ART on the STREET

Art Out of the Ordinary You do not have to walk very far in any city today before seeing art plainly exhibited on the street. A building wall, sidewalk, traffic sign, or fence make an ideal canvas, transforming the urban landscape into an outdoor gallery. This art of the public space, widely referred to as graffiti or street art, has origins in the 1960s when it began as a subversive method of public communication for youth in Philadelphia and New York City. Over the last 40 years, a global phenomenon has taken over the streets of Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, São Palo, Madrid, Melbourne, Tel Aviv, and Amsterdam, giving rise to one of contemporary art and culture's most important movements. This book presents a collection of photographs of art on the streets from around the world: New York City, Miami, Santa Fe, and Camden in the United States, Montreal and Toronto in Canada; Ravello and Siracusa in Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Tel Aviv and Acre in Israel, Luang Prabang, Laos; London, England; Casablanca and Essaouira in Morocco; and Amsterdam, Holland. The scope of these photographs presents graffiti, street art, and public art, as well as art simply put on public display. The geographical span coupled with the fact that many documented sites are not considered hotbeds for urban art production indicates the movement's global impact. Mediums range from graffiti, stencil art, and wheatpaste to site-specific installation and sculpture. Represented are the various categories used to label art on the street: illegal, commissioned, sanctioned, and unsanctioned. The highlighted works seem to be very different at first look, but there is a very strong bond connecting them. Each of these works presents us with art that is out of the ordinary.