Page History

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Click here to listen to a National Public Radio story on Basquiat.

Click here to view Basquiat's exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum.

Click here to view Basquiat's exhibitions at the Whitney in New York City.

Haring

Keith Haring

The 1980s proved a boom-time for street art:

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Haring's "Statue of Liberty"

Click here to view Haring at the Whitney.

Click here for a list of Haring's museum collections.

Street Art Today

Basquiat and Haring established a tradition of street art that many young artists sought to emulate. Writes Carter, "In their wake, somewhat younger artists, edgy and ambitious, saw the streets as their studio, especially in the East Village." They "took painterly cues from" Basquiat and Haring. These artists include the likes of Barry McGee, Swoon, Blek Le Rat, D*Face, Judith Supine, Elbowtoe, Stickman, Retna, War Boutique, Kenichi (Ken) Hiratsuka, Brian Gormley, Scot Borofsky, Shepard Fairey, Faile, Blu, the Os Gemeos brothers, JR, Mark Jenkins, Nunca, Sweet Toof and Cyclops, Mau Mau, Sickboy, Sixeart, Roa, Futura, Neckface, and Roger Gastman. Collectively they have by now gained the street art genre something close to mainstream acceptance.

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By the Os Gemeos brothers

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By Sixeart

Click here to watch a BBC video of Faile on street art.

You will notice that among You will notice that among the artists listed above, only two of them – Swoon and Judith Supine -- are women. Women have had a difficult time finding their voice in the world of graffiti and street art. The struggle dates back to the origins of contemporary graffiti art, which arose in subcultures, including hip hop, punk, and gang-related enclaves that were not friendly to women. Individual female graffiti artists, such as Eva 62 and Lady Pink asserted their presence in the 1970s and 1980s, but the phenomenon has yet to catch on. Lady Pink encountered significant sexism in the masculine-identified, male-dominated circles she ran with, including Keith Haring's. She found that there was often "more interest in her body" than with "what she could do with a spray can." Even so, she persisted, and eventually "became a cult figure in both the graffiti movement and the closely-linked hip-hop subculture."

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The most recent development in street art is its entry into museums. Participation in museum exhibition confers a certain respect and prestige upon works of art that suggest an enhancement of status as recognized, quality work. The appearance of works by little-known as well as already-established artists in exhibitions such as "Street Art" at the Tate Modern in London in 2008 and "Art in the Street" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MoCA), which has already drawn thousands of viewers since its opening on June 13, 2011, underscores the rising prominence of graffiti as an accepted form of art.

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Click here to watch a video review of the Los Angeles MoCA's "Art in the Streets."

Click here for a tour of works appearing in the MoCA exhibit.

Retna does not appear entirely disposed to resent the negative press, however. After all, he points out, "graffiti art got its start as a form of rebellion, defiance. Maybe in a more beautiful way – we weren't going around breaking windows, and we wanted to beautify the environment – but the performance of it was illegal, and political in that we were going against powerful structures" of society and cultural norms. Even as street art gains credibility in mainstream venues, then, the artists themselves remain steadfast in their assumption of an "outsider," anti-establishment status. Street artist Gastman corroborates Retna's position on graffiti art and its relationship with crime: "You have to commit vandalism to be a graffiti artist," he tells the Wall Street Journal. "You sort of have to put in the work to be regarded."

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Examples of Retna's work:

Click here to view a series of Retna's museum and gallery exhibitions throughout the world.

Click here for a Flickr tour of Nunca at the Tate Modern in London.

Click here for a tour of Judith Supine's exhibition at Hobbs Gallery in Boston.

Click here for a Wall Street Journal interview with Sixeart on the ramifications for graffiti of its move into the museum world.

Click here for a BBC tour of a Banksy show at Bristol Museum.

Some commentators criticize the movement of street art into museums, galleries, and other venues of "high culture" as a passing "fad." "Today's absurd prices of 'the people's art' and 'this breakthrough means of authentic Some commentators criticize the movement of street art into museums, galleries, and other venues of "high culture" as a passing "fad." "Today's absurd prices of 'the people's art' and 'this breakthrough means of authentic expression' and 'commentary on popular culture with an investment value' will all come crashing down" (italics in original), contends Matt Gleason of The Daily Beast. But these critics overlook the rich history of street art when they dismiss it as little more than a fashion statement. True, it may only recently be achieving international acclaim and market success in elite domains, but street art has proven, despite its own claim to and reverence for its transitory nature, a lasting aesthetic form. Individual works may disappear, but new ones replace them. And the phenomenon does not appear to be going away any time soon.

References

the phenomenon does not appear to be going away any time soon.

References

http://basquiat.com/

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

http://www.haring.com/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/graffiti-street-art-ndash-or-crime-868736.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576313861591809884.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/05/25/graffiti-takes-on-high-art/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mat-gleason/street-art-market-collaps_b_856756.html

http://www.hobbsgallery.com/artist/supine/index.html^{Image Added}