Street Art

Invader, Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Margaret Kilgallen, André

What is street art? It is art traditionally created in public places and often displayed illegally on walls, buildings, and signs. It emerged from the 1970s graffiti scene, and has been identified as its own “post-graffiti” art movement. Over the last four decades, streets have become a place where some graphic artists choose to express themselves, each with their own objective and point of view. Let’s take a look at some of the pioneers of the movement.

André

André moved from Sweden to Paris in the early 1980s when he was 10 years old, and quickly became one of the pioneers of Parisian graffiti, tagging the avenues as a teenager. Famous for his Mr. A character—a stick figure with a round head, long legs, and an X for one of his eyes—André now has his own clothing line, and owns restaurants, clubs, and hotels around
the world.

Shepard Fairey

While a student in art school, Shepard Fairey used the image of Andre the Giant to show a friend how to make a stencil. He started a street campaign of stickers, stencils, and posters, posting the Andre image wherever he traveled. In 1995, he combined the word Obey with Andre’s image to create his street poster campaign. Today, Obey Giant is a company that sells stickers, clothing, books, and prints.

Invader

Since the mid-1990s, French artist Invader has been installing his work in public places—tiled mosaics of characters from and inspired by the 1980s video game Space Invaders. He says he chose it because it’s “a symbol of our era and the birth of modern technology, with video games, computers, the Internet, mobile phones, hackers and viruses.” So far, he’s “invaded” 35 cities all over the world.

Banksy

Banksy’s works, like that of many street artists, is politically and socially charged. He uses stencils, but also creates installations using alternative materials and techniques. His identity has never officially been revealed, yet his art sells for top amounts at auctions. Go to his website and click Shop. One thing is sure, he makes a clear statement: anti-establishment and anti-consumerism.

Margaret Kilgallen

A San Francisco Bay Area artist, Margaret Kilgallen was influenced by traditional typography, shop signs, street murals, and folk art in her work. Her pieces have a very nostalgic quality. She got into freight train graffiti in the 1990s, and in 2001 she graduated from Stanford with a Master of Fine Arts. In her graffiti phase, she went by the names Meta and Matokie Slaughter, the latter in honor of the famed banjo player.

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