The 6 Types Of Urban Art (and Their Characteristics)
Art has had different definitions, styles and representations throughout history. One of the most democratic forms in which the artistic world is manifested is urban art, that is, art that is not represented in galleries, museums or specific places in the art world, but in the city itself, in the street.
From stencil art, through graffiti and muralism, there are several artistic expressions that we can identify while walking through our municipality and, regardless of their legality or not, these works give personality to the streets, breaking the urban monotony. . Let’s find out what they are the main types of urban art
Urban art can be understood in many ways, but one of its most widespread definitions is the one that encompasses any artistic expression carried out on the street that has to do, in one way or another, with the world of crafts such as the pictorial and the sculptural.
Thus, graffiti on the walls of the subway, stickers on a traffic sign with a certain pattern, a mural painted on the wall of a neighborhood community with their consent and feminist posters pasted on the headquarters of an unrelated party to the movement are, all of them, examples of urban art.
On many occasions, urban art is made with an objective, with a political ideal behind it. This is implicit in the activity of the artist himself since many of the forms in which urban art is expressed, especially the graffiti format, are illegal if they are carried out on a wall of private property or if the municipality has indicated the expresses prohibition of putting anything there. An artist who you risk receiving a fine He doesn’t do it because he wants to vandalize the city, but because he wants his message to be conveyed, and he is willing to risk legal consequences for it.
Urban art is done anywhere in the city It is carried out in the streets, on public roads, on billboards, in abandoned vehicles, the floors and, of course, on the walls, both of residential buildings, abandoned houses or apartment blocks to be built. This art requires a lot of space to work, a concrete canvas of metric proportions and where many people pass by, thus ensuring the artist that his work will not go unnoticed.
1. Muralism
Muralism, in its most basic sense, can be understood as any pictorial expression made on a wall. Murals are one of the oldest means of artistic expression, carried out in prehistoric times by our ancestors on the walls of caves as we see in cave paintings such as Lascaux, France or Altamira, Spain.
As the centuries have passed, those who have been able to afford to hire renowned artists have turned to painters to turn the walls of their luxurious mansions into murals with all kinds of representations. This practice was especially common during the Renaissance, being carried out by both nobles and clergy, and we have proof of this in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, a beautiful example of interior murals (frescoes) made by the great artist Michelangelo. .
But The modern idea of mural as urban art is quite recent and comes from Mexico The definition of the mural as we know it is influenced by the Mexican Diego Rivera who managed to create a school among his contemporaries in the 1920s, facilitated by the Mexican secretary of public education José Vasconcelos as part of the modernization of the State of Mexico after the revolution of 1910.
Originally, Mexican murals sought to reinforce Mexican identity and collective memory, create a strong feeling of nation and, therefore, had a marked nationalist and political objective. As time went by, this type of art became universal, giving rise to new muralist currents, each with political or apolitical ideals that were far from the original objective of the 1920s.
There are those who consider murals as a type of graffiti, although it does not always have to be that way They differ from graffiti expressions in the fact that murals imply a very well-crafted design that is intended to convey a message. They are also usually more legal, sometimes even paid for by the government administration itself, hiring professional artists and exhibiting their works in highly visible places in the city, from a white wall of a neighboring building to the walls of the city hall itself.
Muralists are creators of paintings, only of colossal sizes, and it usually happens that these types of works are highly respected by the world, even by those who do not consider themselves supporters of urban art who do not see them under the stigma that all drawing done on a wall is vandalism. There is no major European or American city that does not have more than one mural in its streets.
2. Graffiti
Graffiti is probably the most recognized type of urban art in the world because it is the one that has been practiced the longest and one of the most chosen by urban artists when it comes to exposing their feelings and artistic style on public roads. The graffiti that we know today emerged in the 60s, had its growth in the 70s and its final development in the 80s-90s, being loved and hated equally.
But this style of urban expression is not really as new as it might seem. It was already practiced in Ancient Rome and, although it was not done with sprays or aerosols, in essence it served the same purpose: to make a message known and demonstrate that the artist was there. In fact, its name comes from the Latin verb “grabare”, derived in turn from the Greek “grapho”, understood as writing.
Graffiti It is an inscription or drawing that is made in a public place and that, in general, is usually done without authorization We can see graffiti on walls, sculptures, statues, vehicles and garbage containers and, generally, they have a critical or satirical intention, although it is also done to indicate that whoever made the inscription was there, either with their initials or a pseudonym.
Although there are many graffiti done illegally, painted on private properties, churches and government buildings, in other cases There are individuals and public bodies that give walls to artists so that they can create these urban works on them Although many graffiti artists do so with all the necessary permits and without damaging the city, the fact that most graffiti is done illegally has meant that this type of urban art is stigmatized and considered pure vandalism.
3. Stencil art
Stencil art, also called stencil art, is a technique that involves reproducing designs by passing ink or paint over holes cut in a sheet of cardboard or metal The origin of this practice is uncertain and it is known that it has been carried out in many places simultaneously.
Rome, China, Japan, the Inuit of Baffin Island… all of them have used this technique since time immemorial, but the oldest evidence of stenciling is found in Spain, where a panel of hands is located about 66,000 years old.
But despite its great antiquity, this technique It achieved great popularity in the United States during the 1960s It was in that decade when many artists used pure colors and silhouettes with marked contours as a means of expression, something that has ended up being a symbol both in universal pop culture and as a prototypical representation of urban art beyond graffiti. One of the best-known artists in this technique is Banksy, along with Blek le Rat and Shephard Fairey.
4. Sticker art
Sticker art began to become popular in the 1980s thanks to skate companies and punk rock bands It consists of pasting stickers on any urban surface, allowing those who paste them to make their name and work known simply and quickly.
Since it is not a very complex type of urban art, sticker art has always had a low profile among street artists, although sticker culture is quite spread around the world and has references such as Shepard Fairey, Marc Ecko, 14 Bolt and CJ Ramone.
What the sticker brings with it may be an image or a phrase, which is posted anywhere in the city and, If it is mass produced, it can reach many corners , although many of these adhesives are prepared at home. There are several reasons why it has gained fame:
5. Sculptures
Sculptures are also urban art. Here We are not only referring to the marble or concrete figures that decorate squares and streets, but also sculptural performances, temporary or permanent , which invade public roads using all types of material, shape, color and roughness. Many of them are governed by the theory of intervention in urban spaces, with the intention of drawing the attention of passers-by but without hindering their journey by becoming an obstacle.
There are those who call this type of sculptures “structures” because, in reality, the aim is to create art that plays with the city, with its imperfections and forms. It may consist of giving a humorous touch to a fire hydrant, a bent railing, a fallen pivot or broken fences, turning a bland and merely functional urban element into a piece of modern art.
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6. Street posters
Street posters are also considered a type of urban art. It is not just about placing pieces of paper on walls, but about doing it in a way that does not go unnoticed both because of the design that exists in them and in the invasive way that these posters can be placed.
It is said that this peculiar type of art is a polyphonic and complex phenomenon, in which Issues such as the use of public space, freedom of expression and the essence of art overlap
They usually bring with them political messages, with feminist, anti-clerical, communist, anti-capitalist, animalistic and philosophical messages being common, although it is not a method exclusively of left-wing and progressivism movements.
Whatever the message behind it, the idea is that a picture is worth a thousand words and expressing it in the form of a sign or poster is sometimes more effective than a political meeting.
