Having recently heard an interesting Radio 4 programme
(The UK’s First Street Artist? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mk8zs)
about Walter Kershaw who was previously unknown to me, I decided to take street
artists as my theme for this exercise.
Street artists are not strictly illustrators in the
classic sense but by using public spaces they communicate their ideas in a way
which is freely accessible to their audience, they have the wall in common as
their chosen ground and freedom of expression as their core motivation, whether
or not their message is overtly political.
Walter Kershaw (http://www.walterkershaw.co.uk/) started
his campaign to brighten up his hometown of Rochdale, Lancashire by painting
murals in the 1970s, choosing to decorate drab, derelict and condemned
buildings which were due for demolition as part of the slum clearance
programme.
He’s credited with introducing street art to the UK, and the
author and graphic designer Tristan Manco (http://www.tristanmanco.com/)
said in his interview with the programme narrator Mark Hodkinson, who grew up
around Rochdale, that Walter Kershaw ‘has provenance as a pioneer’ and that the
way he uses mural painting as a method of ‘communicating with his audience and
being in touch with the community, sets it apart from other art’.
The temporary nature of his paintings, destroyed by
either weather or demolition didn’t bother Walter (since he had a photographic
record of them); neither did the council’s frequent letters of complaint. He
wasn’t motivated by money, fame or making overtly political statements, his
‘mission [was] to place art amongst the people’, to be spontaneous, have fun and
‘add laughter to life’ in the neighbourhoods he decorated. The vast majority of
the residents think he succeeded.
Graham Cooper, one of Walter’s early collaborators says
that the murals were a method of ‘mass communication’ and that the gesture of
painting them was a political one despite their lack of political content.
Walter says that he ‘enjoys the wit of modern street art’-
he singles out Banksy for praise, but sees himself as more ‘researchful and
traditional, [employing] accurate drawing and perspective’.
It seems that I’m not the only person inspired by the
radio programme since this Guardian article appeared the day after it was
broadcast:
Perhaps the most impressive of Walter’s murals for me is
the Trafford Park mural painted in 1982 http://www.walterkershaw.co.uk/trafford1982.htm,
for its huge scale, immaculate perspective, beautifully subtle colours and
detail, although it’s hard to choose between them. I also love the ‘Inside-out
House’ painted in Rochdale in 1975 (an image of this is featured in the
Guardian article) since, despite Walter’s statement, it is witty and I’m always
fascinated by the view of a partially demolished row of houses where you can
see the remains of the dividing walls and the wall paper of the rooms that once
stood there.
Walter and his painting partners used donated materials from
big paint companies in the 70’s, carrying cans on the back of a motorbike, no
handy spray cans for them.
At the start of the R4 programme Mark Hodkinson
ran through a list of other street artists; here are some of them:
Banksy
- started in the Bristol ‘aerosol boom’ of the
late 1980’s
- stencils, spray paint
- witty, dark, political
- anti-war, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchism, nihilism and existentialism
- figurative cartoon
- installation, painting, film making
- ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’: Thierry Guetta/Mr
Brainwash (easy to believe that he is an invention of Banksy and Shepard
Fairey; a clown through whom they can make vast sums of money without sullying
their own ‘brands’); Space Invader (mosaics); Shepherd Fairey (see below);
Seizer; Neckface; Ron English (painter); Dotmasters; Swoon (posters); Borf (commemorates
the life of his best friend who commited suicide by using his name);
Buffmonster
- Paintings (difficult to choose, but here goes)
o
Textual rather than figurative but laugh out
loud funny. The ‘unhand-drawn’ quality of the text makes the message seem more
‘official’ http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/poplar1.html
19 Feb 2013
Breaking news: Banksy's 'Slave Labour' has been taken from a wall in Haringey and is due to be auctioned in Miami
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/anger-as-banksys-poundland-mural-ripped-from-wall-and-set-for-auction-in-miami-for-450000-8499802.html
also discussed on BBC R4´s Front Row http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qmxg2 the following day.
Haringey council have urged the culture secretary to stop the auction and enable the return of the piece to Wood Green. The culture department have said that they won't intervene.Claire Kober, the council leader feels that the piece belongs to the people of Haringey while Godfrey Barker, the art market expert, states that the piece of wall on which it was painted belongs to the owners of the building and legally they can do what they like with it.
It seems unlikely that the auction won't go ahead but it wouldn't it be great if Banksy just painted another one in the same spot? If indeed it was him in the first place...
24 Feb 2013
The auction has been stopped and the ripped out Poundland wall has been redecorated http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-02-23/new-artwork-replaces-banksy-mural/
I like the nun.
King Robbo
Blek Le Rat
- Creator of life size stencil technique in early
1980s Paris
- Quoted as feeling both pleased to be an
inspiration to and annoyed by the use of his ‘invention’ and subject matter (particularly
rats and Madonna and child) by Banksy
- Beautiful, delicate and very French in style, I
love these stencil paintings at the Chateau de Sybille, which fit well with
their dilapidated surroundings.
