Street art Drawing

Today street art is present in many of our cities and it is becoming a major contemporary art movement. One way of defining street art is to say it includes all forms of art created in the street or more generally in public spaces. Key to this movement is the use of public spaces as a way of communicating with a large number of people.

The history of street art as we know it today, originated in the 1960s in the United States, in the city of Philadelphia with the development of graffiti. One man, wanting to profess his love and hoping to catch his loved one’s eye, started to write his name on walls throughout the city. Several others across the city imitated him. This was the birth of “tags”, a type a signature, often used to mark out territories but now used in art.

As the swinging 60s came to a close, graffiti had spread to several cities and had successfully reached New York, the city that would help project this new art form into the spotlight. The late 60s and early 70s were a time of rapid urbanisation, growing suburbs, and omnipresent advertising. The development of street art was also helped by the commercialisation of spray-paints - budding street artists could now easily have access to their medium of choice. The initial street art movement was linked to vandalism and graffiti could be found all over the city, on public or private property and on trains. Quik, Futura 2000 and Phase 2 were some of the most famous graffiti artists of the time.

The art movement made its debut in France in the early 1970s but it didn’t gain much recognition until the 1980s. Key players of the French street art movement include Blek le Rat, Jérôme Mesnager and Jef Aérosol.

Street art now comes in all shapes and sizes, from tagging to huge frescos as well as sculpture and drawings. As street art evolved and spread worldwide, new methods appeared including collage, stencilling and stickers. Increasingly, especially as the police enforced stricter laws on graffiti and punishment became more severe in the 1980s and 1990s, artists started to work in studios.

Gallery owners started to catch on to the trend and began to represent street artists. The first exhibition of graffiti art took place in 1972 in New York. Drawing eventually became a medium used by street artists. Graffiti artists let their imaginations run free using paper as their chosen support. They worked with a whole array of paper types, including Canson paper, newspaper and even bank notes, as demonstrated by Death NYC and Philippe Sainte Fauste…

As the movement’s importance in the art market grew more prominent, many artists feared its institutionalisation and believed that it undermined the movement’s very essence. Today, many artists combine street work and works created in a studio, using spray-paints, coloured pencils, chalk and charcoal. The street is now considered a helpful springboard for achieving recognition. Many of the most expensive street artists now work in urban areas legally often thanks to commissions. Some of today’s most famous street artists include: Jef Aérosol, Banksy and Miss Tic.

So why not buy a street art drawing from Artsper’s collection and treat yourself to a unique, modern or contemporary work of art? You will find a wide range of styles, including works by emerging and well-established artists. Don’t miss our selection of works from renowned contemporary street artists such as JR,JonOne and Shepard Fairey (Obey)!