Preservation of murals sanctioned by communities or created by noted artists is something that fits into the preservation concern. A recent article in American Way shows murals in the subways of New York City. The murals are clearly works of art in a place which has usually been known for its graffiti. However, there are several books on the subject, which take a look at graffiti as art, and certainly there is a fine line in some cases between graffiti and a spray painted mural. In doing preservation, do we need to concern ourselves with such esoteric questions as "what is art?"
Graffiti has been called street art, urban art, subway art, spray paint art, urban calligraphy, and urban communication; it's also been called vandalism and crime. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Tipping Point, linked graffiti on subways in New York to urban crime. It has been associated with gangs, hip-hop, and pop culture. Still many consider there to be a "graffiti culture" and consider graffiti to be art.
If we do decide that graffiti is indeed worth saving, either as a form of art, communication, or of culture, we will have an additional challenge - social norms. Graffiti is considered unacceptable in many places, a social disgrace to a neighborhood, and something to be removed. Any number of actions have attempted to deter graffiti artists, including the preemptive ban on 18-22 year olds to buy certain spray paints and markers in New York City in early 2006; graffiti removal attempts have also been popular, either by chemical processes, painting over, resurfacing, removal, or replacement.
Logistically, graffiti is also usually outside - either on a wall or an automobile (train, subway train car, bus, truck, etc.). Therefore, it is usually exposed to a variety of weather conditions (changing temperature, humidity, perhaps direct sunlight) and therefore susceptible to mold, fading, wear, etc. In addition, the media used may not be easy to preserve -- trucks, subway cars, etc. are too large to bring to conservation labs, walls are inconvenient to move, and it may be difficult to do some preservation techniques outside.
Ironically there is some hope for some of the graffiti that we may want to preserve. Many graffiti artists "thoughtfully" choose media that will last, including paint that is difficult to remove and surfaces that accept that material, although the "buff" a solvent created in 1977 was able to clean subway cars and stamp out much of the enthusiasm of the graffiti subculture. However, other forms of preservation include photographs, art books of graffiti, and biographies on graffiti/graffiti subculture as another way of preserving this art in some form.
While most preservationists will probably not need to consider graffiti, they may be asked to preserve other things that do not comfortably fit with all members of society; or they may need to justify preserving those items. Banned books, pornographic magazines, racist propaganda, and other such controversial items come to mind. At this point librarians can reconsider questions that were perhaps asked during collection development -- a true opportunity to determine access of items that some people would deliberately destroy and stamp out of our culture, given the opportunity. We cannot think that if we don't preserve these items someone else will. In many cases someone else won't. But should they be preserved? What is the role of the preservationist? How do we balance these items and prioritize them?
Sources
ART. (2006). New York, Retrieved Friday, December 01, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
Burg, J. (2006). Beauty, INTERRUPTED. Parks & Recreation, 41(9), 104-107. Retrieved Friday, December 01, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
Galdwell, Malcolm. (2000). The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference. Boston : Little, Brown & Company, 2000.
Doherty, B. (2006). Free to Paint. Reason, 38(4), 8-8. Retrieved Friday, December 01, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
Powers, L. (1996). Whatever Happened to the Graffiti Art Movement?. Journal of Popular Culture, 29(4), 137-142. Retrieved Friday, December 01, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
Schnuer, Jenna. (2006). Line Art: Some of New York City's best artwork is underfoot -- literally. American Way. November 15, 2006.
Images from Getty Images. Image 71055513, 55992363, E006453.
1 comment:
I think part of the charm of graffiti is its ephemeral nature ... like a mandala, the art may only exist for a short while before it's destroyed, unless the mural was comissioned. It's a challenge for the artist to make the piece as permanent as possible, but maybe it's ok to leave the preservation to the photographers and videographers. Speaking of which, have you seen Wild Style?
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