Almost everyone over the decrepit age of thirty years grizzles about a particular style of artistic effort by those younger than themselves.
Some people who are very well heeled, pay very big bickies to travel to remote areas to see examples of wall and cave paintings that have endured for centuries or even millennia. Upon their return to their urban dwellings, these people are often the first to decry the brilliant examples of wall, floor, window, fence and carriage art that will, in its own right, be marvelled at in millennia to come as the defining expression of twentieth and twenty-first centuries culture.
What was it that urged ancient man (man in the common gender, that is) to relax after an exhausting day of hunting whatever animal happened to be in culinary fashion, or gathering whatever fruit or seed happened to be trying to secure its own existence on the planet at the time, and make his or her mark on the world with some pigment or other? What ran through the minds that dwelled in tired and weary bodies to express themselves by making marks on the valued refuges that were their homes and social gathering places?
The driving force of such ancient expressions was no doubt the same as the driving force that impels our present-day young folk to take to the walls and other physical components of their built environment with paints and brushes and more recently, preferentially with paints of all hues that are available in aerosol form in conveniently portable spray cans. That force, that single force is that of the artist who wishes to express an idea of beauty or a notion that is best communicated by graphic means. Some artists express their souls by music, some by sculpture, some by poetry, some by literature, some by photography and some by making pigmented marks or representations on portable pieces of canvas, wood or bark. Many of our young artists feel the need to express themselves by spraying paints on fixtures such as fences and sides of buildings, or upon mobile but hardly portable structures such as railway carriages. Their canvas may be different, and the subjects of their works may be different, but they aim for artistic release just the same as all of the other artists who have gone before them.
Many more traditional artists of the past and present have strived or are striving to convey messages to their publics (all of those people who will view their works immediately or even millennia into the future) which are perhaps unacceptable, grotesque, sacrilegious, or perverted at the time of their actual expression. Our young graffiti artists are no different. Some of their expressions are highly idiosyncratic and cryptic, but the strength of the motivation for their expression is enormous. For many young graffiti artists, their message is so powerful and compelling that they are willing to take great physical risks to their lives and limbs in the execution of their works. Some of the artists are actually willing to run legal risks and imprisonment risks in order to satisfy the profound urges of their insightful souls.
Unlike most of their contemporary fellow artists working in other media, our young graffiti artists eschew the attractions of monetary recompense for their works. They do not pervert their calling by sullying their souls with the evil cash nexus. They maintain purity of purpose. As well, they eschew personal fame and acclamation by doing their artistic efforts mostly during the dark, unwitnessed hours and by ethically restraining themselves from gracing their works with their signatures which might potentially make some art dealer very rich at some future time.
Our graffiti artists are often despised and cursed by most, but are actually our unsung heroes who selflessly make their colourful contributions to enrich our culture at no monetary charge to us as viewers. Let us all take time in our busy, conservative lives, to pay tribute and thanks to our graffiti artists, our cultural warriors.
Battler
Some people who are very well heeled, pay very big bickies to travel to remote areas to see examples of wall and cave paintings that have endured for centuries or even millennia. Upon their return to their urban dwellings, these people are often the first to decry the brilliant examples of wall, floor, window, fence and carriage art that will, in its own right, be marvelled at in millennia to come as the defining expression of twentieth and twenty-first centuries culture.
What was it that urged ancient man (man in the common gender, that is) to relax after an exhausting day of hunting whatever animal happened to be in culinary fashion, or gathering whatever fruit or seed happened to be trying to secure its own existence on the planet at the time, and make his or her mark on the world with some pigment or other? What ran through the minds that dwelled in tired and weary bodies to express themselves by making marks on the valued refuges that were their homes and social gathering places?
The driving force of such ancient expressions was no doubt the same as the driving force that impels our present-day young folk to take to the walls and other physical components of their built environment with paints and brushes and more recently, preferentially with paints of all hues that are available in aerosol form in conveniently portable spray cans. That force, that single force is that of the artist who wishes to express an idea of beauty or a notion that is best communicated by graphic means. Some artists express their souls by music, some by sculpture, some by poetry, some by literature, some by photography and some by making pigmented marks or representations on portable pieces of canvas, wood or bark. Many of our young artists feel the need to express themselves by spraying paints on fixtures such as fences and sides of buildings, or upon mobile but hardly portable structures such as railway carriages. Their canvas may be different, and the subjects of their works may be different, but they aim for artistic release just the same as all of the other artists who have gone before them.
Many more traditional artists of the past and present have strived or are striving to convey messages to their publics (all of those people who will view their works immediately or even millennia into the future) which are perhaps unacceptable, grotesque, sacrilegious, or perverted at the time of their actual expression. Our young graffiti artists are no different. Some of their expressions are highly idiosyncratic and cryptic, but the strength of the motivation for their expression is enormous. For many young graffiti artists, their message is so powerful and compelling that they are willing to take great physical risks to their lives and limbs in the execution of their works. Some of the artists are actually willing to run legal risks and imprisonment risks in order to satisfy the profound urges of their insightful souls.
Unlike most of their contemporary fellow artists working in other media, our young graffiti artists eschew the attractions of monetary recompense for their works. They do not pervert their calling by sullying their souls with the evil cash nexus. They maintain purity of purpose. As well, they eschew personal fame and acclamation by doing their artistic efforts mostly during the dark, unwitnessed hours and by ethically restraining themselves from gracing their works with their signatures which might potentially make some art dealer very rich at some future time.
Our graffiti artists are often despised and cursed by most, but are actually our unsung heroes who selflessly make their colourful contributions to enrich our culture at no monetary charge to us as viewers. Let us all take time in our busy, conservative lives, to pay tribute and thanks to our graffiti artists, our cultural warriors.
Battler
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