{"id":62444,"date":"2022-07-26T22:19:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T22:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/?p=62444"},"modified":"2022-07-26T22:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T22:19:12","slug":"weve-all-seen-street-murals-along-the-city-streets-of-new-york-and-paris-but-what-exactly-is-urban-art-and-where-did-it-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/blog\/weve-all-seen-street-murals-along-the-city-streets-of-new-york-and-paris-but-what-exactly-is-urban-art-and-where-did-it-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve all seen street murals along the city streets of New York and Paris. But what exactly is urban art and where did it come from?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LKNHVDPKy7g?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe>What is Urban Art? Urban art is art that is created in the city and street art is urban art that has been painted on a canvas. It&#8217;s also known as graffiti, which was the name of the original urban art. The artist known as Banksy is a great artist who has really made a name for himself in the urban art world. His artwork sells for thousands of dollars, but he prefers to sell it for thousands of pounds. He also really enjoys vandalizing other people&#8217;s property.<\/p>\n<p>Urban art became popular in the 1970s when artists started going out at night with spray paint and painting murals on buildings and streets without permission from owners or local authorities. The first recorded sighting of an actual mural was in 1971 by Henry Chalfant who was a photographer that took pictures of early graffiti. Graffiti was one of the major inspirations behind the development of urban art, this form of art became popular in New York City during the 70s when it began to grow rapidly.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most famous artists working in urban art today is Banksy, which is an anonymous artist whose work can be seen on buildings all around London. Banksy was inspired by punk music and graffiti art when he was living in Bristol as a teenager and he later went on to<\/p>\n<p>Urban art is more than just graffiti. In fact, it&#8217;s a completely different genre of art that utilizes the streets of a city as a canvas for its artwork.<\/p>\n<p>Urban murals are great for cities to have because of the way they can attract tourists and help to create a sense of belonging within the community. Street art has been around since ancient times but only earned its urban label in the 20th century when artists began using walls as their canvas.<\/p>\n<p>The first urban artist is considered to be Diego Rivera, whose works were much larger than what we see today. The large pieces are quite beautiful, but often take up an entire city block and many times use graffiti-style lettering in order to get their message across.<\/p>\n<p>The street artists of today often focus on more modern themes such as environmentalism and social injustice. Their works are smaller than those created by Diego Rivera and tend to focus on specific issues rather than incorporate words into every painting.<\/p>\n<p>The earliest known examples of urban art are graffiti. Graffiti are small, informal pieces of artwork created in public spaces. The word &#8220;graffiti&#8221; is most often associated with vandalism or unwanted markings on buildings, but it can also refer to the intentional creation of street art.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s urban artists have taken graffiti out of the streets and into the gallery setting. Many artists have kept their original street names, such as Banksy, who is known for his stenciled guerrilla works that poke fun at political and social issues. Other well-known urban artists include Shepard Fairey and JR, who create large-scale murals and installations around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Urban art goes beyond just using walls as a canvas for artwork; artists incorporate their surroundings into their work by using the buildings themselves. This work can be quite elaborate, such as JR&#8217;s 2008 project in which he projected a giant image onto the side of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris.* Urban art can take many forms, from graffiti to sculpture to photography.*<\/p>\n<p>Urban art is an artistic movement that emerged in the early 20th century and is primarily practiced in North America and Europe. Urban art can be understood as a form of graffiti or street art, but it has evolved into a movement of its own.<\/p>\n<p>Urban artists are inspired by their surroundings, so urban art is often created without permission on public space and without much regard for the law. The genre is sometimes referred to as \u201cpost-graffiti\u201d because the artists have moved beyond simple tagging to make more elaborate pieces. It is also referred to as \u201cstreet art\u201d or \u201cguerilla art\u201d (although some urban artists take issue with this term).<\/p>\n<p>Today, urban art has become a global phenomenon and an important part of many cities\u2019 cultural identity.<\/p>\n<p>Since the 1960s, street art has evolved from a rebellious form of expression to an accepted and even respected form of art. The people who create street murals are known as muralists, a term that first appeared in the 1970s.<\/p>\n<p>Urban murals are usually created on walls of buildings and on streets. Murals can be painted on almost any surface \u2013 subway walls, fences, buses, and even water towers have been used as canvases for murals. Street artists often work with spray paint or paint rollers because these are quick and inexpensive ways to cover large areas. But artists also use other media such as vinyl cut-outs, stencils, collage work and wheatpaste.<\/p>\n<p>Urban art is unique to cities because it is made by urban dwellers in response to their surroundings. It often reflects the social tensions of its environment and tries to make a statement that can be understood by everyone. Since urban art is created by local artists who live in the neighborhood where they work, it also preserves part of the city&#8217;s history.*<\/p>\n<p>History of Urban Art<\/p>\n<p>Urban art, also called street art, began in the late 1970&#8217;s in New York City. It is a modern style of art that combines both traditional and non-traditional graffiti. The original murals were created as an alternative form of expression to the more common tags and throw ups found throughout New York City. The murals depicted more elaborate stories and realistic renditions of what people saw around them. Many of these first pieces have been destroyed or have faded away, but some remain as iconic pieces of urban art in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>In the late 60&#8217;s and early 70&#8217;s hordes of young people traveled from across the country to New York City. These people were known as hippies and they came to NYC because it was a place where one could build their own identity without being judged for their differences from the rest of society. Hippies were known for their flamboyant clothing, long hair, marijuana use and anti-establishment sentiments. For example, many hippies fought against the Vietnam War as well as racism, sexism and other social injustices. Hippies were also known for their creativity; they were very open about their sexuality and drug use which led them to become very artistic people who expressed themselves through music, writing and art.<\/p>\n<p>Urban art is a form of expression made by artists for the purpose of beautifying the urban landscape. The term covers all art forms that are produced for this purpose, whether paintings, photographs, or sculptures.<\/p>\n<p>Urban art originally started in Europe and America as a form of protest against the destruction of historical buildings and neighborhoods. However, it has since evolved into a popular form of expression on its own right, with colorful graffiti being one of the most common forms found in cities throughout the world.<\/p>\n<p>Tagging is one of the more popular forms of urban art and is a kind of vandalism that involves scribbling on buildings or other structures such as bridges and trains. The name derives from the fact that many people who do it leave their names at the scene of the crime. Some people find tagging to be an act of defacing public property while others see it as an art form.<\/p>\n<p>Many tags have been created by well-known artists who use this style to display their work or to promote themselves. Graffiti is another form of urban art that has become increasingly popular in recent years, although this may be due to its popularity on television shows such as Miami Ink and New York Ink.*<\/p>\n<p>While some people hate graffiti because they feel it makes cities look dirty and unkept, others<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l34Vf8Wvbmw?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tqP9IfgfW3k?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Urban Art? Urban art is art that is created in the city and street art is urban art that has been painted on a canvas. It&#8217;s also known as graffiti, which was the name of the original urban art. The artist known as Banksy is a great artist who has really made a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62445,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62444\/revisions\/62445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}