Street Art Meets Art Gallery

To promote its new street art walking tour, the Tate Modern is bedecked in 6 works by a range of global graffiti artists: Blu from Bologna; the artist collective Faile from New York; JR from Paris; Nunca and Os Gêmeos, both from São Paulo and Sixeart from Barcelona.

What does this tell us about the new state of play for Street Art and the mainstream. Ever since the Banksy explosion of the early 00’s and the commercialisation of the scene by artists such as Pure Evil, Eine and the likes at the Leonard Street Gallery, things have been heading decidedly south. You have to begin to ask yourself, at what point does the walk from street to gallery actually turn the “art” into a commercially driven product that no longer belongs on the street. What separates it from other street artists and mere artists? If it isn’t the style then it has to be the medium, and if they use the street for advertising more than as the focal point of their work, then does this make their status as street artists questionable at best and despicable at worst.

Anyhow, the exhibition “Street Art” runs at the Tate from 23 May to 25 August 2008.