Talk:Street art

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 1 February 2021 and 28 May 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Rmoffatt44.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 10:17, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Historical images addition
Added 2 much needed historical images of street art from the 1980's in NYC. (AVANT Drive-In-Show 1983 04-GrandStreet 3px.jpg and AVANT with Hambleton.jpg) The article itself barely describes the origins of what has become a world wide movement and while Banksy (real identity unkown) may be a prominent contemporary street artist, I feel it is imperative to show the roots of the Post-Graffiti movement from notable artists. Anybody with a good Kieth Haring photo should please post it as well. As for the rest of the images, I think we can do alot better for contemporay street artists. Hindsite (talk) 11:20, 8 October 2013 (UTC) Since the early 2000's street art has overtaken the traditional art in terms of transfer to digital media with 2021 being the beginning of the NFT digital street art era.

Forthcoming revisions from October 13~ 2013
Good start, Hindsite — by all means keep up your participation. Yes, this article has very little encyclopedic context. It virtually ignores all historical background/context; Banksy may be the current flavor, but he's neither the inventor nor the be-all end-all of Street Art. Lots of pretty pictures in this article but mostly repetitious blah-blah-blah lacking substance. Also: PLENTY of files of artwork by notable street artists exist on commons, and a few of the existing images currently in the article, uploaded by no-one-of-note, can surely be sacrificed. Also, the full-right-side-image-barrage is far too blog-like for wikipedia. I'm beginning serious revisions here, including addition & deletion of images (which may harm some egos? Sorry), so I'm just politely announcing my upcoming participation here as a solid, neutral contributor. I've just archived all prior/redundant Talk-page topics, and I'll also begin monitoring the article. Penwatchdog (talk) 08:55, 13 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Continued trimming & restructuring for the greater good of the article. Requesting help/attention to the "Key locations" section; lots of un-referenced bragging and/or lots-of-nothing: Canada: one unsourced sentence about Toronto? Somebody get the Chamber of Commerce on the phone; even Sarasota, Florida, shows more proof! I'm working on an "origins" or-the-like section, which is what's most necessary. But that "Key Location" list should REALLY be re-formatted to some simpler just-the-facts section. Does it really need to be broken into country-by-country city-by-city? Pretty soon we'll have the "Street Art Scene of Sheboygan, Wisconsin" or "Kipnuk, Alaska". I'm sure those places have very vibrant street art scenes of their own; with all due respect just trying to make a point, the first thing I learned about Wikipedia: these articles are NOT-lists-of-EVERYthing. To be continued. Penwatchdog (talk) 14:06, 14 October 2013 (UTC)


 * New intro of Oct. 16: mostly re-composed what existed, but added encyclopedic context. Will return to it if further sourcing is necessary.
 * Next: slowly going through the "Key locations" section with a hatchet; mostly cutting unsourced material and self-promotion, let's make a clean start there. Apologies to any bruised egos; feel free to address any concerns here.Penwatchdog (talk) 02:19, 16 October 2013 (UTC)
 * "Key locations" edit of Oct. 16th: bulleted listings into prose, all the while checking references and trimming the fat. Continuing tomorrow. Intending to bold the city names, to make locations easier for the lesser attentive to find at a glance. Any comments? Penwatchdog (talk) 09:27, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

Penwatchdog revisions made
Really good to hear from you, and see your excellent work so far!!! Thanks! There's only one thing I'd like your opinion on: Being a native new yorker living in soho 1980-1984, though i think you did very good work on the Rene (best artist) article, I am not clear why an image from him should be on the street art page. He basically constantly re-painted his shop advertisement, and as you point out in the article about him, he was quite disrespected by people in the know.(sure the tourists loved it) If i recall, he did not begin doing that in the 70s, rather in 1980. Also, if street art is "anything that is not graffiti", then we must ask: what is graffiti exactly? My take on this is that street art is not primarily text or caligraphic based work on the street -and certainly not advertisement- which would disqualify Rene as a street artist. Also, I see if I can find a Haring "crawling baby" on street-lamp photo. (predates his better known chalk on black-billboard subway works) Hindsite (talk) 11:26, 15 October 2013 (UTC)
 * i'll have to weigh in on this one and beg to differ: street art IS certainly advertising, Hindsite: SELF-advertising! attention junkies crying out "look at ME" or "look at THIS" is all part of their game... do you think any of these people would be doing what they do if they didnt think they could get something out of it? if at very least the pats-on-the-back, chuckles from friends, and self-satisfaction? for some artists, taking it to the streets is the only option, as usual outlets aint providing otherwise... for better or worse, respect it or not, agree or not, "i am the best artist" wins hands down if we're talking about getting attention and capturing the intrigue of a generation... Rene was (is?) also a pretty interesting character with alot to say and enjoying himself, and thats more than enough of a combination to rub people the wrong way in some circles! Japanglish (talk) 02:10, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Japanglish, thanks for your comment- I have to admit I did think about that very universal aspect of self promotion via street art and graffiti, yet Rene's approach just seemed so blatently commercial to most (Hambleton, AVANT, Jean-Michel, Keith and writers Futura, Dondi, etc) at the time. Notwithstanding my own possible confabulation, I have to say you make an important and ligitamate point! Convinced:) Hindsite (talk) 08:56, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

