Street art has plenty of different variations: graffiti, stencils, sticker art, urban knitting, writings on walls, paste-ups, installations and many more. Basically any visual art that happens in the public realm of our streets could be classified as street art. It makes a city more colorful, can open up new perspectives or draw attention to necessary changes and unnecessary nuisances. However, in the minds of many people, street art is just vandalism and an illegal action.
What can be done to change this opinion? What can street artists do to become more respected in their art? How could we make everybody see the positive effects of street art—see it as an important art for—and change opinions on the art form in general?
Whether street art is considered vandalism or a form of art is dependent on the spectator. However, we think the public opinion of street art can be positively influenced if street art itself improves…and it is. Urban art is a strain of various artistic styles out on the streets that mirror urban subculture and contextualize urban lifestyle. Among them, tape art is a newly budding form that can be used an indicator for the development of this art form.
For us, urban art is a visual form of communication and thus subject to an evolutionary process. It is about adapting visual artwork to formats that tap the public space. It is meant to give people something to think about and to encourage people to reflect on their environment. Urban art is like visual food for your mind and your soul. Nowadays, this art form is slowly but surely getting broader attention and is being used to promote events, decorate stores and beautify interiors.
In spite of wider acceptance, most urban artists remain anonymous and work with an alias. This is a contradiction, because urban art is created by the people for the people. It is “public art” and thus needs to happen wholly in the public arena, not in the shadows.
Street art’s development towards urban art is an important step toward achieving social acceptance. Practicing the strain of street art that mirrors urban life, these artists enter into a dialogue with the public on political issues, social criticism, emotions, everyday life, the generation gap and city life in general.