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Street art or graffiti: do you love or hate it?
Is it art or vandalism?
In over three decades, it has grown from a marginalized rebel activity with roots in New York to become a global cultural phenomenon.
Many street artists have become famous, even notorious for their work. Keith Haring was an early example of this and today, Banksy from the UK is perhaps the most prominent example of a political artist who does “free” work on the street and also sells pieces to stars like Brad Pitt and Christina Aguilera with prices as high as US$576,000.
Other graffiti artists have also made the move from walls to canvas, and many now produce work for luxury brands (from perfume bottles to T-shirts and bags), soft drinks and fast food companies.
While some streets in most major cities have tags, stencils and sprayed art on them, in Singapore this is rare. Earlier this year, Oliver Fricker, a Swiss man who spray-painted graffiti on a Singapore train, was sentenced to three strokes of the cane and seven months jail. "It is conduct which is entirely unacceptable in Singapore, regardless of the artistic merit (or lack thereof) of the graffiti," the judge said in a written statement.
Though such cases of public defilement are infrequent in Singapore, this one raised the issue of whether graffiti is art or vandalism. To discuss this and explore making a career out of street art, I met up with Mazlan Ahmad, aka Skope, whom some consider the "godfather of graffiti" art in Singapore.
Skope is certainly a pioneer of street art in Singapore and his work has brightened up the walls of many shopping centres, stores and even schools in the republic. He has also been invited to many countries to work alongside other graffiti artists and has also helped establish public spaces in Singapore where artists can now paint legally and without fear. Read iCUBED.us' exclusive interview with Skope, linked below...
Singapore’s Graffiti Godfather .... by Cornelius Grey
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