Art on the Streets : What inspires you?
During lockdown I was going through my photo library and decided it was time to organise the thousands of images I now have on my smart phone. Photography has always played a big part in my art work as a source of inspiration. Like many artists I‘m always taking pictures of things that inspire me which may in turn, subconsciously ( or consciously ) feed into my own art practice. What I love about street art is the variety on display. Graffiti by definition is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Street Art and Graffiti share the same environment and so are inseparable when experiencing the built environment. The one thing I have noticed over the years is the increase in the amount of street art/ graffiti in most major cities. Is this a good thing ? Do you think it enhances our cities or does it spoil the once clean surfaces and shop fronts. I personally think street art has become much more acceptable probably due to the popularity of artists like Banksy and good quality commissioned Art Murals. But there is something I also love about the intuitive act of defacing which reminds us that nothing is perfect.
I started off choosing my favourite images and editing them in photoshop. I then looked into creating an ebook in Pages which is something that I’d never done before. It’s a great way to gather ideas around a theme or collection.
The book is a collection of photographs taken in different locations over a number of years, which for me have a common thread. On our journey through city streets we are sometimes bombarded with images, layered up and unrelated, creating an ever changing canvas with the passage of time. Beyond the gallery walls the streets offer a place for artists to reach the public, a place to express opinions, advertise or simply deface and vandalise.
As an artist I’ve always been interested in mark making and our need for visual expression. Today it’s hard to escape graffiti in our urban environments and the various methods and mediums used in its creation. From rushed spray painted graffiti to intricate stencilled designs and scratching names into a cactus. This collection of photographs celebrates street art in all its variety.
If you’d like to purchase the book you can here at Apple Books https://books.apple.com/us/book/art-on-the-streets/id1556695605?itsct=books_toolbox&itscg=30200&ct=books_art_on_the_streets&ls=1