October revision generally completed
Mostly heavy shuffling of pre-existing text, but some deletion of repetitive descriptions, blatant promotion, questionable/promotional sources, re-sectioning & re-naming. Many additional images and deletion of decidedly UN-notable street art. MUCH was already unsourced when I started. In a few cases I found/added new sources, in other cases I added "citation needed" tags, but not for information I believe to be common knowledge.

As for new material of my own, I've been pulling details from linked articles which have sources of their own; trying to flow those sources into this article became too time-consuming for me at this time; anyone wishing to help with that: help appreciated! Some new material isn't sourced at all but it's all material which is common knowledge within street art circles, and source material surely exists if necessary at all.

The "Background" section gets kind of iffy (it's a compilation of pre-existing text) but I just left most of it as-is for now and did what I could. Sections which allow for some expansion: Origins; Early iconic works; Groundbreaking exhibitions. As I always admit to agreeing with, wikipedia isn't a list of everything, and I can foresee additions of questionable notability to those sections, so I'll continue monitoring here!

I'm just now remembering I intended to add "Fashion Moda" gallery in there somewhere but didn't get around to it. And I left the one unsourced sentence about Toronto, but it looks kind of silly just sitting there with no examples. Feel free too add or delete! I'll be monitoring anyway, so, see you all again here! Penwatchdog (talk) 10:31, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Did Charles Simonds start street art in the 70s?
I stumbled across Charles Simonds's work in two European museums recently. He started building miniature clay buildings in the streets of New York in 1971. Shouldn't he be mentioned in Street art and/or Street installation? http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20119012,00.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgI66suWifQ http://www.albrightknox.org/collection/collection-highlights/piece:number-ii-ritual-furnace/ http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2012/12/charles-simonds-ruined-miniature-clay-homes-little-people/ http://whitney.org/Collection/CharlesSimonds http://www.charles-simonds.com/biblio/patton.pdf --Biologos (talk) 10:12, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

It was started by a artist named CoCo in 1971 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.100.33.12 (talk) 04:19, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

Shocker! Yet another article on "street art" with no mention of Philadelphia
Cornbread birthed modern graffiti in Philadelphia. Recognize and acknowledge or don't write the entry. 24rhhtr7 (talk) 14:17, 5 May 2015 (UTC)
 * So what's stopping you adding a section on Philadelphia? -- Escape Orbit (Talk) 16:47, 5 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Like I told the other guy, I didn't sign on to edit this page. I'm simply pointing out that none of you should be editing pages on graffiti or street art if you don't even know the origins of modern graffiti.  24rhhtr7 (talk) 01:18, 6 May 2015 (UTC)


 * So you're just complaining about a problem you could fix yourself, but don't want to? Gee thanks for that. Do you at least know of any reliable sources to help us out, or would that violate your strict non-editing vow? Grayfell (talk) 02:11, 6 May 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm not complaining about anything. I'm calling you out for your lack of knowledge in a way that should embarrass you into fixing the page to reflect the actual history of graffiti and street art.  Where I'm from, if you get shown to not know what you're talking about, it embarrasses you into doing your research.  Clearly that's not the case with you but I really shouldn't be surprised about that.  So glad people like you are editing these pages about urban culture. 24rhhtr7 (talk) 11:36, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

Uuuuum, 24rhhtr7: I'm calling YOU out, for not putting your two-cents where your mouth is! There is no "YOU" here. YOU are the "YOU". I spent my own time rewriting this page from the idiot fanboy page it was, into some kind of sensible account. Would you have even spent 1% of that time? Sorry if "WE" don't meet your standards. By the way, these pages/articles are all WORKS-IN-PROGRESS; that's what makes it better than any encyclopedia YOU'd ever have a say in!... If YOU have informative reliable sources to provide what YOU know to be true, and YOU present it in proper formatting, then YOU are free to try it too! Where I'm from, if YOU just spout sh*t, all YOU get is sh*t spouted back, like everywhere else in the world! By the way, since I transformed this page (years ago) from a REAL embarrassment into something resembling a respectable encyclopedic entry, it has apparently reverted to a free-for all of whoever wants bragging rights for their homies. (Editorial recommendation: time to CUT some photos!)

