Multimedia Report

Some of the most influential books, sayings, poems of all time were published with no name. They are out there, on people’s bookshelves, framed on walls, quoted in movies, with no one to claim them. They transcend without ownership. This concept is easily applicable in relevance to the anonymity of street art and what it means to typical art culture and viewing practices. Much different than traditional art and even early graffiti, the anonymous works that are found on construction walls, street corners, and shop grates rather than hung in museums, and pose a difficult yet exciting complex for the street art, or, art-history enthusiast that happens upon them.

Often hilarious, poignant, or simply gibberish,  anonymous street art works, whether wheat-pasted, spray-painted, hand-painted or a combination of all three, project a purity of artistic expression, singularly representing art for art’s sake. On the other hand, they may lack a point whatsoever, which is an idea equally as intriguing. No matter the case, they remind society of the freedom of art, how it can mean everything or nothing at all. It is absent of profit, of fame, of definition, it exists for the sake of self expression.

Thinking about the impact of anonymous street art can warrant a tremendous amount of varied, and maybe even contradictory thoughts, which may come out as a jumbled mess with no end. Like anonymous street art itself, no conclusion can truly be made or question answered. Street art, in a way, demands to be felt. It demands to be noticed. It provokes thoughts in every person that wanders down a street and come across a beautiful piece of art near some bags of garbage.

First, what exactly is anonymous street art? It is simply impossible to determine an exact definition. If one were to Google “anonymous street art,” the first two pages are filled with various articles on Banksy. Is Banksy really anonymous? Nobody knows his (assuming it’s one person) real identity, yet, he has become enough of a celebrity that many argue that his work, which was first created illegally, should be protected or preserved. Clearly, Banksy is not anonymous in the traditional use of the word, but in the street art culture, he invented it. The style of his art revolves around his hidden identity and his signature, a route which many street artists have copied. Both Keith Haring’s subway drawings to Shepard Fairey’s OBEY were anonymous until they were discovered. Perhaps that is the idea after all, a game avoiding discovery.

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So the question remains, at what point does a street artist stop being anonymous? Is all street art anonymous until it becomes more popular? It seems impossible to truly define what is anonymous street art.

But maybe that’s not the point. Perhaps anonymity comes as a result of artists not wanting to be discovered. Perhaps living in the shadows allows an artist to release all inhibitions and truly self express without being hindered by definition.

Coming across an anonymous piece of street art provokes a certain surge of excitement, finding something new that perhaps no one else has ever seen. Without the artist’s identity, without a date, the work seems mysterious as if it just appeared there by itself. In a world where throughout art history, the work is s0 intricately connected to identity, viewing anonymous street art is an almost liberating, new experience that revolutionizes art and the culture associated.  .

For example, when art is discussed in school, students are taught to memorize the artist’s name, title of the work, and date. For art-history, the identity of the artist is integral to understanding the work and how the artist’s work progresses over their life or in relation to the different art historical movements.

One of the pivotal reasons that anonymous street art appeals to so many people is its backlash, or rebellion against the historical art-viewing process. Many indoctrinated art history students and teachers express they have a tough time processing these anonymous street works, and many of them, as a result, are leaders in efforts to discontinue street art overall. Barring the fact that street art is still widely ignored by universities, the anonymity of the artist is a concept still adamantly rejected by professionals in the art industry.

That being said, imagine if all of art history was taught without the identity of the artist. Suddenly, all of art would be open to wider interpretations without being stuck in a meaningless cycle of artistic movements and personalities. A whole new world of limitless meaning is created without the boundary of a “right” answer. Anonymous street art radically poses the question of how much an artist’s identity really matters to art-viewing.

Separate from both legal art and graffiti, anonymous street art sets up a complex relationship with the viewer who wants to both appreciate the work and find out who the artist is. But in the end, does it matter if the artist’s name is known? What does one get from a name? There are those who may obsessively try to figure out who did the work and where they come from, but for some, the art is enough and the anonymity is part of the masterpiece.

I’m lucky enough to know an anonymous street artist personally. His work can be seen in and around a multitude of cities in multiple countries to which he bears no credit, no permanent ownership, no control over his audience. To him, and others like him, his real-life Clark Kent/Superman-esque secret is far more important than any of that.

