Street Art Lisbon, Portugal [Photo copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]STREET ART. At one time, I called it all “graffiti.” So did a lot of others – perhaps a majority of the populace – and the reference isn’t always complimentary. In many cases, it was referred to as a contributing factor to a larger concept: “urban blight.” Encyclopedia Britannica defines graffiti as “a form of visual communication, usually illegal, involving the unauthorized marking of public space by an individual or group.” Wikipedia notes the art form’s negative connotation and reception: “Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, [and] as a growing urban problem for many cities in industrialized nations in the United States and Europe and other world regions.”
just as all graffiti is not art, all street art is not necessarily graffiti
GRAFITTI IS not new. It dates back to ancient times, with examples found of etchings and carvings on walls of ancient ruins. Our typical response to graffiti has often been to “clean it up,” painting over it. Perhaps a truism in life, there is “good” and “bad” in nearly everything, including graffiti, and the line between these may often be in the eye of the beholder. Much of the “art” we see on city walls may have hidden meaning. Some of it may be good; some sinister. My goal here is not to analyze the good, bad, political, or other non-art attributes of graffiti (however, if I become aware of something I post is truly offensive because of hidden, or other meanings I am unaware of, I will certainly consider removing it).
Street Mural in Ybor City, FL [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2015 All Rights Reserved]AS I have spent more time seeking, and photographing street art, I have also come to realize that, just as all graffiti is not art, all street art is not necessarily graffiti; at least not as we look at it. Some of what I might have cavalierly characterized as graffiti is really probably better described as murals, or mural art. Whether it, or its artist, originated from (or as) graffiti, murals are purposefully placed on walls, and are generally commissioned by the owner or authority in control. Practically speaking, it will sometimes be a difficult distinction. For my purposes here, they are all “street art,” and I will characterize them as such.
Street Art Lisbon, Portugal [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]GRAFFITI HAS a history in art. The original Greek word from which “graffiti” comes means “to write.” In early art and art history, the term is used for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. “Sgraffito,” a similar word, involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it, and was a technique used by ancient potters who would glaze their work and then scratch their design into it. In ancient times graffiti were often carved on walls with a sharp object. Modern graffiti, for the most part, consists of paint (often aerosol spray paint). In more recent years, this modern graffiti has taken on the cache of “art,” often photographed and occasionally (especially more recently) commissioned. Like much of the urban landscape, its color, shape, and often “storytelling” qualities attracts my photographic eye. I suspect that it will continue to draw my attention and I will continue to photograph it. For my purposes I will hereafter refer to it as “street art.”
My goal here is not to analyze the good, bad, political, or other non-art attributes of graffiti
I SAW a lot of street art during my recent trip to Portugal, all over the parts of the country we traveled in. While I have noticed it, and occasionally photographed it previously (see, particularly, the Athens shot), for some reason it really resonated with me in Portugal, and I began to not only seek it out, but view it for its photographic potential (a wordy way of saying: decide whether I wanted to photograph it or not 🙂 ).
Street Art Porto, Portugal [Photo copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]SEVERAL OF the better pieces were actually pointed out by my photo guide, Jose’ Manuel Santos, in Porto. The Blue Cat, for example, was a spot he specifically took me too. He recently posted one of his own takes of the cat on his Facebook page.
Street Art Lisbon, Portugal [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]THE PIECES above and below (in different parts of the city, but by the same artist) were some of the several examples of street art that Jose’ pointed out to me in Porto. He finds it interesting how this artist (we saw at least one other of his work) portrays the eyes so realistically. That is just one area of graphic arts that keeps me in saw awe of those artists. As photographers, we are always seeking “catchlight” in the eyes of animate subjects. Sometimes the sun does is wondrously for us. Sometimes, we mechanically create it with artificial light. But graphic artists create it with their brushes!
Street Art Porto, Portugal [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]MUCH OF the street art I saw in Portugal was more like cartoons than classical art, though there were certainly a few of the latter. This collage is a good sampling of some of the very well-drawn artwork. It is particularly impressive when you remember that this is not done in a studio with many hours of work before the final version is presented. Rather, it is usually done rather furtively, and very quickly. What draws me to these images? Like so much of the other images I have been posting here, on my Facebook pages, and from time to time on Instagram: color and shape.
Street Art Collage Porto, Portugal [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]WHILE THIS art is mostly done with paint, there are occasional examples of other media. The Pelicans are actually relief tiles in addition to color added by paints. I did not have the presence of mind to capture these with a person in the picture, to help give scale. But the taller of the two is perhaps 12 to 15 feet tall. These “sculptures” are in a prominent place, at the base of the Santa Justa Lift, in the Baixo area of Lisbon’s downtown.
Street Art Lisbon, Portugal [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]SOMETIMES THE art carries a message. While I am sure the local residents do, I am not sure what this message related to. But it was a funny, serendipitous moment when we came upon it. Our travel mates have not done the out-of-country travel that we have. This was their first venture out of the U.S. in a number of years. I think and hope that they will do more now. But when we first discussed, and planned the trip, our friend, Bruce, started saying (and it caught on with us): “if not now, when?” So it was pretty funny to walk by this early into our Lisbon visit.