I won't spend another minute helping here... WHY? Exactly because of bitching & moaning like yours. Be happy there's an article here at ALL. If all the world had was just Encyclopedia Brittanica, you-&-yours probably wouldn't be represented at all, or definitely not have any input there! You should be happy you can even be a b*tchy girl about it on this TALK page! Even more important: THIS IS NOT THE "GRAFFITI" PAGE. Look for "Graffiti" & the many offshoot pages and make whatever complaints you have THERE. Graffiti & "Street Art" overlap but are NOT the same subjects. You can cry all you want here or there but if the names you're dropping didn't make the cut then maybe they're just not as important as you/they THINK they are? 153.206.214.219 (talk) 11:33, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

Guerilla Art Submission by James ONeil UMASS Lowell Media Project
James ONeilNailsONeil (talk) 18:49, 5 June 2016 (UTC) aka nailsoneil Hello All, I am a student at UMASS Lowell and I would like to make a contribution to the Street Art article on Wikipedia. I am a newbie when it comes to this although I have been using Wikipedia for years. I think it is a great resource. I never knew I would actually be a contributor. So here goes. I have compiled a bibliography of books, articles, and web Sites I have found on the subject. Some are from Google Scholar and some are from the artist themselves. I would appreciate any feedback. Here then is my works cited as follows:

NailsONeil (talk) 18:49, 5 June 2016 (UTC)Bibliography Keri Smith, Guerilla Art Kit (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007)

Cedar Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution (New York: Abrams, 2008) “Street Art,” Last modified May 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art.

Jennifer Harris, “Guerilla Art, Social Value and Absent Heritage Fabric”, March 25, 2011, International Journal of Heritage Studies. (Vol 17, Issue 3, 2011)

Sandy Claes, Andrew Vande Moere, “Street Infographics: Raising Awareness of Local Issues Through a Situated Urban Visualization”, (ACM Digital Library: April 2013) http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2491597

Graham Meikle, “We are All Boat People: A Case Study in Internet Activism”, (MIA, Media International Australia, 2002), http://mia.sagepub.com/content/107/1/9.short

“Surprise! 20 Subversive Works of Urban Guerilla Street Art”, Date not available. http://weburbanist.com/2009/06/14/20-subversive-works-of-urban-guerrilla-street-art/.

Mamta Bhatt, “Guerilla Art: The Provocative World of Banksy”, February 2, 2016. http://all-that-is-interesting.com/banksy-guerrilla-art “Genius or vandalism? The guerilla artists subverting our streets”, April 27, 2010. (The Independent) http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/genius-or-vandalism-the-guerrilla-artists-subverting-our-streets-1954614.html

“Guerilla Girls Reinventing the F Word: Feminism”, Last Updated 2016, http://www.guerrillagirls.com/#open

“The Wander Society”, “Right in Front of You”, Last Updated January 23, 2016. http://www.kerismith.com/

Fiona McAuslin, “The Future of London Street Art,” Time-Out London, January 29, 2009, http://www.timeout.com/london/art/the-future-of-london-street-art
 * 7/1/2016 James here and I added a new section on Guerilla Sculpture that features an example about the Edward Snowden statue that appeared in New York, Forte Green Park. I will also add an image so readers can get a taste of the quality of the work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by NailsONeil (talk • contribs) 17:47, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

