One of the most common criticisms of the fine art world has been that it is inaccessible to the majority of people. Galleries and art museums have been stereotyped as places meant only for the super-rich and cosmopolitan, with the rest of us supposedly too simple to appreciate a fine painting.
One reason for this might be the failure of American education to give us the context to understand and relish art. A glance at the diminishing budgets of arts education and other programs is all it takes to know their place on the list of society’s priorities.
Thankfully, there are those who have refused to see art as a luxury. There are those who have overcome the hurdles of art-world elitism by creating pieces for an environment that is quite removed from a stuffy gallery: the street.
Street art is usually equated with graffiti. However, there is much more to it than tagging and the other traditional spray-painted designs. Artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring — and the artists they have inspired such as Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen and Shepard Fairey — have changed art by merging fine and street art. They have taken the formal art education and used it to decorate informal canvasses.
The universal nature of their work has helped street art come full circle, and this group is now accepted as fine artists. New York galleries such as the Deitch Projects and Alleged Gallery have built reputations for themselves by offering a platform for innovative art to transition from the street to wall space.
But the evolution of art from gallery to street and back to gallery is not over. Many of these artists are transforming their work even further. They’re bringing it to the commercial sphere. Some of today’s most exciting visual artwork is being made by those who have bridged the gap between fine, commercial and street art.
Fairey, whose simple stencil and paint “Obey Giant” campaign became a widespread phenomenon, is now involved in designs for Sprite and Barnes & Noble. Other examples of this transition include Futura designing Calvin Klein perfume bottles, and Thomas Campbell and Ed Templeton designing skate decks and shoes.
Of course, this mixing of venues comes with plenty of questions and concerns. Companies are co-opting a culture to maintain their relevancy to the young consumer.
At a September conference titled “Creativity Now” in New York, Fairey, during a lecture on the commodification of street art, made the following comment: “When something reaches a critical mass — whether it’s the look of street art, stencils, drips, graffiti, or musicians, wardrobe, whatever — it will be used to market products.” In other words, the use of the street art style by advertisers was inevitable.
Fairey continues his commentary, saying that designing work for an advertising firm is a way for artists to find a new audience. Instead of futilely dwelling on the issue of capitalism, we can adopt the perspective that this advertising is another way to bring art into our lives.
During the same lecture, Jeffrey Deitch of the Deitch Projects made the point that “this next generation of the artists is much more sophisticated about how to communicate. (Artists can take their) radical perspective and find people who can give them the means to make an MTV video, do a Nike commercial and use the system in a subversive way.” Street artists who first subverted the gallery world are now doing the same to advertising.