I was 14 when I first saw street art. I marveled at her aesthetic and thought it was the perfect way to curate my cool and edgy persona on Instagram. Like most things you discover when you’re young, I couldn’t conceptualize or intellectualize what I was really seeing. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve developed an affinity for street art, much like my mother did, and started thinking more critically about what the art I saw represented.
It started to click when I read Keith Haring’s diary. Despite his early death from AIDS, the impact and image of his art continues to grow. His art and iconography can be found everywhere, from the streets of Paris to his urban graphic tees in his outfitters. Throughout his career, Haring’s general philosophy was that art was for everyone. Not just for those who participate in galleries and museums and their paywalls, but for everyone. In the 1980s, his art could be seen in New York City subway stations and public places around the world.
However, Haring’s beliefs as an artist are not widely shared throughout the art world. Andy Warhol’s major works are priced well in excess of millions of dollars. A betrayal of his legacy, his original works now sell for thousands of dollars. The art market has always confused me. How do you assign value to art? Arbitrary supply and demand curves seem to lack the depth necessary to analyze the inherent value of creativity. So how do we distinguish high art from the rest? It seems to be in accessibility.
This goes beyond physical paintings and murals, and can be seen especially when comparing television and movies.
In the early days of television, it was often looked down upon because it was cheap and easy to produce. It is known as the ‘Vast Wasteland’. With , HBO, and Netflix moving into production and placing more emphasis on television, the quality of production improved significantly, creating TV shows that mirrored the movies. Season 4 of “Stranger Things” cost $30 million per episode, but he’s not quite under $100 million from his $50 million average Hollywood movie budget. So now it seems that the only thing that separates movies from TV is accessibility.
TV shows are often widely available on cable networks or streaming platforms. The same can be said about some movies, but movies that come out on the big screen and go straight into the Criterion’s closet aren’t works of art that seem meant to be enjoyed by the masses. The same can be said for Van Gogh and da Vinci, who are hidden behind the admission fees of the museums. Street art and television create power through less restricted access to art.
Many may view television, movies, or visiting museums as simple ways to pass the time, but the artistry and crafts involved in making and creating art are both tangible and intangible. immeasurable. There seems to be a socioeconomic barrier to calling people “cultural”. If someone was “more cultured” and had a better understanding of the complex world around us because of the art they consume, it should be accessible to all. It makes us contemplate the world around us. We all exist in this world and know what it means. We all deserve to enjoy a little beauty in the form of man-made creations.
There is beauty and great equality through the accessibility of art as reflected in street art. As a society, we are losing our ability to connect with each other in neutral spaces about neutral topics. The Water Cooler Show brings us together and helps us get to know each other better.