Street Art Lisbon, Portugal [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]AS I “curated” the street art images in my Portugal take, it made me think back to other examples of street art that caught my attention. The one that most immediately came to mind was this image that I made on the streets of Athens, Greece. I am “new” to street photography, having only been doing it during the 10 plus years we have expanded our travel to the world (previously, other than Canada and possibly the Caribbean, I had not been out of the U.S.). It has taken me a while to get comfortable with a few of its aspects, including lens choice, perspective, and post-processing (particularly perspective work). It has also taken me some time to shake my predisposition to try to exclude people from the photographs (lately, I am using them and thinking more about their role in the images). At first, I have been drawn to buildings, squares, color, shapes and things that I think tell the urban story of the places I am visiting. I haven’t focused much on street art. That is unfortunate and I am sure I have missed many good photos. I know that going forward, I will be much more observant and thoughtful about this art as part of my shooting.
Street Art Athens, Greece [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2017 All Rights Reserved]
You can look at your surroundings and still “miss” images because of a mindset that blinds you to them
PHOTOGRAPHY IS often characterized at the art of “seeing.” Sometimes the realization that I have “missed” something sneaks up on me. This has happened most often after shooting with others and seeing their “take” afterward. I have marveled that I was standing right there next to them and never “saw” the shot they had made. More recently, as I try to broaden my own photography, I have realized that I can just as competently miss things when out shooting by myself. 🙂 Mentors over the years have advised to be sure to look behind, and around you, after you think you have your “subject” identified. As I am writing this, I have come to a bit of an epiphany. “Vision” is not just physical. You can look at your surroundings and still “miss” images because of a mindset that blinds you to them. Looking at the outdoor cafe image in Tarpon Springs, Florida (just a couple miles away from my home), I “saw” – perhaps for the first time – the street art in the scene. It is not that I didn’t physically see it when I made the image. Indeed, I thought about it as I framed the image, trying to keep it in as part of the context. But I thought of it as a complementary element only. I did not think of it as street art – though it clearly is. And because of that, I failed to “see” the photographic potential of the artwork itself.
Tarpon Springs, Florida [Copyright Andy Richards 2021 All Rights Reserved]A
S I often do, I originally wrote the draft of this blog post several weeks back. Shortly after completing the draft, I returned, camera in hand, to downtown Tarpon Springs, where The Neptune and Toula’s sit side-by-side, flanking the Pinellas Trail. This time, I not only paid more attention to – and photographed – the mural on the wall of the Neptune, but discovered a few other examples of street art on the back street.
Street Art Tarpon Springs, Florida [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]IN A very similar vein, the image below incorporates (purposely) the most-likely commissioned street art on the wall. It appears to me to be part of the signage for the cafe. But it is still street art. Again, my use of it was to pull together all the elements for context. The subject here was the Neptune Lounge, and not the nextdoor building or the mural. Again, while I like the Neptune image, and fulfilled my objective while shooting and processing it, my mindset kept me from the next level, which was to study the photographic possibilities of the street art.
Tarpon Springs, Florida [Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]GOING BACK to re-shoot this location turned out better than I might have expected. The wall on the other side of the Neptune was actually a full mural. But even better, a couple other splashes of color caught my eye, and I wandered further down the alleyway and found several other street art scenes.
Street Art Tarpon Springs, Florida [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]Street Art Tarpon Springs, Florida [Photo Copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]AS I noted, the street art was not confined only to the larger, urban areas. We spent 3 days in the southern part of Portugal, in a beach/resort area known as The Algarve. We stayed on the ocean in the town of Lagos, which is clearly a tourist/vacation area, populated much more during vacation times. But it had its share of street art.
Street Art Lago, Portugal [photo copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]I PARTICULARLY like the below image. It must certainly have some significance. Surely to the artist; maybe to others. I like the way the artist portrays aged skin and wrinkles. Perhaps this has some connection or significance to the cigarette in the subject’s mouth. I also wonder if the red mustache (if that is what it is) is actually an example of graffiti and graffiti. What do you think?
Street Art Lagos, Portugal [photo copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]NOT ALL graffiti is “art.” But that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing. Who doesn’t remember the old, wartime scribble that seemed to appear all over Europe: “Kilroy was here?” Whether you agree or not, some – if not most – graffiti eventually takes on the characteristic of “art” (or at the very least, history). They certainly chose to leave the graffiti on the wall near the inside entrance to California’s Alcatraz prison (now a historical site) there for a reason.
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary San Francisco, CA [Copyright Andy Richards 2011 All Rights Reserved]THERE IS a tradition in Liverpool, England, which is – as most here (should) know, the birthplace and original home of perhaps the most iconic and famous of rock and roll bands: The Beatles. And most of us would recognize one of their best-known tunes: Penny Lane. There really is a Penny Lane. It’s not what you might imagine (if you haven’t been there). It is actually a quiet, residential street, some kilometers from the street that spawned the song, “Penny Lane.” The barbershop, the firehouse and the roundabout are all on that latter street. I know, because I have been there and photographed them. 🙂 But a “tradition” of sorts has evolved around the real Penny Lane. The sign on a wall at the beginning of the street has become the repository of autographs. Some of them are famous. One in particular? None other than the Paul McCartney (circled in red in my image below). Is it “street art?” I don’t know. At first blush, I probably wouldn’t think of that. But you know, our definition of art is pretty broad. And I felt that it was photo-worthy.
Penny Lane Sign Liverpool, England [photo copyright Andy Richards 2019 All Rights Reserved]CONSIDERING THE amount of travel and time in urban places that I have spent over the past 10 years I am surprised that I do not have more examples of street art in my portfolio. That will change. I will surely be on the lookout for street art in my future travels. It really is fun to look at, and to photograph.
Street Art Lisbon, Portugal [photo copyright Andy Richards 2022 All Rights Reserved]
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