Research Paper Draft

THE MEANING OF STREET ART

Denny Gabriel

1000 Introduction to Visual Arts of the World

Fall 2017
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As humans, we all express ourselves through different means. Wether it’ll be through a

form of social activity like a sport or a personal project like a painting. Street artist express

themselves through their work. They paint in the train station walls, park floors and museums.

They express their own point of view as well as others in the community through their art.

Expressing our opinion and point of view unite our community.

In this paper, we will explore the importance and impact of street art. New York City is a

place that thrives with diversity. Within New York City, I will be talking about a private street

art project and two commissioned art projects. Two which are in Washington Heights

neighborhood and the last on Harlem. Dister Rondon, Creative Art Works and Queen Andreas all

create are pieces to express New Yorker’s. The pieces also endorse a positive feeling on the

people in the community who see it.

Dister is an artist and creator of a large project known as “I love my hood”, he believes

that murals around the community should be allowed to be created around any block in your

neighborhood just like “any Citibank or business can pop up in your block without your

permission.”1 He mainly focuses on how the community interacts and the characteristic of your

neighborhood, or in other words your “hood”. He states he does not expect you to love your

neighborhood as not everyone can appreciate what they are around of, but he expects you to

respect these murals.

Dister and his large community of assistants have rallied to promote positivity around

NYC. To be exact, they focus on Washington Heights community. The “I love my hood” project

make around Washington Heights depicts the daily lives of people that live there. Dister has been

1
WNYC. “Dister, The Uptown Street Artist”. Filmed [July 2013]. Youtube video, 00:03-00:11. Posted July
16, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XGnYR8hjDg
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a part of the New York Community. He

believes cultural pride makes a unique

and strong community as well as promote

a better living.2

Dister also expanded his project

beyond New York City. He decided to go

to another country in which he can make

the same type of mural. The country he chooses was Dominican Republic. 3 The basic purpose of

the murals remains intact. “Under vibrant murals depicting local life — piragua vendors, water

gun fights, and stop-and-frisk hold-ups — Dister Rondon, 34, uses the slogan, “I Love My

Hood,” to promote indigenous neighborhood pride .”4 The murals often depict unique aspects of

the neighborhood they are located in. He often travels with his companion that also shares the

same interest as him for making murals that relate to the community. The “I love my hood”

project also provides opportunities for kids in NYC interested in arts to participate in some mural

projects. The I love my hood mural can be found in 4672 Broadway, New York, NY 10040. The

date of creation of this piece is not known. The location of this mural is specific to its meaning as

it contributes to the community. Many elements of art are used in the mural. Graffiti is known to

be very bright and bolded to catch the viewer’s attention. In this case, he uses color to make this

piece more impactful. The color of the word “hood” specifically stands out. A bright red mixed

with orange is a very vibrant color that catches attention. By using all these bright colors Dister

2
Dister Rondo, Denny Gabriel, New York City, December 20 2017.
3
DISTER RONDO. “I LOVE MY HOOD promo”. Filmed [ November 2013]. Youtube video, 00:49-00:57,
Posted November 19,2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-C8_J0YXR0&t=67s
4
Laignee Barron, “Meet Uptown’s Radical Tagger,” New York Daily News. July 26, 2013.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/meet- uptown-radical- tagger-article- 1.1410205
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can also catch the attention of pedestrians easier. This means more pedestrians will be able to

acknowledge the mural.

The elements of art used in this this mural are Space and Form. The spacing between the

characters on the mural.

The characters clearly have a complex form because they are expressed using different

lengths and width. The length and width also play a role on the stance the characters appear as.

For example, the male character’s feet are different size in width and length. This represents that

he is standing in a real-life stance, where his right foot is facing more forward then the left foot.

The element of space, describes the areas around the objects of an art piece. In this case, the boy

is standing on top of the word “hood”. Opposite to the girl getting soaked with a water gun, who

is behind the word. This shows effective use of space giving the mural a sort of view point

between the interacting parts/objects of the piece.

The mural also uses principles of design. The piece demonstrates variety within the

characters drawn in the piece. These murals are made to relate to the daily life of individuals

living in the community. The characters use a style of clothing that can be found around the

community where is located. For example, the three lines shaped in the head of the boy’s hair is

very common. Many Hispanic people live around Washington Heights and the lines are quite

popular around teen boys and can be used to represent individual style in the community. The

girl wearing a crop top is also a popular in girls of the community. This is how the piece

incorporates Variety to relate to the public. This brings me on the next principle of design, this

piece also uses Unity. The viewer’s being able to relate to the mural gives the piece a satisfaction

and overall understanding of the mural.

