There are many different art projects that attempt to make our cities look nicer and more colorful. Many artists get out of galleries and bring art to the streets.
OUTINGS
Firstly, I would like to talk about a recent project "Outings" that took place in Warsaw's district of Praga. A French artist Julien de Casabianca travels the world and "fills" neglected places that need some more culture with art. Paintings that can usually only be seen on the walls of Warsaw’s National Museum were transferred to the shabby alley walls of Praga.
Unfortunately just after a few hours the posters were ripped off the walls but the artist returned and hanged them once again. This caused an uproar in the Polish social media. However, the artist himself has said that when he hangs his posters in richer parts of the cities they are taken down even faster by the city cleaners. You can see his projects from all over the world (Paris, Barcelona, New York) and other paintings that were in Warsaw here: https://www.facebook.com/outingsproject?fref=photo
ETAM CRU
Another project I would like to share with you involves some very interesting murals on buildings. You might have even seen them in Warsaw or Łódź. The artists are called ETAM CRU and travel around the world painting murals on neglected buildings. Here you can see more of their work, which I highly recommend: http://www.etamcru.com
YARN BOMBING
There is an interesting type of street art called "Yarn bombing" that employs colourful displays of knitted yarn. Yarn installations can last many years but unfortunately they can be easily removed (but unlike graffiti they don't damage the surface they're on). In my opinion the final result looks extremely cool!
PIANINA MIEJSKIE
The last project I would like to show you is "Pianina miejskie". There are 11 pianos in Warsaw standing outside and inside different places where everyone can use them. There is one in the shopping centre near me (In Carrefour Arkadia), one near Rotunda (I'm sure you've seen it), and another one on Pl.Zbawiciela.
BANKSY
There many more street art projects that are worth mentioning but I simply can't list them all. I assume that you've all heard about Banksy (the street artist) but if you haven't checked out his amazing graffiti and street art. Follow the link: banksy.co.uk. There is also a cool movie about him and his work called "Exit through the Gift shop".
OTHERS
Here are some other interesting photos of various street projects I've managed to find.http://www.streetartutopia.com/
QUESTIONS:
- What do you think about the recent project in Praga? Do you like it?
- Which painting do you like the best? Maybe there are others that you would like to see?
- Which project caught your imagination the most?
- What are the most creative ways to make a city look better? What would you like to see on the streets?
- Do you know any other interesting street art that you would like to share?
- Do you think works of ETAM CRU or Banksy should be considered vandalism?
Comments
I think there is a huge difference between vandalism and the examples you posted - in some way they're the opposite of vandalism, as they make cities more beautiful, while vandalism is an act of devastation. It's really sad some of them were destroyed or removed.
The last photo reminded me of the way Britons dealt with holes in the roads:
http://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/ciekawostki/wielka-brytania-znalazl-sposob-na-dziury-w-drodze-_137266.html
I agree that those projects are not vandalism but many cites consider them to be a part of it.
Thanks for sharing an interesting link, I think it's a funny idea to plant flowers into street holes but I'm sure those on the sidewalk would last longer :)
Many cool street art examples were posted on my favorite website in the whole Internet- Bored Panda. Here are my favorites:
1. Beautiful, heart-warming typography messages left on snow-covered cars in New York: http://goo.gl/e9rTg6
2. 3D owl sculptures from garbage made by a Portuguese artist Artur Bordalo. I think they look very cute ☺ http://goo.gl/pZBNWF
3. Magical, minimalistic graphics by a Spanish artist Pejac, which we can find all over the world. It is hard to decide for me, which is the prettiest one, but I guess it would be „Bird spreader”. http://goo.gl/sr7XBw
4. And the last of my favorites, is the article which shows colorful, gorgeous stairs around the world. Steps in Angres in France are my beloved. http://goo.gl/CdtW1A
I think there are many ways to make city look beautiful and outstanding, but there are not many people who want to sacrifice their time to do it. Maybe it is high time I did something myself ;)
Thank you for very interesting links :) I like those sculptures made from garbage best. They look really cool.
Why don’t you like the rainbow installation?
I really like the rainbow on Plac Zbawiciela. I also really like the palm tree on Rondo Charles'a de Gaulle'a.
I would like to see city projects around as tiny as making a small hole in a random building look like a piece of art, to big projects covering whole streets.
Well if this art is done without the permissions of authorities (the owners, or the city) then it should not be present there and I agree that it violates it. Even if the authorities would agree then the art should also be accepted by the community. For example you would rather not want to see something shocking and would like to have an impact on the final decision.
It doesn't look like ETAM CRU or Banksy make their paintings shocking. But if they are doing it without anyone's knowledge or permission then I agree that they can be violating some laws.
In my opinion yarn bombing is the best way to make boring streets look better. It doesn’t make any damage, it’s easy to remove and it looks awesome. The sculpture with winter clothes is my favourite one.
To make so big and such fantastic murals like ETAM CRU does require any kind of permission so it’s not a vandalism at all. As far as I know Banksy makes his art illegally, so it can be identify with vandalism. For those of you who are interested in Banksy’s art I recommend watching “Exit Through the Gift Shop”.
