The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal

Nem saját anyag, de kájzer :) Urbanista találta, mi is lelkesen megreklámozzuk a dokut. Egy 2002-es, díjnyertes, komolykodó film a tudatalatti művészetéről, amit tkp. a graffiti-eltakaró tisztasági festés képez. Az eredeti háttértől elütő árnyalatú vagy színű négyzeteket és téglalapokokat a XXI. század kezdetének legfontosabb művészeti irányzataként tárgyaló film szerint ezen modern művészet gyökerei az absztrakt expresszionizmusba, minimalizmusba és konstruktivizmusba lógnak. Előfutárként Rothko, Rauschenberg, Malevich is előkerül, fedezzük fel a teggelők és tegtelenítők interaktivitásából megszületett, szándéktalan/tudattalan/tudatalatti (utca/nép)művészetet :)
(16 perc)

Graffiti Removal: the act of masking tags and graffiti by painting over them.

Subconscious Art: a product of artistic merit that was created without conscious artistic intentions.

Graffiti removal has become one of the more intriguing and important art movements of the early twenty-first century. With roots in Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and Russian Constructivism, graffiti removal is both a progressive continuation of these movements and an important step in the future of modern art. What makes graffiti removal particularly intriguing, though, is that the artists creating it are unconscious of their artistic achievements.

Good examples of graffiti removal pieces, a.k.a. “buffs”, will often present a balanced composition of densely layered, free floating shapes and areas of color, and often fall into one of three stylistic forms:

“Symmetrical” in which a recognizable geometric order of layered squares and rectangles can be identified,

“Ghosting” in which the remover follows the lines of the graffiti piece it is covering so that the general form and shape of the original tag can be made out, and

“Radical” in which the remover uses neither geometry nor the original tag as guidelines for their painting (often called an “outside the lines” remover).

But regardless of its stylistic form, graffiti removal will always make a decisive rejection of recognizable imagery, and in fact, repress communication entirely.

Graffiti removal is a layered and complex art form, and what particularly merits the graffiti removal movement is that it is unconscious, accidental and collaborative. Like outsider artists, graffiti removers are not schooled artists, but simply government employees who are hired on the qualifications of responsibility and dedication to the job. They are trained to operate machinery, drive city vehicles, and versed in ‘anti-graffiti’ legislation. Although graffiti removers are making aesthetic choices of color, style, and technique in their daily routine, they do not set out to create public art, but rather to uphold anti-graffiti laws and deter civil disobedience. As important as the removers themselves are the lawmakers and administrators who organize and finance the graffiti removal process. This tandem forms a finely tuned art-making team whose end result is stunning artistic achievement.

It is a complex set of circumstances that fuel subconscious art production. Human beings have a natural instinct to be creative and artistic, but conflict arises when a capitalistic society favors material wealth over creative expression. When individuals repress their natural instincts to pursue the accumulation of commodities, a build up of repressed artistic desire occurs. Subconscious art is an unconscious purging of these desires.

It is no coincidence that funding for “anti-graffiti” campaigns often outweighs funding for the arts. While not being a conscious decision on the part of the ruling class, the declared “war on graffiti” plays an important role in the furthering of the art form, where the unconscious artistic desires of even the most conservative members of the ruling system leak out as a subliminal conspiracy to fund and promote creative endeavors. (Matt McCormick)

Frissítve, néhány kopipészt Ward Jenkins témábavágó blogbejegyzéséből + kommentárok, érdemes elolvasni.

"Is it really art if the creator is not aware of it?"
"Who really designates what "art" is, anyway? Artist or viewer?"

The phenomena of " Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal" is called fleeting and there is a really nice fleeting gallery by Marshall Sokoloff


Ps: Ezen sorok írója a legál vagy zseniális graffitihez/köztéri művészethez barátságosan, a tegelő hülyegyerekekhez erősen ráncolt homlokkal, az óriásplakátos maffiához bézbólütővel közelít. Mindenekfölött meg azokat az antipolgárokat utálja, akik hagyják, hogy a házuk falát teledzsuvázzák festékszóróval vagy óriásplakáttal.

Az év 5lete: miért nem támadnak az óriásplakátoknak a tegelők? Suttyók a gengszterek ellen, hajrá!

Végül egy eredeti graffiti-film :))