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The location of this mural is also very important. The piece is in front of Fort Tryon park.

Parks are known as place where people can socialize and feel at ease. The mural portraits what

can occur at a park. Kids and teens can be found in the park playing around. The mural addresses

this, a water gun fight is happening which relates to what you have experienced in the park most

likely. The mural also promotes positivity because in NYC we see a lot of violence occur. This

mural preserves an activity that brings positive relationships among people.

“The More you Give, The More you Grow” Picture taken by
http://www.lnylnylny.com/pedagogy/The-More-You-Give-the-More-You-Grow
Moving on to another community, this Mural consist of many different parts that project

a message to the viewers. “The More you Give, The More you Grow” is located in 500 West

138th Street, New York, NY, 10031. The piece was led by Creative Art Works within one of their

summer programs. Public Art Youth Employment Program offered by Creative Art Works,

Young adults 14-24 years old are given full-time summer jobs and part-time jobs after school
to create large-scale public art in Manhattan, starting with the initial planning down to the final
brush strokes and public unveiling. They gain tangible employment skills as well as general
life skills such as leadership, teamwork, responsibility, and the power of taking initiative.
By the end of the program, our young artists feel empowered seeing the permanent
accomplishment that is their mural and its positive impact on the community. 5

5
Creative Art Works. “Public Art Youth Employment Program”. Accessed November 26, 2017.
http://www.creativeartworks.org/programs/
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The teens are given the chance to create and work on a piece of art to show to the public. In

this case, The idea of the piece was inspired by the nearby community. 6 Creative Art Works

provides teenagers and young adults opportunity to work around their community to make it

more interesting. This piece was a prime example of what they achieve w ith their team during

the program. The mural promotes diversity. The mural has many messages incorporated within

it, they were inspired by gathering information from interviews from local people. For

example, a part of the mural shows two black hands holding open a book with a house inside

the book. The color of the hands is significant to this part of the piece. It shows the United

States was built by the hands of those black people who were enslaved years ago. The mural

does not primarily build off this negatively. In another part, it shows Harlem with a plant

placed by black hands in the middle. This is meant to portray that Harlem was a special place

to those African American who lived here. Harlem was a place where they felt safe and were

inspired by others. Harlem is full of joy, and primarily a home to many who escaped to New

York City back in the day. The nearby community shows this, they aren’t afraid to deem

Harlem their home. The community gave their input on what to add to the mural.

“The More you Give, The More you Grow” mural impacts the community positively.

Utilizing the elements of arts to attract more and more people who pass by. 7 The colors also

create harmony within the whole piece. All the colors coming together to tell a story of the

nearby community alleviate the people. This piece relates to the people who may see it which

6
Creative Art Works. “The More You Give, the More You Grow at Hamilton Grange Middle School”.
Filmed [ August 2016]. Vimeo video, 00:25-00:39, Posted August 13, 2016. https://vimeo.com/178751319

7
Ibid5, 01:18-01:22
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helps connect the community where is located. Even if you aren’t part of the community, you

can look at the mural and understand what the mural is trying to portrait. This brings Unity

among not only the community, but also the people who have seen the piece. The community

feels happy a piece was created on the behalf to represent them.

The “Prismatic Power Phrases” can many a variety of different things. This mural was

made by the artist Queen Andreas and can be found in the 191 st 1 train station in New York. 8

This piece is composed of a variety of different phrases all being positive. The phrases being

positive can be to uplift the hard-working people here in the city of New York. These phrases

could even be to help with the constant feeling of stress and pressure that comes along with

working in a city, so jam packed with stress. Suicides rates in New York City were at its all-

time highest being at 8.4 deaths per 100,000 New York State residents.9 These group of murals

could have been created in order to help with the possible depressed residents of the New York

state who take the train, one of the most relied source of transportation in the city.

