Several times I’ve talked about graffiti as an expression of frustration, as if it serves some purpose. And every time I do that a voice in the back of my head reminds me that without talking to the artist I really can’t know what the intent was. And for that matter it’s kind of presumptuous to assume there was any intent at all beyond the desire to make something. Academics and critics get hung up on meaning and interpretation because, well, it’s a way of taking up space.
Art is also a way of taking up space. Whatever its intent or however you interpret it art is what it is. It serves a variety of purposes or it serves no purpose at all, unless you consider expressing an idea to be a purpose. And the expression of the idea is made so that it occupies physical space.
That’s what I thought about when I saw these great pieces featured on BoingBoing, made by the Italian street art collective Collettivo FX.
Source: BoingBoing
Source: BoingBoing
They use the space they occupy, adapting and using the empty space too. And the first one strikingly has “All true” in Italian written over it. All that we see is truth, and all that we see is art. What an interesting idea.
I love how you took up space here, Chris.
Thank you for adding your thoughts to this space.
Art doesn’t have to mean anything. And as the viewer of art you don’t need to “understand” it. You either like it or you don’t. And if you do like it it’s like sharing a secret with the artist. That bond of understanding.
Also, I might be all wrong about this.
For what it’s worth I think you’re absolutely right. And I’m pretty sure Oscar Wilde agrees too because he said “All art is quite useless.” And when Oscar Wilde agrees with you then you must be doing something right. After all he also said, “You can make up pretty much any quote and it will sound smart and correct if you attribute it to Oscar Wilde.”