Urban Photography....Graffiti and Street Art

Is art still art if it isn't placed onto a sublime canvas?

Or is art still art no matter where it is pasted?

In my opinion, art is art no matter where and what it is put on, and this goes for Street Art or Graffiti as it is widely known.

Graffiti has long been frowned upon in society and is often viewed as vandalism and crass in the eyes of many people, but with the help of such world renown artists such as 'Robbo' and of course 'Banksy' the art-form has hit the mainstream in a big way.

The two aforementioned artist's were involved in a 'Graffiti War' for years and years, taking it in turns to out-do each others work in the most popular places across the U.K's capital.

Both of their work has drawn viewers from all across the globe and made them into international superstars of the Street Art/Graffiti world. Although they are both Street Artist's they both have very different styles and ways of approaching their form of art.

Banksy sometimes likes to include parts of the surrounding scenery as part of his overall piece, where as 'King' Robbo likes to be as bold as possible and even has his own street 'team'

Banksy has taken stencil art to a whole new audience and even onto the walls of many people through prints of his work being sold by many retailers. Many celebrities have paid huge amounts of money for some of Banksy's work, even though he remains anonymous to a large percent of the world.

Robbo sticking to his own principal's of 'Old School' style, free-handing everything and abolishing even the notion of his arch enemies stencil style has an immense following in the Street Art world and he himself has held Gallery shows of his work which were warmly received by the public and critics alike.

I myself, like a growing number of people in every day life enjoy all forms of Street Art, I enjoy the creativity involved and the ideas and messages behind the pieces that the artist's slave over for hours just to showcase their talent to the passer by.

I am a keen Urban Explorer and have visited many places rife with all types of Graffiti and here are just some of my shots that I feel show the beautiful side of Street Art. Abandoned buildings and derelict places are a great place for Street Artists to practise and hone their skills and sometimes this definitely pays off for the few people that do manage to unearth the otherwise unseen Graffiti.

I am also lucky enough to have a legal Graffiti wall near where I live, these legal walls are becoming a more prominent fixture in local communities as the authorities are keen to streamline the 'vandalism' into areas they can control and oversee without it directly coming into contact with the public.

I enjoy taking pictures of the Spray Art as I am a keen Artist myself. Not out on the streets painting up the wall's but onto canvas and paper using a Graffiti style of my very own. I like to think my work is effected in a big way by the art I see and I feel inspired by a lot of the work on 'the streets'

I am always amazed at the detail achieved by many of the Artist's and their work I come across, I am intrigued by how they manage to paint in various ways to get to the desired effect within their masterpiece. I have been lucky to watch some Graffiti artists in full flow and it really is a mesmerizing sight.

I enjoy the darker side of most stuff and this has become more and more apparent in my own art as I like to entice the viewer and leave questions in their mind so in theory, my art keeps on giving even after the initial viewing.

The various images I have here are all taken by myself, and shows the diversity of Street Artists in today's modern world. There are extremely detailed faces showing emotion and feeling, to painted brickwork giving a 3-D feeling when looking at the brickwork.

Some of the Graffiti can be easily missed, much like the Spider image. This was captured in an abandoned Mansion on a staircase. It was so subtle and brilliantly positioned that no-one else I know has a picture of it although so many people have visited this place for Urban Exploration. It probably is, along with the lead image on the Hub, my favourite pieces of Graffiti I have yet to see.

I hope these images and my short insight into my experiences and loves within the world of Graffiti/Street Art, open's your eyes to otherwise hidden art, and raises your eye's next time you pass this 'vandalism' in your local area.

If you like this hub and are interested in more Graffiti/Street Art photography, please visit my website to browse through more of the same, as well as Urban Exploration Photo's and of course my own artwork and ideas. www.wix.com/dexterousdesign/home or you can follow me on Twitter @dexdesignkg for more frequent updates and day to day news etc.

Your comments and feedback are always greatly received.