This piece uses color to its advantage. The mural uses a large range of bright colors

from neons to plain white. If this piece in fact was created to lighten the spirit of the stressed,

possibly depressed residents of New York City then the colors chosen definitely do help with

that. “The goal was to make the five-minute walk to the 1 train in Washington Heights a bit

more vibrant, and perhaps even inspiring.”10 In one of the murals with the phrase “Today is

8
JEN CHUNG. “Photos: Vivid Street Art Breathes Life Into 191st Street Subway Tunnel” Gothamist. MAY
18, 2015 http://gothamist.com/2015/05/18/photos_vivid_street_art_livens_up_1.php#photo-30
9
Suicide and Self-Inflicted Injuries
https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/prevention/injury_prevention/suicide_selfinflicted.htm
10
SANDRA E. GARCIA. “Bringing a Little Color to a Passage at the 191st Street Station” Nytimes. May
31,2015 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/nyregion/bringing-a-little-color-to-a-passage-at-the-191st-street-
station.html
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your day” uses the colors neon yellow and bright orange. These colors complement each other

as they are adjacent to each other in the color wheel. This use of colors mimic calming

sceneries like sunsets. This could have been done on purpose in order to help calm the viewer

by having them look at something aesthetically pleasing instead of the regular natural colors

of the real world like browns and grays. This part of the mural specifically also plays with

gradients as when looked at closely one can see that the word today which is at the top of the

mural is a lighter color and it slowly fades into the orange as the viewer reads the rest of the

texts. This further strengthen the fact the artist may have been trying to mimic a sunset by

using these colors to help calm the audience as normally when one looks at a sunset the co lors

created are aesthetically pleasing so it gives off a calming feel. Also, when one thinks of sunset

the mind almost automatically goes to vacation which too many people who work at

demanding stressful jobs is the only thing they look forward too as it is the only place where

they can truly relax.

The “Prismatic Power Phrases” is composed of many different uplifting phrases each

having their own unique color schemes. One of the murals have the phrase “Bendicion” on it.

The word bendicion has a halo on top of the n and is written in white on top of a purple

background. This use of colors creates a heavenly image which is very suiting for the piece as

the word “Bendicion” means blessing in English. This word is normally used as a term of

endearment in the latin community and is said to someone who is either going through a hard

time or one just simply wants to bless the person with good things. The choice of writing this

word on one the many murals in this piece plays into the community. 191 st is mostly a latin

based community and many people there speak Spanish. The choice of having this word be the
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only Spanish word allows the people who don’t speak English and just speak Spanish not feel

left out.

The word “Bendicion” being written in white is very interesting. White in history is a

color normally associated with purity or angels. The color white being used to write

“bendicion” over a purple background helps it give more of a pop. The purple does not take

away the sense of purity from the piece as the color purple is not a color in which many will

associate with something bad. In fact, purple is associated with royalty and wealth. 11The use

of this color may be a message to the viewer that they artist is wanting to bless whoever is

reading with good things such as money or good fortune.

Another mural in this series of pieces is one that has the phrase “Seize the day”. The

phrase is written in hot pink as the background is in neon green. This one is extremely different

from the rest of the murals as it uses unusually bright and vivid colors. The use of these color

may be to entice the teens/young adults and small children attention as these bright colors are

not seen used very often. The word “Seize” and “Day” are written in a larger font than “the”.

The artist may have done this to put more emphasis on these words. If the whole phrase were

to all be in one font the meaning behind this phrase would have been lost as it. This phrase

focuses on one’s power to conquer anything if they set their mind to it. The word “Seize” and

“day” are what help remind the audience that whatever is happening in their life they can

conquer it.

In conclusion, Street art such as graffiti and commissioned art pieces are very impactful

on the community they are located in. They can change the feeling of those who stumble upon

11
LiveScience
https://www.livescience.com/33324-purple-royal-color.html
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the pieces. They evoke a positive message that describe the community. Street art also stay’s

truthful to is viewers. The feeling of street art is what makes it so special to many of us who

see it around our community.

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Bibliography

Live Science, https://www.livescience.com/33324-purple-royal-color.html

Gothamist, http://gothamist.com/2015/05/18/photos_vivid_street_art_livens_up_1.php#photo-30

Department of health,

https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/prevention/injury_prevention/suicide_selfinflicted.htm

NY Times , https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/nyregion/bringing-a-little-color-to-a-passage-
at-the-191st-street-station.html

“I LOVE MY HOOD promo”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-C8_J0YXR0&t=67s

“Dister, The Uptown Street Artist”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XGnYR8hjDg

“The More You Give, the More You Grow at Hamilton Grange Middle School”
https://vimeo.com/178751319

Creative Art Works, http://www.creativeartworks.org/programs/