Research
Identify examples of street art on a wall near you. If you live in a rural community this might be a problem as street art tends to be largely an urban phenomenon.
If necessary pick examples from research. Write a short commentary about how this interacts with the environment. How important is the context to understanding what the work is trying to do? Reflect on whether a pice of graffiti is art or just vandalism.
So there isn’t any street art around where I live, although I live in a semi urban area, there have been initiatives from the council to clean up these areas in recent years!
Luckily whilst on a break away last year a new Bansky turned up near to where we were staying, so I had taken some photos of these, also there was some already in the area so we explored these too.
Banksy is a un confirmed person a graffiti artist, political activist and film director, an English based street artist. Since the 1990’s Banksy has been creating art which appears from nowhere all over the world, the style is in a stencilled medium using spray paint. His work shows political and social commentary it appears on walls, bridges as well as temporary pieces. The art is known as temporary art, as people have sold their walls with the Banksy art on it.
We are all in the same boat – I think this art work is about the state of England at the moment, a political statement that we are all in the same boat, in reference to the pandemic and the state of the economy. This art work is in the Nicholas Everitt park Lowestoft over a bridge on the wall with a stream underneath it, it is in black and white. To me I would consider this as art and not graffiti, I think it sits very well within the surroundings, the colours are neutral and the subject fits with a bridge and water.I don’t think it looks out of place, and think it add’s some culture and interest to the area. It would bring in extra economy to the local area, for people to see the Banksy art works. I think it’s great, it’s like a camaraderie sign, that we are all in this together.
This Banksy is the least one I would say that worked, the bench covers up the art work, now I don’t know whether the art was done before the bench was installed or the other way around. This is the artwork that I would say had the most graffiti feel to it, and the most that was an eyesore, and not art.
It doesn’t work with the area around it, it’s a bit disturbing and I’m not sure what’s it’s supposed to mean, for me it just didn’t work.
Now this piece I did like and thought was the most successful and art like, it uses the bus shelter with the art work, it’s framed from an old advertising board frame that was empty, and the accordion player is sitting from the edge of the roof, and the man and woman are dancing on the top. To me this is successful street art and should be applauded. The art work appears more detailed and intricate, less of a stencil and more of a finished piece. Again in black and white, it stands out nicely from the red bricked wall, it’s in a good place for people to sit and view it.
Usually graffiti appears along railways, or underground car parks, anywhere were there are not many people, or where you can been seen. I find most of the graffiti an eye sore and yes should be illegal. Some of the bright colours are out of place in urban areas they stick out like a sore thumb, tagging is also not a good thing, and also threatening artwork is not good for the area.
Banksy I would say has got the balance right, I think most of his pieces are art and should be seen in this form, there area a few that I’m not keen on and are more of an eye sore, or are too politically influenced. As long as the graffiti is connected in some way to the area, is styled and coloured in neutral tones or in keeping with what’s around it, I think it’s ok and should be celebrated as an art form.
Exercise 4.5
Creatively develop a range of ideas that explores how your illustrations or drawings would work within the context of street art. Think about what media you would use, the scale you’d work at, where you would site your work and what it would be about.
Reflect on how the contexts you have chosen have changed the nature of your illustrations. What conversation has gone on between the work and the place?
What I need to do
I am to use my illustrations and drawings in the context of street art. I need to discuss what media I would use, the scale and where it would be sited. I need to reflect on how the context has changed the illustrations and how the site and illustration work together.
Research
Louise Jones born and raised in Santa Monica to Shanghainese parents. Best known for her large scale floral mural installations, which are in public spaces throughout the USA, in museums, and parks.
Botanical subjects and animals are her go too, after her early introduction to Georgia O’Keeffe and her work.
Louise paints in a calligraphy style, like Chinese watercolour to give her semi life like flowers the realism she wants.
Kohin street artist from Wyoming US part of the Laramie artist project, a consortium providing a professional environment to view work by the Laramie artists.
Using sides of buildings, park fences and people own houses and garden areas to paint his murals on, Kohin is more of a street artist than muralist, his designs work with the structure and area, and is inspired by the community.
Using a bold graphic style with bright colours Kohin’s style pops!
Comparison
Both artists have a similar style, Louis’s is more refined with natural colours, leaning towards the realistic style, whereas Kohin is more bold, brightly coloured and slightly graphic in style.
I think Louise’s blends into the space better, and the texture of the walls and surfaces are used within the paintings, Kohin’s makes his art pop and becomes a eye catching piece of art, he seems to try to paint over the texture of the walls and surfaces to make them blend away.
Both are extremely similar, but there are very noticeable differences when you look closely.