Actually I don’t mind seeing shocking art in the city, but probably most people do. I’m pretty sure ETAM CRU have permissions to make their murals but Banksy doesn’t. He makes his art in many different countries, often in ones which are at war and makes important political statements. Maybe it’s not best if he is painting on a new building but I wouldn’t mind to see his graffiti on an old, destroyed building.
I also really like yarn bombing :)
In general I cannot say that I am for or against this art genre. It might colour up cities, especially old and awful buildings what is good, but there is a question of ownership. I would be thrilled if something like that would be drawn on my property ;D (and rather in the wrong way..)
For example - yarn bombing, quite cool, but c’mon, we don’t have much green places in cities and covering trees with some fabric is not that cool anymore :P In my opinion of course.
According to project with piano - never have seen personally anyone playing any of those…
I love it, I wish there were more projects like this in Warsaw. It's a shame that this artists work was destroyed so quickly.
Which project caught your imagination the most?
From the ones you presented - almost all of Banksy's. I love his clean and almost minimalistic style. It just goes very well with urban environments in my opinion. What's more, almost all of his pieces tell a story even if it's in a very subtle way.
What are the most creative ways to make a city look better? What would you like to see on the streets?
I really enjoy well made grafitis/paintings/murals on the city buildings, mostly because their scale itself is inspirational.
Do you know any other interesting street art that you would like to share?
A street artist that I like very much and enjoy his work is DubFX. Unlike most of your examples he's not a "visual" artist, but rather a street musician that travels the whole world.
These days not only does he perform on the streets of cities but after gaining recognition he also plays normal concerts. As a matter of fact he will play soon in Poland, I highly recomend giving him a try!
Here's a link to one of his performences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F6EoMdn95E
Do you think works of ETAM CRU or Banksy should be considered vandalism?
Not at all, I'd say their work should be consider an art!
I'm glad you liked Banksy, I think I could write the whole article about him but he is too well known ;) Thanks for a very interesting link ;)
In my opinion Banksy or ETAM CRU or other mentioned artists should not be persecuted and their work should be kept. We should distinguish between street art that moves people and graffiti vandalizing the public space and offending the citizens.
I like the best this subtle mural on the Waliców Street:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Walic%C3%B3w_14_Warszawa_05.JPG
From your presentation Yarn Bombing and Pianina Miejskie caught my imagination the most. They are amazing for me.
I would like to see more interaction instalations on the streets. It might make that people will be more spontan, happy, surprised and less introverted.
I’m not sure that their works are manifestation of vandalism, uhm, I think it isn’t.
The 'Etam cru' from the presentation has reminded me the beautiful mural that is found in Białystok, check this out - http://designsekcja.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/natalia_rak_bia%C5%82ystok_mural_1.jpg
The idea of allocation the pianos around the city has catched my eye! I really like it and I find that it has added a lot of charm to Warsaw.
Although I generally like the street art I think that street artists have to be prepared to suffer the consequences of their work. Not every owner wants to have such a piece of art on building so it still should be forbidden.
In my opinion the idea to bring art "out" for people who otherwise might never see it is extremely cool. I also think that art installations can be great for the city and I hope we'll see more of them in the future.
Unfortunately I guess that you won't be able to see those posters in Praga (They are posters not paintings. The artist makes copies of important paintings from a museum of a country where he's in and then glues them to walls) because he came back the second time in the middle of the March and I'm not sure if they survived till now. But if they did, please let me know!
1) They are just beautiful, I would like to see them in real.
2) For me the Star Wars painting is the best, I'm a huge fun of this series.
3) The lego one, I would like to see it in real.
4) I would like to see more fancy art, like you describe.
5) It's a building in my street in Warsaw: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qvcbRo278eY/T5Q1kvXCFcI/AAAAAAAAILo/WfyQ_N-LGEs/s320/kogut+teddy+trooper.jpg
6) It depends on where they are placed
1. Yes, very. Maybe such a initatives will become more common next days (I hope so)
2. Banksy is numer one for me. His works reference to reality, economic situations, religions.. a different perspective on realit
3. Banksy of course
4. On streets i'd love to see more spaces for grafitti-artist and less tags
5. In my opinion of the best Banksy's work: http://images.forwallpaper.com/files/images/e/e1fa/e1fa92ab/604024/banksy-love-is-in-the-air.jpg
6. Its not vandalism - its an art. To anyone who consider that kind of art as an vandalism - please know a difference between graffiti and tags (tags are vandalism)
I find murals beautiful and I've even took some photos of extraordinary ones that I've seen in different countries.
I think works of ETAM CRU or Banksy shouldn't be considered vandalism. When it's aesthetic, I have nothing against it.
I consider Banksy a vandal, but a good one. His art has meaning behind it and it's really strong, world wouldn't be the same without him!
I definitely don't think that ETAM CRU or Banksy are vandalism, but not every place is suitable for this kind of art.
Here is an example: http://weburbanist.com/2013/09/19/neverwet-graffiti-invisible-ink-street-art-shows-up-in-rain/