Essay

Choosing a particular period from 1800 to the present, in what ways has art or design responded to the changing social and cultural forces of that period? (2 specific examples):


Aside from the cultural stereotypes and their differentiating origins, punk and street art have, since the 1970’s, shared a balance of influencing one another. Their colossal legacies have always remained as post-modernist powerhouses, providing a free sense of expressionism driven by an endless spectrum "right" opinion, from socialism and anti-capitalism to animal rights protesting and anti-nationalism. These breathing underground cultures have always sustained themselves as figureheads to which one can bravely belong, in a community of united people and often undiluted political perspective. It is the overshadowing presence of Punk's DIY mentality that has elevated the graffiti world as a place to visually communicate and vice versa, on the subjects that matter the most, vocalizing the thoughts of the masses.

Punk spirit first began to thrive when 'The Oil crisis of 1973 resulted in worldwide recession, cuts in public spending and pronounced social tensions and inequalities' took over - (Panic Attack! Art in the Punk Years, Merrel) . This uneasy shift in the mid 70's directly parallels the state of the country today, when considering the recent economical collapse and distrust in the nation's banks, the B.P oil spill and a public uprising against government plans to cut private and public budgets. But during the mid to late 70's it was these occurrences in England that shaped what is arguably the most avant-garde and distinguishably post-modern cultural age of the 20th century. What emerged from this new era was the distraught dystopia, a "broken Britain" image. A quote from 'Punk: No One Is Innocent' by Kunsthalle Wien reinforces this idea, as Bob Geldof famously writes "Our architecture is so banal and destructive to the human spirit that walking to work is in itself a depressive experience'. Art and design embraced the use of cut-up collages that informed sharp edges and ransom note lettering, expressing a politically violent attitude that remains evident in much of the punk zines and posters of the time. Fashion took the same direction, as controversy queen Vivienne Westwood took entire control of a culture's "look" from her hub, the Sex shop amidst the madness on King's Road, London. From this place, much of Westwood's work exposed taboos including themes of sex fetish and violence, taking the governmental non-conformism to new heights as the movement was sound tracked by the biggest bands of the era, as Crass, Minor Threat, The Clash and Misfits all crusaded through the mid 70's, in to the 1980's and Thatcherism. Of them all, there is only one true band that can claim the title of most influential punk band to shake World's End. The Sex Pistols.

"On 7th June, 1977 a televised Service of Thanksgiving was held at St Paul's Cathedral in London to celebrate the twenty-five year reign of Queen Victoria II. On the same day, punk band the Sex Pistols sailed down the Thames playing out their controversial single "God Save The Queen" - (Panic Attack! Art in the Punk Years, Merrel). During that year, the record went platinum, gaining notoriety after being banned from radio stations. The power of Malcolm McLaren's timing saw his manufactured rogues climb to another level of notoriety as the classic anthem "precipitated the last and greatest outbreak of pop-based moral pandemonium", seen as "attacking Britons' social conformity and deference to the Crown". The success of the masterpiece was massively amplified when accompanied by the young designer Jamie Reid's visualization of the song's attitude and bite. Reid aided the band's cult following by producing work that immediately identified the band at their most extreme, tearing apart the Union Jack and piercing the Queen's image with a safety pin.

This was a time of unstoppable post-modern revolt on mass, and changed all sense of style on the way. Even Morrissey penned a message to the NME in response of witnessing one of the Sex Pistol's most profound gigs, stating "I'd love to see the Pistols make it. Maybe then they will be able to afford some clothes which don't look like they've been slept in".

Although the punk attitude may now have drifted away from the British conscience, street art is just one entity that continues to fly the anti-flag.

One recognizable titan to break in to he Britain's mainstream culture is frontline anti-capitalist legend Banksy. Known as much for the price-tag of his pieces as he is for his reactions to the outside world, Banksy, our own spray paint missionary is as alive today as ever, intent not on changing the world that we live in, but engaging the public so much as to provoke a positive reaction. Banksy states "The people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff. They expect to be able to shout their message in your face from every available surface but you're never allowed to answer back. Well, they started the fight and the wall is weapon of choice to hit them back" - (“Wall and Piece”, Banksy). But beyond Banksy's success is the niggling idea that the mystery man has contradicted the original underground presence of graffiti art, by taking it to the most affluent of galleries; although in doing so, his work is given ironic context that often pushes the meaning behind every piece to a new level.

Being the most notorious, Banksy certainly wasn't the first backlit painter to stencil reactions to the modern world. Instead Frenchman Blek Le Rat stood as the true innovator of stencil street art - heavily influencing "Banksy" early on in his career, and practically paving Banksy's destiny to become everything we know him to be.

Although his depictions of Lady Diana along the Tate Modern (of which Banksy later goes on to tribute with fake "Di-Faced Tenners", and of abducted reporter Florence Aubena, may have been reprinted repeated reminders of those that were lost, it is his creation of the iconic Parisian sewer rats that generate the boldest statement of all. These rats represented squalor amidst the urban environment, a creature of vermin and fear. Blek's book goes on to quote, "Rats, as marginalized members of society, are perhaps the only subversives and are said to be one of the few animals that will survive humankind in the event of an apocalypse" - (“Getting Through the Walls”, Prou, S & “King Adz”), whereas Banksy identifies them as "Capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees". Both Sybille Prou, the author of Blek Le Rat's book, and Banksy are proving that these rats symbolize the deepest foundations of the city, and the people that make it, the lower class families that power industry, ghosts of the Modernist city. Behind the legion of Blek's and Banksy's rats, even these street vermin began their journey in the works of American punk artist Christy Rupp, entitled "The Rat Patrol" in 1979. Both spray paint superstars are evidently reviving the Punk idea of an uprising, and how Britain's pyramid society depends on those grafting at the bottom, effectively turning the cogs that generate everything on which we depend.

