"Graffiti belongs to everyone and no one. On a section of a condemned wall, I put up a graffito. . . (A) bank director stopped the construction work, had my carving cut out as a fresco and inlayed it in the wall of his apartment."
- Pablo Picasso
Art is Art & Street Art is Art plus
Modern graffiti has its roots in 1970s African-American hip-hop culture, in which graffiti "tags" the term for the heavily stylised signatures and symbols that compose a lot of graffiti, were a form of vandalism and protest, a declaration of personal and cultural identity, and a way to reclaim neglected spaces.
Now practiced as much by white skate-punks as by black youth, some graffiti has achieved remarkable beauty and skill—even making it into art galleries—while remaining vandalism in most places.
The Cans Festival, a stencil art street battle, took place last month in the Leake Street of London, where a line-up of renowned graffiti artists made the street explode with colours and powerful social messages. The event dubbed the Cans Festival, which took place in the UK, grabbed the attention of a wide audience.
The disused road tunnel, in South London, was turned into a giant exhibition space, for some of the world's graffiti artists who dabbled with their paints in front of an enchanted enthusiastic audience. The in a half-mile stretch of the tunnel in Leake Street, Waterloo was transformed from a dark forgotten corner to a cutting edge exhibition space, with stencil graffiti on the walls and 3D art installations. Artists who took part are the reference in their field. To name a few, Blek le Rat, Pure Evil, Jef Aerosol, Banksy, Logan Hicks, Eelus, as well as members of the public, who were also invited to join. The pictures featured in this page speak loud the kind of atmosphere that prevailed at this major street art event.
