What differences do you perceive between street art and graffiti art?
While the participants all recognized that there are differences between street art
and graffiti art, the range of answers for this question was vast. The participants
determined that graffiti art is traditionally centered on proliferation of a tag name that
incorporates a similar aesthetic or style. Rooted in more traditional tags, bombs, and
pieces that display the tag name or crew, graffiti art differs from street art, which
commonly is more open to a variety of media and subject. Though street art still
makes use of tags, bombs, and pieces, there is more variety and choice of media
used to create the art. One participant, GA2, pointed out that graffiti art is closer
aligned to a specified set of rules that are not seen in street art, however. Two of the
participants stated that there are many similarities, resulting in a significant amount
of cross-over between the two forms of art. Additionally, both street art and graffiti art
often carry the negative perception that they are affiliated with gangs when they are
often not. Participant GA2 describes the difference by saying, “It seems that graffiti
carries such a negative persona being tied to gang affiliations while street (art) is
more or less reserved for artist types.”
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