, there's a bit of a play on words here... who is/are "Bills"? Are we using this as a euphemism for a person? Gang? Group of people? Lastly, the Slave piece was what originally caught my eye in the first place when walking along the wall. Differentiating from the other two pieces, this tag includes an element of visual symbolism, through the pyramid. 

Such as Style Wars focused so much of these young, fresh taggers marking up any space they could find to display their names onto, as a sense of self identity, I feel like a similar idea theme is going on here. Where in SW, the artists were literally using every inch of the subway trains to "mark their territory" or "stake their claim", here, in San Diego, these artists are making the same similar name for themselves by marketing their work on walls of buildings on main streets, where throngs of people walk by and will notice day in and day out. We as the viewer are getting a glimpse of personal representation through tag, symbol, statement without the artist ever having to show their face. We are then able to understand a piece of the artist's agenda, whatever it may be, through their work. The pieces are more for personal and inter-personal relationships between artists and taggers, rather than for the mainstream public to understand and relate to in the same way. It is as much as an emotional appeal to the creator of the work as anything.

Sources:
1. "Style Wars", 1983 Film, PBS.

Twiggy - Wheat Paste

Found: Downtown SD, near Broadway and Horton Plaza

On the side of a barrier wall that was between a building under reconstruction and the street, I came upon this Twiggy wheat paste street art. The size, about two feet tall by one foot wide made is so that many people walking or even driving near the piece could see it. Additionally, the piece was accessibly at about face level height.

With the technique, it looks to me that the artist created a stencil of Twiggy that was spray painted onto a piece on contact paper in black, then the yellow for her iconic blond hair was added via an aerosol paint base. The piece then was cut out, and wheat pasted onto the diving wall. Different from other wheat pasted pieces I came across, this piece did not seem to have any claimed "author", as the others elsewhere downtown had the wheat pasted subject, then the artist tagged their street name on the piece somewhere discrete, for the sake of recognition. 

I found the technique pretty  similar to the way Shepard Fairey creates his work, as well as questioned what the "point" of the work was.  Unfortunately, this piece only had a mustache drawn on and "cunt" sprawled across the forehead... I presume these were more vandalized than intended by the original poster.

Thematically, through this piece I was reminded of the "Function of Subculture" piece by Simon During we were assigned to read for the class. Being that Twiggy is undoubtedly the most recognizable persona from the 1960's British "Mod" fashion period, it comes as no surprise to me that she would be slapped  upon a wall, seeing that she is used countless time throughout the ages as a marketing tool for the subculture she represents. While I wouldn't call it "cult-following" per-say, particularly, I was driven by the thought that During brings up of "fanship and niche marketing... fus[ing]". Idol worship is something that is so rampant in western culture, that I don't know if the Twiggy piece upon the wall is representative of the idealism of interest, or satire.

Does this piece call attention to the people who idolize Twiggy in a condescending light? Is this a piece drawing focus on the worship of psuedo-false idols? OR, alternatively, does the artist's namesake work just happen to be large-scale wheat paste stencils of Twiggy's face? As Fairey states in the Mod Painters article, his Andre the Giant pieces were meant to "Mimic advertising, but without a product". Could this come across as the same method of representation?

Overall, of  works I saw during my time downtown, this was the one I liked the most. I appreciated that is was held with this mystery that kind of made me think a little bit more about why it was their and what its representation was supposed to mean. Also, because the piece was at ground level and still present for the public to see, it made me believe that it was found to be more "street art" that a random act of vandalism in the city. 

Sources:
 1. Joshua Bearman, "Street Cred" article
2. Simon During, "Function of Subculture" article

Encinitas - Street Art

Found: PCH, Wall of East Village Asian Diner, Encinitas

Covered behind a layer of trees growing over the wall, P. Daniel 

Aguilar's piece is hiden on the side of an Asian restaurant in downtown Encinitas . Notably
different from the other works seen around San diego, this seems to be more a work with a
contemporary street art feel, rather than a random act of bombing or
tagging graffiti. Within this piece, we're viewing a pieces with a focus: there's
composition and character, the work is much softer than the downtown pieces.

Based off the area alone, this work is what is to be expected from a more
art-centric location such as Encinitas, a town of artists and embracing of a "laid-back"
lifestyle. Where the tags and bombs downtown were done across walls of
abandoned buildings, this work is painted on a white wall on the side of a
thriving establishment. This piece is meant to be looked at and noticed (well, prior to the tree overgrowth, that is).
It reflects the culture of the type of art that is popular within the
area, and displaying the work of an artist, meant to be there for an audience
that likely is drawn to similar style in art.

Upon viewing this piece originally, I was drawn to the fact that the face,
the movement, and the emotion seemed similar to that of some of the
artists featured in the "Beautiful Losers" crew, specifically Margaret
Kilgallen and Barry McGee, and their character works that that became / are notorious for. The body in both their works, as well as
Aguilar's seem to have this similar curvature, softness even, as well as
the skewed and vibrant facial features. The piece seems more involved in
creating a character of emotional appeal rather than creating a 'namesake'
for the artist, in my opinion.

Additionally, this piece is painted, rather than tagged with marker or
aerosol. Though the artist is not female, I was reminded of one aspect of
the "Street Girls" article that denotes the mediums of expression. Aguilar
is working with a medium that is maybe more comfortable with him, an
"ongoing trend in the development of urban street art". By using a medium
that the artist is more well-versed in, a more versatile range of artwork
can be created by the artist. Thus, there is no definitive medium, nor
subject matter for street art.


My overall thoughts on this piece is that out of all of the works I
found, I enjoyed this one the most because it was a style, that simply put, I just liked and 

was drawn to more. It didn't take away from the other types of urban art I came across,
 it was just that this one was something that was a little more relatable
to me aesthetically.

Image of piece found online, pre-covering with overgrowth:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43901511@N00/6017297676/

Sources:

1. "Beautiful Losers" - 2008 film

2. Adeline J, "Street Girlz"