What kind of street art do I consider "responsible street art"?
A lot of street art are graffiti, wall paintings, large "name signing", tagging.
All this is ok if its temporary, and ever changing. It serves a function somewhat like a blackboard on the street. Where everybody could express themselves and nobody cares if someone else comes along and draws, paints over the previous things. Such a function is very well displayed in the movie, "Be kind, rewind". Where at the beginning, Jack Black and his pals are up to adolescent naughty public property defacement. At the end of the movie, we see other adolescent kids painting over what they had done previously.
If the wall, or space can fulfil this "support" for self expression - such as under the bridge (no body really cares, its nomansland) or some abandonned shipping yard (nobody cares) however, when its in a public area, like a town square, or city park lot, I would say, it needs to have some characteristics that would be useful for the general public. Public Art is not "contemplative personal art", you can take private art and study at home all you like. This includes Leonardo's painting to graffiti found on an abandonned site. But in a public square, its discussable what is an "eye sore" and what is "street art".
When we have too many things in the world that are ugly, violent, destructive - what a lot of people call "shit" already, why display in grand scale more "shit"? Under whatever name you could label, shit is shit. And large scale ugly negative things are just that, and should not be ruining the ambiance of a space. ie "Butt Plug" by an American artist at Place Vendome I think. I think yes the message is strong, money+purchased sex+sex games all rolled into one. But I am not interested in that, such a giant size balloon of an object of not much other qualities is ok to be seen for an evening, as a performance, as a display, but not as any permanent, semi permanent installation.
Recently, a sculptor told me about his worries, his daughter enrolls into a fashion institute. I am so worried he said, I try to disway her from entering into this business, because I know this milieu is superficial, all about sex. If you are lucky, he said, you are a big name, and you become v rich and famous and have a comfortable life. But anything below that, you become a prostitute. I have seen so many. They have no brains. In her school, 25 students, and 11 guys, and they are all homosexuals, he said, its is a frightening future for her. If his daughter ends up amongst the ones who did not "make it" - and its likely that - since she didnt get into a famous school but a normal range fashion school. Her future would be in, slaving in the clothing design industry... or worst, become part time prostitute to make her way! This sculptor goes rather in large steps, but hes in the professional art field for so long - what he says is a caricature of things that happened. Its not all wrong. You just read a selection of books by ex-fashion models and it recounts the milieu with real stories. Magazines often has stories of ex-companion of Mr. so and so. The stories are more or less within a certain envelope that makes the sculptor friend summaries his opinion of the fashion field.
But then, maybe people's perception and uses of their bodies change too?
Nobody knows.
Here below are the kind of Street Art that I like, I think maybe children would like, a bit child like, very innocent, icecream, flowers and trees, that kind of Dr.Seuss type of children literature range.
I am no fan of Tags. And ugly amateur paintings on a huge wall hurts my eyes.
Playful toy like addition to a public space is my idea of positive addition to an everyday world.
Of course, I also know, we cant eat ice cream all the time everyday.
Sometimes you want something else, more adult.
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