The Possibility of Invasion
The Economist reflected on Banksy’s journey “from the cold streets to the prosperous warmth of London galleries and auction houses,” in the context of a piece that marveled at the financial accomplishments of the “graffiti artist” while questioning the system that validates his work as indeed worthy of attention and the price tag that comes with it. According to the artist, the world of art is nothing more than a big joke. According to the magazine, the artist could potentially be its greatest joker in recent history.
Whether art is serious stuff or not is not as interesting as what is at the center of the question: What happens to street art when is transplanted outside of the street? What The Economist and other serious folks really ponder is whether or not we can successfully separate the street from the art and still consider it art.
Channeling McLuhan we could argue that street art as part of a system ceases to exist when dissected into discrete parts and relocated to a gallery, auction house, or my living room. No more street art for sure, whether the art part remains is debatable. W. Terrence Gordon’s Everyman’s McLuhan [more about the book here], cleverly explains one of Understanding Media's core ideas: “Media operates in pairs, one effectively ‘containing’ another… so ‘information’ is dwarfed by the medium itself.”
The street in street art adds significant value to whatever message the artist intends to convey. The aggressiveness, irreverence, discontent, and plain rawness of the street serves as an amplifier to the savvy artist that understands and leverages the street as her medium. It is then worth thinking about the qualities of the gallery and other private spaces when attempting to make sense out of the same art in a different context. The official nature of such transactional spaces certainly alters the qualities associated with the street, driving attention away from its aggressiveness while revealing other aspects of the work.
I had the opportunity to attend WK Interact’s opening at Williamsburg’s espeis and couldn’t avoid feeling confused for a few minutes. The new context somehow eliminated the possibility of “invasion” and with it a lot of what is familiar about his work. With the spotlight on its aesthetics, other qualities and influences surfaced. I’m no art critic so I won’t speak about those but I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Speaking of street art out of the street, here are pieces one of my favorite murals, another artist, same neighborhood [if you want to check it out it might still be intact outside of The Front Room]. Needless to say, extracted from the street and dissected into individual images the piece morphs into something else. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
All photos by Miguel Angel Lacruz.