Graffiti.

 

Graffiti in Bethlehem

The Bruges Street Art Festival was apparently launched in August but such is my unconscious power of resistance to publicity that I have only now discovered this city-wide exhibition of works of art sprayed chiefly on large gable ends, accomplished only by spray can and marker pen. I have now visited some of the various sites with friends to guide, and can see that these paintings come under the umbrella heading of Graffiti.

So I have delved into graffiti and found it unexpectedly interesting!

Graffiti in Melbourne.

Wikipedia defines graffiti [= Scratch. Singular: graffito, rarely used] as writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission, and within public view. It has, in fact, existed since ancient times in Greece, Egypt and the Roman Empire and is now treasured as both art form and information channel which has conveyed small details of then current lives, to posterity. Au contraire, modern graffiti is usually considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism. It became a growing urban problem for New York City subway, on cars and walls, where it started in the ‘70s before spreading to other parts of the U.S. and eventually to Europe and beyond. It was closely associated with gangs who used graffiti for a variety of purposes: for identifying or claiming territory; as informal obituaries to dead gang members; to challenge rival gangs and to chronicle various ‘achievements’.

Crusader graffiti in Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

I have noticed in Britain, that it often appears adjacent to railway tracks approaching cities [relatively easy access for the young and agile] and in run-down urban areas. When I worked in secondary education, it was a golden rule when some graffiti appeared on the outside of school buildings to have it removed as soon as possible. We never wasted time on trying to find the culprit who might, and might not, have been a pupil. Quick removal meant less chance of additional artistic efforts alongside the original; a plethora of wall-sprayed signs would somehow suggest a place with a lack of order and community, an absence of caring and a want of intellectual activity!

In spite of this, [or perhaps, because of this] it is now a rapidly-growing art form which inspires both

Subway car, New York City.

fervent admirers and detractors world-wide. To some, it is an authentic form of public art, continuing in the U.S. the tradition of the Government-commissioned murals done during the Great Depression. And also in the Diego Rivera mode; this famous Mexican artist returned to live in Mexico in 1921 and became involved in the government-sponsored Mexican Mural Programme which effectively launched his career [when he was already a famous artist] as a muralist. Of course, the amateur graffiti artists of today are not always so talented though they are profuse. But one does notice, particularly with historic examples, that graffiti is often political and sends a message more pithy than words.

And I haven't even mentioned Banksy in Britain, an anonymous street artist and political agitator whose satirical street art and subversive epigrams have inspired millions of admirers and whose work fetches huge sums of money.

Girl with Red Balloon
Probably a universal favourite by Banksy.

Tel Aviv, Israel.

Budapest.

Inside the ruins of the German
Reichstag Building.

One World.
Modern example.

And now for a Post Script added after

first publication!

Werregarenstraat, Ghent.
Graffiti Street.

A friend rang me as I was writing the above and then sent me several links about graffiti in Portugal and in Ghent. I was amazed at the Ghent Graffiti Situation. In the Mail Online of June 26th 2018 there is a major article entitled The World is Your Mural. It gives pictures and information on the zones in Ghent, founded in 650 A,D, where graffiti is legal and any artist with a spray paint can, may venture. The centre for graffiti in Ghent is Werregarenstraat, a tiny, curving street now nicknamed Graffiti Street and an established graffiti centre for more than twenty years. There are maps freely available, to help visitors find works of art on the sides of buildings in the four zones in the city where graffiti is legal.

New Vhils mural in Berlin.

Perhaps the most famous Portuguese graffiti artist is Alexandre Farto known as Vhils. He has developed his own unique visual language based on the removal of the surface of the building he is working on, using power and manual tools. His introduction to graffiti was in the early 2000s since when his extraordinary works have appeared in Paris, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Cape Verde, Cincinatti and no doubt many more cities. His portraits on walls are astonishing.

 

Vhils in action.