I am a sucker for street art.
I just love the idea of creative artworks on massive walls and public spaces, and I love how these artist express them self brazenly and their expression is viewed and enjoyed by a large number of audience.
Street art is visual art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. It’s usually referred as graffiti art and it’s closely related with guerrilla art which is composed to make a public statement about the society that the artist lives within.
Some artists use “vandalism” in their art as a way to raise awareness of social and political issues, some use graffiti to promote hip hop culture or spreading important messages others use it as their medium to create a sense of beauty , to explore the nature of perception, for pleasure or to generate strong emotions.
There are many styles in graffiti such as tagging, throw up, blockbuster, wildstyle, stencil and so on but street art my not only depend on graffiti entirely it has many other types like spray painting, wheat pasted poster art, yarn bombing, video projection , street installations and sculptures.
Hence Street art is one of the most hybrid forms of artistic expression in our modern world because its purpose is to draw upon what the viewers know and manipulate the physicality of the subject to make their point.
Street art is very popular in the west as it is known to increase tourist population and It also tells a story about a culture without having to say a word.
Graffiti and street art are not always legal, still, legal or not, people flock to see good street art. People specially visit places to see the artworks by some great artists like Banksy, Vhils, Tawar zawaki, C215, SpY, Roa and many others.
With unpredictable weather conditions and improvised workspaces, street art isn’t that easy to do. In fact, it’s extremely difficult, and that’s precisely why these street artists deserve so much respect.
Over the years there has been a major growth in graffiti and street art in Pakistan. Initially it was done to eradicate the illegal practice of wall chalking and ‘Reform the Walls of Pakistan by painting them with positive themes depicting colorful stories of our country but now it has become a common art practice to beautify and attract audiences in different facilities and public spaces, from Sebastian Schmidt the German artist who painted the welcome mural for visitors in Karachi to the beautiful Markhor painted at the Jinnah international airport by Italian artist Maurizio Boscheri to Munawar Ali Syeds “stencil art project” and truck art on walls of Karachi as a project of I AM KHI or “The Great Wall of Pakistani Truck Art” at the Islamabad airport to the students from various institutes who painted the culture, traditions and positive facets of Pakistan on the walls of Lahore as an initiative by Street Art Pakistan.
Then we have other artists like Abdullah Ahmed Khan professionally known as Sanki or Sanki King who is known as the pioneer of Pakistani graffiti, calligraffiti, Parkour and public art.
Neil Uchong another famous graffiti artist from Karachi who also practices different styles of graffiti in public spaces and has contributed greatly in beautifying his city.
and Obaid Ur Rehman whose a pioneer of 3D Anamorphic street art in Pakistan.
I’m glad that we are heading in the right direction and I wish someday the street art and artists of Pakistan will receive the recognition and fame that they truly deserve.