New subheading -Guerilla Sculpture
I added a new subheading called Guerilla Sculpture. I am taking Media course at UMASS Lowell and it is part of an assignment. I also added an image from Wikimedia Commons. It is a picture of the Bust of Edward Snowden. I plan to add more information about Guerilla Sculpture.NailsONeil (talk) 19:45, 1 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi. I've just removed the section you added.  While this may be an interesting essay on the subject, it is not suitable for Wikipedia for the following reasons;
 * It is unsourced. As an encyclopaedia, content on Wikipedia needs cites to reliable sources so that it may be verified.
 * It reads like a personal essay. That is, it is your own personal opinions and original research.  Wikipedia does not contain either.  It also needs a more factual tone.
 * Please feel free to re-add your section. But please take the above points on board.  Don't hesitate to ask if you think I can help.  Thanks. -- Escape Orbit  (Talk) 14:38, 11 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks Earth Orbit, I appreciate the critique. I am a newbie but eager to learn, NailsONeilNailsONeil (talk) 14:29, 22 July 2016 (UTC)
 * To recap my contributions. I added two elements: 1. Guerilla Sculpture which addressed the lack of info in the article ‘Street Art’ about three dimensional art.  ‘Earth Orbit’ a Wikipedia moderator gave me hints on how to improve my passage.  I edited it and resubmitted.  2. Legal Ramifications in Street art was also a passage I added to delve a little deeper into the ethical and moral issues confronting the actors of ‘Street Art’.

3. I also placed a few sentences that you can find in the element titled ‘Background’ and well as ‘Origins’. I have highlighted these contributions in yellow in my Part III mock draft in the following section of this paper. Thanks to Adam and ‘Earth Orbit’ for keeping me on track. My peer review was positive so I hope it was well received. NailsONeil (talk) 18:29, 22 July 2016 (UTC)
 * I've done a few tweaks to the paragraph. It lacked a clear introduction to what "Guerilla Sculpture" actually is.  And some of the terminology was a bit confusing.  Remember that the reader is not necessarily familiar with artistic terminology, Wikipedia is targeted at the average reader who may be coming to the topic with very little background knowledge.  So it's helpful to link specialised words or expressions that may be unfamiliar to them.   I also neutralised a few things.  Calling something "renowned" or "of note" is expressing an opinion. -- Escape Orbit  (Talk) 19:13, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

Peer Review/Edit
Hello, I will be peer reviewing this article. It is a very interesting read, for starters when I read the article title I never thought it mean graffiti, considering so many people don't really consider graffiti as art they see it as simply vandalism but it is in fact art nonetheless. The history section is great, my suggestion would be to possibly add more history about possibly a particular instance that made this first come about, if this is possible for you. Also I would say that a section of controversy and critical aspects would be really great as well, as I mentioned before, since a lot of people see graffiti as vandalism and not art it would be really nice to read about how some people had issues with gorilla art as well, to give all aspects of the article. The part about the gorilla sub culture that you added was very nicely put. Luce Fonrose (talk) 18:00, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Hi, this was just another suggestion maybe you could possibly add well known people who are known for their gorilla art. Since it's not something that a lot of people know, maybe you could mention these people and how they found their interest in gorilla art and how they got started. Luce Fonrose (talk) 04:51, 24 July 2016 (UTC)

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Possible image/caption/citation edit
I am evaluating this page as part of a course. I found as a user the picture caption that includes the citation (4) or http://www.filippominelli.com/project/silence-shapes/ does not match the image or caption. The Minelli link shows his smoke-bomb or smoke-cloud art but the picture looks like a sculpture in a wooded area. The statement that art pieces in remote areas are short-lived (that accompanies the picture), is a little confusing to the reader. Why is it short-lived? Minelli's smoke art does have a finite life span because the smoke dissipates. So how does this statement relate to remote art as a whole or to the picture used to illustrate that point? There is some really good work started here and I think other great information to add!--KatieRob27 (talk) 22:49, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

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Proposed removal of free 'Free art movement' section
The paragraph 'Free art movement' seems not about street art in terms of 'artworks' generated and applied to public buildings or spaces as graffiti or permitted decoration or installation, but about leaving or abandoning items/artwork out in the open in the hope someone will pick them up and want to keep them.

Both the references suggest leaving art to be found for free did not originate as a street art activity one suggests it was later adopted by a uk 'street artist'. Although some 'street artists' may do this as a way of getting their art seen, is this activity 'street art' by definition? - as it could be construed as littering rather than graffiti for example? So should this section have its own page potentially or be removed from this page?

In terms of the page being too broad, is that not a function of the acceptance, blossoming and broadening aesthetic of, and marketing of 'Street Art' seen recently as it becomes more of a mainstream activity including as its often graphic style is readily transeferable to and from digital media including NFT's Asgar the crippled (talk) 05:46, 19 March 2022 (UTC)


 * Free Art Movement section moved to free culture movement copyright paragraph Asgar the crippled (talk) 11:55, 20 March 2022 (UTC)

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