“From spray-painted murals to textured words and quotes, street artists across the globe share a desire to be seen and to use the world around them as a public canvas,” said Rebecca Hayes, Curator of Education at the Addison Gallery of American Art. Hayes, among other members of the Addison community and an acclaimed modern artist, spoke at a “Screening and Discussion” event celebrating the expressionism behind street art.
The event introduced a temporary street-art-inspired exhibition that will open in the Addison on Sunday, May 4. Kicking off with a screening of the film “Style Wars,” the night captured the audience by showcasing the passion, creativity and unique style behind every piece of street art.
“Style Wars,” a 70-minute long documentary made in 1983, depicted the early stages of the graffiti art movement that sparked amongst struggling young artists in the early 1980s. Set in New York City, the film showed how teenagers used the colorful and unique designs of street art as a form of release from their financial troubles and as a way to make their mark on the trains, buildings and subway rails of their city.
“The film really shows how these young teenagers who make graffiti art are not vandals – they are, in fact, artists,” said Hayes. “They are thoughtful and premeditated in their creations. They sketch out and plan their designs repeatedly and carefully, and they put a lot of thought into the designs they create.”
Covering trains and city walls with words such as “seen” or “free,” graphic designs of their names, cartoons and scenic murals, the young artists depicted in “Style Wars” strived to put their signature artwork on as much of the city as possible. The film captured the street artists’ thrill when they were recognized for their work by other artists, or when they saw it themselves on a train passing by.
After the screening of the film, a discussion about street art and modern art, led by Chris “Daze” Ellis, Artist in Residence, took place in the Museum Learning Center. Ellis, a former graffiti artist showcased in “Style Wars” and a current abstract artist, is currently living on campus as an artist and part-time teacher, who will have pieces featured in the exhibition on Sunday.
Ellis still uses elements of street art, such as splattering and color, in his pieces today.
“My art today is very stylistically different, but I still use some of the things I learned back when I was a graffiti artist,” said Ellis. “Back then, we did what we had with what was available. All we needed was a can of spray paint and the world around us, and we could express ourselves. It was simple, but we learned all the skills we needed to become successful artists.”
“I always loved using street art to express myself,” continued Ellis. “I always knew I was doing something creative and expressive. There were thousands of us, and we did street art for a number of reasons. There was definitely the mischief component — it was not allowed by law, and we might get in trouble if we got caught. But then there was the passion and the meaning behind it too. We did it because we wanted to, and because we loved it.”
Ellis took the conversation in the direction of whether street art should be considered art, or simply vandalism. As shown in “Style Wars” and discussed afterwards, Ellis and other graffiti artists faced opposition from society and authorities about projecting their artwork across the city.
“There was a point at which street art was considered to be a nuisance to some people,” said Ellis. “Few people realized that there was a lot more to the art than meets the eye. There is, in fact, culture behind it. There is meaning behind it. People thought it was all the same thing — vandalism. They often didn’t realize that different people had different signatures and styles of work. There were a lot of people who disagreed with what we did, but I never had any regrets.”