The name is Ostertag.

*Disclaimer: I will refer to the artist as “he” throughout this article in order to respect the artist’s wishes to remain anonymous.

This street artist thrives off random thought, impulse, and his incredibly unique pattern making talent. Ostertag is a collection of stickers, in various sizes and shapes, some typed, some individually marked splashed around cities on poles, bike stands, walls, mailboxes, nearly any blank space he can find, really.

The simplicity of his simultaneously intricate work is remarkable. His work is absolutely unmistakable and hard to miss.  An original Ostertag design will either read a certain, quirky random message, or will leave viewers staring, trying to decode a hidden message/language impeded in the patterns. His work is impossible to replicate, not one design is like the next, which is what makes these designs, or any art for that matter, so impressive. Ostertag’s casual approach to displaying his designs, is emblematic of the true essence of street art. A rebellion against pretension.

It wasn’t until I met this artist when I really understood the thrill and excitement of street art. How it is a lifestyle, a passion, a whole secret world, and at the same time one can have an entirely separate identity void of art of any kind. Lawyers, doctors, janitors, just about anyone could have one occupation and life and be a world famous street artist at the same time without anyone knowing.

Leaving a piece of you somewhere is a privlage unlike anything else and that’s exactly what street art is: the ability to leave ones own, personal mark on the world. Whenever I visit this artist I take some stickers with me that, in efforts to spread his work, he lets me post them along my many travels wherever I wish.

I’ll never forget walking down the streets of Paris last month, a city I’d never visited before, and doing a double-take after seeing an Ostertag sticker on a brown pole in the middle of the street. I knew I was walking where Ostertag once walked and that, to me, was when I finally understood what street art is capable of making one feel. It makes one feel a connection, a sense of ownership of unchartered territories, a sense of belonging, a feeling of influence, an unrivaled ability to touch lives, something every human longs for.

Ostertag kindly offered to do an exclusive interview for “Streetheart” last week. Of course, the interview had to be conducted using only audio in order for Ostertag to continue his anonymous crusade around the world leaving his mark on every street corner and street sign for years to come.

Street Art in Hong Kong: The Umbrella Revolution

A colorful “invasion” of Hong Kong that formerly brighten the days of passers-by has been suppressed by government workers taking orders to keep public areas free from street art. In the wake of Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central”,  government should embrace the upcoming cultural movement in accepting and celebrating more unconventional form of art such as the paintings on the walls that are repeatedly being painted over all over the city.

It all started on Sept. 26, when hundreds of students gathered in a courtyard in Central Hong Kong, demanding an end to Chinese oppression and control. China’s modern history with Hong Kong has been complicated, to say the least. For more than 150 years, Hong Kong belonged to Britain. Then in 1997 Britain handed the thriving metropolis back to China in a political deal called “One Country, Two Systems,” which allowed Hong Kong to maintain some of the freedoms and independence mainland Chinese people do not have, such as freedom of expression, press and the right to assemble.

But this summer China started to backpedal. It announced to Hong Kong that those elections could proceed only if the Chinese government selected all the candidates. To the people of Hong Kong, that meant they wouldn’t have much control over their own government after all.

Soon after this news, the students hit the streets, and thousands from Hong Kong rushed to join them in the days that followed. These protesters have come from all over China and all hold different, yet similar ideologies, all demanding seize of government suppression. Most recently the Umbrella Revolution has focused on spreading their message through various forms of street art. This street art is called the “invasion” and has been popping up all over Hong Kong. The government time and time again paints over these murals and arrests, tear gasses, or punishes any one involved. Such self expression that is celebrated and accepted in most modern societies is a major point of content in Hong Kong. Protestors against the removal of these murals have invaded the city under the Umbrella Revolution and their fight continues even now. It seems as though this will be a long road until street art or any form of true self expression prevails against China’s stifling government.

“Sometimes Hong Kong feels like a non-fun zone,” said student-citizen Every-Wortman. “Some restrictions make sense, because there are so many people here. But I hope slowly government can be not to be too strict on certain rules, and it will continue to change as people fight for public space and expression in said spaces.”

