Another Brick in the Wall

Murals and Street Art

This Pink Floyd’s song is a rebellion of my youth – I was an exemplary student of mathematics by the day and a member of a secretive avant-garde multi-media art group by the night.  We did not do graffiti but did glue artistic posters on walls and lamp posts of cobblestone Belgrade streets, sporting ‘bobby’ helmets of British police and pointed stilettos of Merlin Monroe (on cobblestones!) – we wore punk haircuts and nerdy glasses.

Street art – a symbol of rebellion by allienated youth, against oppression, divide, neglect…attempt to externalize fissured realities of inner cities onto their walls. An outlet for political activism and commentary…and a canvas for unrestricted expression of unhinged artists.

Murals have been an art form for ages, literally. From paleolithic cave paintings in Caceres, to renaissance frescos, to Berlin Wall, to Mexican wall painting movement triggered by Diego Rivera and to, fast-forward, street art springing in all urban centers around the world – a curious art history that brought into its folds many novel art forms and techniques.

We pass by them, painted walls and graffiti, often not noticing – blended into our urban landscapes; expected in underpasses, at train stops, nuisance almost…it takes an intent to search for them that brings these artworks, witty, often spectacular, into focus.  When we stop to contemplate them, the increadible originality and engagement engulf us, our urban souls…

Artists, often anonymous, or hidden behind unusual avatar names – Banksy, BLU, Miss Tic, bring their commentary or playfulness to all of us, on a grand scale, every day – no enclosed galleries – art as public good and an important social discourse. Street art – recently embraced and funded by city councils, not for profits and even commercial galleries, often to ‘suppress graffiti’, it’s true origin – go figure! – has become a main-stream, educational and cultural.

Recalling our street strolls through cities of the world, and, most importantly, through our own, we collected this dramatic account of murals and street art, often transient, hence the urge to capture it.

This collection of images of murals and street art has been assembled into an interactive flipbook, intriguing and surprising.

Murals

The video version is available below.