British street art has been on something of a journey since its edgy, graffiti-led beginnings in the 1980s, when New York trailblazers became role models for guerrilla artists in UK cities. Back then, as part of a crackdown on illegal tagging in Bristol, British Transport Police raided an “aerosol art project” that later counted Banksy among its alumni. Earlier this month, Banksy was made an honorary professor of the University for the Creative Arts, and an exhibition of his work is due to go on tour.
In Leicester this week, there was further confirmation that spray-can culture is now a mainstream feature of the urban landscape. The tallest work of street art in Europe has just been completed in the city centre, to widespread acclaim and an interview with one of the artists on the Today programme. Spanning 82 metres, the St George’s Tower mural offers a tribute in primary colours to the city’s achievements and heritage; football, rugby and Leicester University’s pioneering research on DNA are all referenced.
Even examples of large-scale street art such as this do not match the incomparable creations of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera a century ago. But, as with the striking Athena Rising mural in Leeds, this too is public art for the people. Painted in five weeks by local aerosol artists belonging to the Graffwerk project – whose website pledges to “break the visual monotony” – the work was done in collaboration with a business group dedicated to enhancing the appeal of Leicester’s city centre. In May, the same partnership welcomed street artists from all over the world for the Bring the Paint festival, in which over 40 large-scale pieces of art were created across the city. Across the country, street artists are winning significant commissions from local bodies and transforming the vistas of the everyday.
Some practitioners from the early days may feel nostalgic for the days when aerosol art had to be performed furtively and at speed. In his book Wall and Piece, Banksy recalls a police chase that led to him hiding under a dumper truck for over an hour. But it is a cause for celebration that the impact of the Bristol artist’s work, and the groundbreaking brilliance of street artists such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Franco Gaskin – AKA the Picasso of Harlem – have paved the way for a general appreciation of the value of street art in public spaces. From cave painting onwards, human beings have felt the urge to make an artistic mark on their environment, whether natural or built.
Powerful street murals can enhance a sense of place and local identity, and reach audiences who may not frequent more formal settings. Exposed to the elements, and to the unpredictable fortunes of the buildings and areas with which they are inextricably bound up, this kind of art also has a vulnerability not found in museums or galleries. It can surprise, subvert and delight. In the wake of riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Harlem business owners erected forbidding steel gates to protect their stores. Gaskin covered them with murals depicting everyday scenes from local life, transforming the area and the mood. Leicester’s new street attraction came about in less fraught circumstances, but it constitutes a welcome addition to Britain’s growing portfolio of street art.
