Research Task:

For this research task I need to identify examples of street art on the walls near me, I decided on researching graffiti around me using Google. This work interacts with the environment in different ways, some are aesthetically pleasing and others are just a waste of wall space (vandalism).

The three images below show examples of graffiti found around Eastbourne. All three are very different. The first image shows mindless boring tags that have been swiftly sprayed and then left, I see this one as vandalism. The second image shows colourful graffiti that has been sprayed onto a board outside a pub/restaurant, it’s not my kind of style but I don’t see this one as vandalism as it’s being welcomed and displayed outside. The third image shows the most artistic skill out of the three images, I have seen this one myself, it is sprayed along the wooden panels outside a derelict building and has been there for years. The linework and colours are well done in comparison to most graffiti in Eastbourne.

https://bournefreelive.co.uk/mindless-morons-daub-graffiti-along-eastbourne-seafront/

https://www.visiteastbourne.com/whats-on/graffiti-wall-at-the-beachy-head-story-p1758181

Personally I am all for well painted graffiti as it brings colour and illustration to what may have been a very boring side of building or wooden board. But if it’s been done by teens with spray cans with no artistic skill, that’s vandalism… apart from one exception, please see the link below. It’s a battle between a street artist and a cleaner.

https://www.boredpanda.com/red-wall-graffiti-experiment-london-mobstr-curious-frontier/

Exercise 1 – Street art:

For this exercise I need to develop a range of ideas that explores how my illustrations or drawings would work within the context of street art. I need to think about what media I would use, the scale I’d work at, where I would site my work and what it would be about.

If I did street art I would do it in two different ways. One way would be by writing messages that make people think and the second way would be in an illustrative manner to make a place more interesting or aesthetically pleasing as a mural. I chose to experiment with the first – written message.

A message that makes people think:

If a message needs to reach a lot of people it needs to be placed in a bustling area like a city centre or bus stop. I decided on my town shopping centre, The Beacon in Eastbourne. There is a large white section that was never completed and I saw it as a massive opportunity for street art… of course I’m not actually going to do anything to the building but I will do a mock-up of it digitally.

The Beacon:

Deciding on a message:

• “Keep calm and carry on”. – A.P. Waterfield
• “Thank you for contributing to a throw-away society”. – Me
• “con·sumer·ism – NOUN: the protection or promotion of the interests of consumers”. – Me
• “I’m sure all that retail therapy is helping”. – Me
• “Look at your bank balance before entry”. – Me
• “Proceed with caution”. – Me
• “Did social media make you come here to buy things you didn’t need?” – Me
• “You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose”. – Dr Seuss

My chosen message:

“Thank you for contributing to a throw-away society”.

Idea generation:

My text that I sent to myself to use:

Creating my chosen design with colour swatches in right upper corner:

Final Design:

Mock-up on Building with background removed:

I created this using Procreate. I firstly created the mural on a white background and then uploaded a copy of the mural onto a new sheet that the Beacon wall behind. I then removed the white background making it transparent so that the mural could be placed onto the wall and fit to give it a more realistic feel to the mock-up instead of keeping the white background on. I think the message is bold and would make people think, although most would ignore the meaning of the message and proceed.

If I had done this mural in real-life I would have done it by creating large stencils and then sticking them all together on the wall and using blue spray paint for the speech bubble and grey spray paint for the ‘delivered’. I would leave wording as the wall is white anyway, so that would save time. Because the mural is so big and would be done illegally, it would be a 5-6 person job, van and ladders involved!

I think this exercise shows that if I was offered to do street art I would want to do something that would stand out whilst still putting a message across. I think this mural would be counted as vandalism because 1. It’s been done on a wall of a building that belongs to the council and 2. because it would make most people unhappy or unconformable because after reading the message it would make then feel guilty for entering the shopping centre to most likely buy something they didn’t need and that they probably already have at home, therefore contributing to a throw-away society.