How does the canvas 'hang' - Part 8 - Urban Canvas

Urban Canvas– Street Art

 

It’s interesting how you can see, of course following an evolutionary trajectory, how art’s done a whole three hundred and sixty degree turn from the frescoe era when considering Street Art. Cave painting of Lascaux and Cantabria is essentially a form of underground street art but they just express different visuals, techniques and subject matter in relation to context. Artists such as Banksy use allegory within an urban canvas to convey messages related to socio-political/economical concerns, animal and human rights, anti-war, anti-commercialism and capitalism. Other urban artists such as Shephard Fairy have begun to use typography to create propaganda style artwork. Robert Montgomery’s Echoes of Voices, (2011) substitutes’ billboard advertising with giant text social messages. Such social messages critic the impact of the boards usual secular advertising use, referencing a past ‘canvas’ context to recreate a regenerated more powerful message. French urban artist and photographer JR creates supersize photo-posters pasted into the streets, framing them with spray paint. Interesting how regeneration of the ‘canvas frame’ takes place here to renew or re-style previous non-framed urban art. He produced posters on the wall separating Palestine and Israel of Israelis and Palestinians who work the same jobs, asked to put on a commitment face/pose. The result was people couldn’t tell who was who really, aiming to fuse divisions and aid peace.