·
Jef
Aerosol
Sickboy
- Bristol and London since 1995
- Uses logos instead of ‘tags’ temple logo 'Save the Youth'
slogan.
- Trained in fine art and also paints on canvas
- Not a fan of stencil work ‘I like the
freehand, grab-a-tin-of-spray-paint approach’
- Very colourful and freeform after all that black
and white stencil work, also very 3D in this nuart installation http://www.thesickboy.com/
- A more limited palette here and deceptively
complex textual piece, I Love this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/100artworks/2795919763/lightbox/
- Effective for the limited palette, clean lines
and repetition of the heart motif to demonstrate his love of the spray can in
this Love Supreme screen print http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/street-art/
Cartrain
Shepard Fairey
- Graphic designer and illustrator since 1984, USA
- http://www.obeygiant.com/
- World’s most prolific street artist in 2000
- ‘Question everything’
- Repetition of images, starting with Andre the Giant
the wrestler sticker campaign
- Anti-war, anti-Bush, conceptual art
- 2008 Obama Hope poster
o
Breach of copyright laws for using an Associated
Press image
- · Has threatened legal action against artists
using his imagery while himself accused of plagiarism
- ‘Acknowledged
the irony of being a street artist exploring themes of free speech while at the
same time being an artist hired by corporations for consumer campaigns’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey
Also mentioned in a Shortlist magazine article:
Vhils
Alexandre Orion
Inspired by the rat as a metaphor for the urban masses
used by Blek le Rat and Banksy, and because I am staying part time in a very
rural place change I decided to take a rooster as my first stencil project.
I also found this ad for a CD which I like very much, it uses a stencil type image on wood.
I had a photo and a line visual from a now shelved
project but decided I couldn’t work with either as they looked all stiff and
stilted
There was a big black rooster strutting in the field next door so I
went out and did a few really rough, quick sketches; two of which I found
pleasing in terms of invoking the rooster spirit.
This isn’t following the life-like ethos of my stencil
heroes but I’m always after a shortcut, also
I didn’t have access to lap top/photocopier/scanner/printer so I enlarged the
sketch by tracing and gridding and used the materials I had to hand. Actually I
did have spray paint for my car but I didn’t want to make a blue rooster so I
used acrylic paint applied with a brush.
His legs are too thin for a stencil so I painted them in
afterwards but they need to be thicker still...and here he is, updated
26th March 2013
Last weekend I painted two cockerels on my friend's kitchen door (at her request!)
I like the form of the negative space between them and my friend is delighted. Someone else has offered me money to paint some in her courtyard, which is great news.
This worked well as a screen print in black on fabric so,
since I had easy access to white spray paint, I decided to cut out the light parts
and spray the image onto a dark ground.
The cutting was really fiddly, I left some small areas
attached but probably not enough, as the stencil was a bit curly in the most
detailed areas.
I found some bits of dark wood and attached the stencil with spray
mount to counteract the curling edges, masking the edge of the paper with tape.
They worked pretty well although there was some ‘bleed’ around
the edges due to the stencil not being stuck down completely to the wood
I also had a go on cardboard, but this actually came out worse probably because I was a bit heavy handed with the spray.
Today I found the ideal public place to try the stencil without
arousing the interest of the authorities; a couple of grafitti’d ruins in the
sand dunes close to home...
Although there was a bit of furring of the edges because
I couldn’t get the stencil to stick closely to the walls without using my
fingers (I did leave the scene with white fingers...just as well I wasn’t
trying to evade detection...), and a bit of drip, I really like the effect of
this sprayed image over the colour and texture of the previously spray painted
and sun bleached walls.
I also enhanced some of the photos in photoshop to make
the images more intense.
I’d like to repeat this using thicker card, with the
image twice the size, leaving more anchor points to prevent the curling edges.
I think it’s a strong image and it works well at a
distance.
Stencil making proved quite labour intensive -planning
the cutting and practising the spraying before the event is vital to quick
execution on the scene and it’s easy to underestimate the skill required.
April 2013
I made a new stencil with more anchor points on A3 card
and headed out for the ruins in the dunes again, this time taking plastic gloves and a bag in which to carry the painty stencil home.
It was a new spray can and I didn't realise beforehand that there were a couple of plastic bits wedged under the nozzle to stop it spraying so I had to cast about for an implement with which to remove them...the ring pull from a rusty old drink can did the trick although it took a wee while.
Again the stencil still didn't stick well to the walls so I had to hold it down (great to have the gloves) but the bigger image did work better and in true tagging fashion I worked over artwork left by previous painters.
This was fun although the image definitely works better as a screen print than a stencil.
