Street Art on TV

I'm not one to write about something based on a TV show. Nor am I one to watch “Reality TV” but, honestly, there are the few that I find interesting. One show I like is “Work of Art”. I enjoy it because, it is interesting to see what the artists do with a challenge and how they use materials. A couple of weeks ago one challenge was street art. What got me thinking wasnʼt really the subject of the show or the works, but what Simon de Pury said at the start of the show. He stated. “Street art started as an expression outside of the art world and the law. Slowly the initial pioneers transformed the illegal expression into an exceptional form of art.”

To me, the most important thing he said is how it slowly transformed into an official form of art. This has been historically true for all arts. The other thing that the episode did with the works that were made, and Simonʼs statement was help present graffiti and other street arts in a positive light to the public. Because this show is watched and can be watched by people who have no clue about art and want to see the mysterious happenings in the artist studio, education has been slipped in. Effectively, the street art episode, to me, showed that graffiti is not as black and white as some people think. There are many layers to some works. All work? No. But the fact that street art, from the name someone uses as a tag to a yarn monster, from a mural (legally made or not) to chalk drawings always has intrinsically more then what it is on the surface. People, including some in the established art world, have a hard time because when actual street works are put up, they are for everyone to take in and the artist is not there to give an explanation. Putting a street art episode on a TV show like “Work of Art” does do something different, I hope it proves to be more educational then people might realize - Pop Culture really can help explain cultural phenomena.

Originally Posted: January 5, 2012