Design
My design that I am first thinking about is using some of the illustrations and art work from the zine exercise. I wanted a botanical theme, and I thought a lot of those illustrations would be suitable for that. I have in my mind a site near to where I live that could be suitable, I need to go out and take some photos, and look at the area around it.
I started with looking at the illustrations I used for the zine, and borrowed them down to the Wisteria, Dahlia, Hollyhock and Iris, I wanted a very limited colour palette, and was thinking just green and white, so green foliage and white flowers.
The site where I was thinking was on the green outside my mums house, there is a blank fence at one end, and separates the green from the playground/ park. It is surround by bushes trees and grass, yet it set within a street area which is urban. I thought this contrast would suit the illustrations, and using the limited colour palette would meld the areas together without being too bold or colourful, it would be a delicate, subtle mix of the two.
I Started by re-colouring the illustrations, starting with the Dahlia, I used the acrylic paint brush and used layers to build up the texture and colour, I chose different hues of white to add the differences between the petals.
I popped out and took a picture of the fence I want my street art to be on at the end.
Thumbnails
I did four thumbnails to start with, the first one was simple paired back, the second was Wisteria all along the top of the fence, then the Dahlia and irises at the bottom.
The third had the Hollyhock and included in a group design. Then the fourth was more natural, where all the plants were intermingled with each other across the fence.
Art work
I carried on with re-colouring the four flowers in Procreate using the acrylic paint brush, and using the limited colour palette of green and white.
I had to use a little bit of yellow for the Hollyhock middle flower, but kept it a creamy yellow so it still fitted in with the white hue.
I then decided to collate all the flowers together to see how they would look on a large rectangle like the fence would be.
I put the four flowers on the black rectangle so I could see what they looked like and also the sizes and shapes, before playing around with the composition.
I decided to go for the natural thumbnail, as I thought this would be more in-keeping with the surrounding area. I played around with scale and composition for a while, then came up with the final design. I left a small area blank, just because I though this looked more natural, all the way along this fence and divide between the two areas, are natural breaks with no bushes, trees or foliage, so this looked the most matching to the rest of the area.
Mock up
I then made a mock up of the panel onto a photo I took earlier of the fence panel and area where it would be in situ.
Questions
My main aim for the brief was to create a piece of art work that would sit well within the community space, not be too bold or too colourful, and be very natural. The white flowers although neutral in colour do pop on this grey fence, but it’s a brightness rather than a boldness that makes it striking.
Reflections
What went well
After conducting the research of the two artists this made it easier to know what I wanted to achieve, and luckily I had the fence area in mind already.
Using botanical art is great as it’s what I’m interested in, so I was extremely well prepared for the exercise.
I found more brushes and textures to work with on the iPad, and found that this was becoming easier as time and practise moves on.
Using the line art drawings from the previous exercise really helped me to spend more time on the artwork and textures as well as the mock up.
What would you do differently
I really liked the acrylic paint texture and used 4 different brushes overall, I think I would explore a few more paint brushes just to see what other textures and effects they would create. But overall I am happy with the acrylic brushes I used, I think they fit well with the panel and the subjects. Knowing that the research artists used acrylics also helped this choice.
Up-dated 16/09/2022
After feedback from my tutor she suggested adding in a few more setting options as tests, comment on aspects of life around the area, and the values and views of the people.
I started by looking at a few more locations that would suit the design, I found the side of a local house, and also a new building that is part of the library and community hub, so I thought this might be a good fit.
I had a bit of trouble with the house design, as the house photograph was taken from the side and the design was much larger than the house in width, so I had to juggle the design around and layer it, so it fitted better into the space, but still looked natural. It was also tricky as the side line of the house was difficult to see, as there was render on the top left side, which makes it look slightly off, but in actual fact is correct.
The hub and library was in actual fact a lot easier to design, and the long side panel fitted the design really well, also having the darker wood made a contrast between the white flowers, green leaves and the background.
I like this design on this building as it looks like it wraps around the front too, which gives it another dimension.
We live in a semi rural spot, with a small village a few shops, cafes and pubs, as well as a local community hub and library. We also live on a through fare to bigger shopping centres, retail parks and near the QE2 bridge, which gives a diverse location. A lot of the people here like the fields, parks, woods, golf course, and nature reserves and walkways around here, they walk their dogs, some have horses, and the reason they moved here was to have that green space around them.
We have mixed cultures and ages in our area, but all the people seem to love the outdoors, lots of pretty well maintained gardens around here!
Because of this I wanted to use florals and flowers, botanicals to disguise some of the bare walls, to meld them into the area and scenery, make them part of the green space.
The community values the open space and green feeling around them, in actual fact I think the design on the community hub is most successful, The location of the hub is on the edge of a park, but the hub has concrete parking areas, which do look grey compared to the park and trees, so the design on the side of the building would link the too together and also offset some of the grey concrete.
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