The most prominent of social upheavals in recent times is the mass reaction to decisions made by the coalition government of November 2010. Joining the national congregation of upset students were both graffiti artists and punk rioters alike, prepared to set their views in stone through violence and vandalism. Those with spray cans in their hands documented their anger on the streets of London, delivering messages of injustice and betrayal through silhouetted portraits of the men in charge, often accompanied by aggressive statements, emitting the aggression out to the rest of the country. Since those very first protests, designers and students united to produce punk influenced placards and banners to flaunt their support within the marches. It is plain to see then, through the eyes of the most passionate, that post-modernist art continues to thrive, documenting the failings of our modern world and the promise that comes with it.

Sadly, the wave of punk has dissolved away, leaving a lack of imagination and inspiration for our young songwriters and lyricists to document modern struggles within the current political and economical climate we find ourselves in. Maybe it is through this silenced voice that in the near future, talent may just rise and amplify the thoughts of the thousands, rather than create music to just escape in to, create music to become involved. 

Graffiti though, still stands strong as a pillar of recognizable contemporary art. For example, today's work includes that of Urban Blooz - a typically anti-capitalist collective art project that works as a reaction to the colonization of public spaces by advertisement. The project's most significant work involves invading blank advertising spaces, and pasting black and white depictions of the setting behind it, creating an almost inverted "x-ray" effect when viewed from the right angle.

To entirely understand the relationship between the pinnacle of punk art and the emerging popularity of street art, it is best to compare two images that relate to each other in some way. Two of the boldest images from both post-modernist cultures are Jamie Reid’s “God Save The Queen”, featured earlier, and a homage to the piece by street artist D*Face.  In D*Face's piece, the work stands tall as both a spoof and as a tribute to Jamie Reid's work, possibly commenting on the long term inefficiency of the punk movement and how it lacked the motion to change, or simply reviving the spirit of punk itself. Or maybe it's something else, defining Punk's underground presence as still brooding and boiling under the surface of a mainly modernist world, waiting to bend the bars and break out of it's cage. Either way, it creates an interesting contrast between the D*Face recreation, and Reid's original collage. D*Face's version becomes a cartoonish representation in his parodical and satirical style, not belittling Reid's original one bit, but paying homage in the way he knows best. It could even be argued that D*Face is highlighting the sense of unpredictability and uncontrolled side of the graffiti world.

Upon D*Face's website, is the quote "I wanted to encourage people to not just to 'see', but to look at what surrounds them and their lives, reflecting our increasingly bizarre popular culture, re-thinking and reworking cultural figures and genres to comment on our ethos of conspicuous consumption. A Pandora’s box of bittersweet delights - sweet and sugary on the surface, but with an unfamiliar, uncomfortable, taste beneath" (www.dface.co.uk/why). These two sentences ultimately reveal D*Face's attitude towards the modern world, displaying a relatively radical outlook which highlights our shallow desire for easy escapism, as opposed to the healthier ideal of positive and effective change, which punk and street art have always strived to enforce.

It’s plain to see that both worlds have documented the post-modern world passionately, defining issues and reacting to them creatively. In the last 10 years where street art has blossomed the most, the presence of punk has shrunk to a point where it’s hardly noticeable today, with a decline in politically themed songwriting. As street art continues to plant across walls, maybe one day punk will enjoy a long lasting revival.


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Bibliography:


Publications:


Savage, J. (1991), 'England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock', Faber and Faber, London.


Wien, K. (2009), 'Punk: No One Is Innocent', Kunst Nurnberg, Germany.


The Mott Collection. (2010), 'Loud Flash: British Punk On Paper', Haunch of Venison Publishing, London.


C100. (2006), 'The Art of Rebellion', Publikat, Germany.


Prou, S. & "King Adz". (2009), 'Blek Le Rat: Getting Through The Walls', Thames and Hudson, London.


Sladen, M. & Yedgar, A. (2007), 'Panic Attack!: Art In The Punk Years', Merrel, London & New York.


Banksy (Author Unknown). (2006), 'Wall and Piece, Century, London.

Online Sources:

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2003), 'See-through Tree'. Source:
http://cargocollective.com/urbanblooz#91845/See-through-Tree

Cooper, R. (2008), 'A Brief History of Punk'. Source:
http://punkmusic.about.com/od/punk101/a/punkhistory2.htm

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2010), 'Manifesto of Stencilism'. Source:
http://blekmyvibe.free.fr/pages%20html/StencilbirthbyblekIORG.html

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2006), 'Profile'. Source:
http://www.jamiereid.org/about/

"D*Face". (2007), 'Why?'. Source:
http://www.dface.co.uk/why

Amusement Art (Copyright) / Author Unknown. (2011), 'Who is Mr. Brainwash'. Source:
http://mrbrainwash.com/about/about.html

Author Unknown / Administrator. (2010), 'Banksy - Outdoors'. Source:
http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/outusa/horizontal_1.htm