To understand how the protests have escalated to this point, click this link, so as we watch the conflict develop.

What is Street Art?

Street Art:

The beauty of street art, or urban art, is that it has an insurmountable amount of definitions. There are millions of “street artists” that themselves don’t identify as artists per say. Traditionally speaking, street art is any art developed in public spaces. That can mean anything from graffiti art work, to “tagging”,  stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting,  street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations. 

Now, street art is going mainstream. Auctioneers, collectors, and museum directors are scrabbling to learn urban art vocabulary and develop positions on the big street art issue. Meanwhile, many people don’t recognize this artwork like art and sometimes people relate this art with vandalism.

In an interview with the Queens Tribune, New York City’s Queens Museum of Art Executive Director Tom Finkelpearl said public art “is the best way for people to express themselves in this city.” Finkelpearl, who helps organize socially conscious art exhibitions, added, “Art gets dialogue going. That’s very good.” However, he doesn’t find  graffiti to be art, and says, “I can’t condone vandalism… It’s really upsetting to me that people would need to write their name over and over again in public space. It’s this culture of fame. I really think it’s regrettable that they think that’s the only way to become famous.”

It is definitely the most controversial form of art in nature aside from its tendency to provoke and translate various social controversies. The artist usually tries to leave some kind of message like political issues, feelings, their personal emotions. And these expressions are exposed in the street where the public can enjoy and valuate them. However, it still stands that most street art is unsanctioned, and many artists who have painted without permission, (Banksy, Shepard Fairey)  have been glorified as legitimate and socially conscious artists.

Blogging meets Street Art

Needless to say, we are a generation essentially centralized around a phenomena known as “social media”. Everyone is connected, constantly, through websites and apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. More so even than in person; these aforementioned mediums around which our entire generational society orbits, are perhaps the most prominent forms of day-to-day social interaction; Through most of these social media tools one makes a profile, chooses a username, selects a picture, all to identify them as an individual. It’s who they want to be, or how they wish to be presented to society, to their “friends”. But how true is this representation?

Along with this trend of social media people often discuss how behind a computer, behind this façade, people are fearless. People are more inclined to say things they never would out loud, parade themselves in a way you would never see in person, all because they are masqueraded behind this computer screen. I agree, that perhaps when I make a profile or writing a tweet, I feel somewhat protected in the semi-veiled podium. But, at the same time, I see social media as the least anonymous form of communication possible. I absolutely see it as the most warped, meaning you can be whomever you’d like, put your “best self” forward, post the most “artsy photos”, portray an imagine of your life that may or may not be true.

Sure, I believe that there is a freedom to, in a way, trick those around you in to believing in an identity that may not be what they’d see in person. But, to me, social media is the most vulnerable trend in the world. When you take the provided mask of a computer, those non face-to-face interactions, you tend to allow yourself to write or post your most false statements. But, you at the same time, more often, may post your most inner truth. You may take the anonymity of social media to tweet your most inner thoughts, Snapchat exactly what you’re doing at one particular moment, and who you’re doing it with. The “veil” of social media is much more transparent than opaque. Blogging particularly.

When I first learned we’d be creating a blog, I’d be lying if I said a certain surge of panic didn’t rush through me. I thought choosing one subject to write about every week, one subject to identify me as a person, very daunting. I’d never really thought about what an “internet identity” meant and I felt intimidating by the thought of having to create one. But that’s what lead me to think. Why would I feel so exposed blogging? Why did I prefer to be hidden from the judging eyes of other computer users?

I realized that, to me, blogging meant exposing myself as a person and as a writer, something I’d avoided in the past. That is precisely why I chose to write about street art. Because when I pass graffiti on walls, initials carved into street signs, ambiguous stickers posted everywhere, nameless art of all kinds framing the walls of cities around the world with no known owner: that is the new frontier. I love the idea of pairing what I view as the most exposed form of social media (Blogging), with the most mysterious wonderment of street art. Blogging forces you to state an opinion, share a story, publicize your interests, your likes and dislikes, and create an identity. While street art, for the most part, happens in the dark of night, is essentially nameless, yet has the largest audience of public who see this art and judge it or view it as they please.