Urban Art

URBAN ART

Have you ever wondered about the beautiful artistic work on the wall of a street? Is it just someone trying to beautify their space, or is it some form of art that has a significant impact? If you’ve wondered about it, you are in the right place to know about it.

All the paintings or any artistic work that you see on the walls, streets, buildings, or any other public spaces is called street art. Street art is commonly known as urban art since most of it is found in the urban setting of big and chaotic cities around the world. Emerging from the graffiti culture, it has marked its presence in a wider range of artistic styles and expressions. But what differentiates it from other forms of art?

Some unique features of urban art clearly distinguish it from other forms of art.

• Urban art is most often created in spaces that are open to the public, in the sense that they are made in spaces that are accessible to anyone who passes by, thus giving access to the public environment. In contrast, other art forms are most often in the confines of specific art galleries or museums. This means that people have to take out specific time and resources to interact with these art pieces, but for urban art, you do not need to have that.
• Urban art is not just confined to one form of art; rather, it borrows its style from various ways of artistic expression. It comprises of installations, wheat pasting, stencil art, murals, or graffiti. There is a common use of bold colors and intricate patterns to make them more aesthetically pleasing. So, the next time you see a mural painting on a wall sideways, it will not necessarily be of the same style everywhere.
• Urban art can be seen as a site for resistance as well. Many of these art forms are said to challenge some sort of societal constraints, and they speak of socio-cultural and political issues. There is some purpose to them most often. Either they tend to be a form of critique of the system, or they become a point of information about issues like inequality and environmental degradation that often remain under the carpet.
• These art pieces are also a point of contact within the community. It fosters community engagement. It is due to the fact that this kind of art includes constant collaboration between the artists, local residents, businesses and even government agencies that leads to a shared sense of the public space.

Urban art is not a new concept; rather, it has remained in the urban space for a long period of time. At times, they have been used as a way of resisting the system and invoking a change for the betterment of society. Be it just a way of beautifying a space or invoking a change, urban art is an interesting site to observe. So, the next time you pass by one, take a glimpse and let that sink in.