Rebellious in nature and illegal in practice, the Street Art & Graffiti Movement began as a subculture that manifested on streets and abandoned buildings. It intended to subvert the status quo that dictated an artist’s work is best shown in sterile gallery settings rather than the democratic, accessible background of our everyday environment. Artists participating in this movement have since used public spaces to showcase socially and politically driven themes and bring awareness to issues.
The advent of the internet and social media has rendered the movement widely accessible, and allowed it to gain wide appeal amongst the masses. In an ironic twist, not only is the art now being exhibited in galleries and auction houses, but it has also made its way into the mainstream through films, advertising, music packaging, fashion and media.
Many argue that this accessibility has encouraged commercialism, as we see artists collaborating with corporations, business establishments, and real estate developers who are using artists as a tool to increase property value and gentrification. As a result, many artists find themselves lured by the commercial route’s siren song, drawn in by the capital it provides that allows them to survive as full-time artists.
How does an artist cooperate with large corporations while ensuring a sound moral position? In other words, what constitutes “selling out,” arguably the worst insult that can be lobbed at an artist?
SAUS have compiled a few opinions on the matter from different artists and curators that are active in today’s street art scene:
“I think there’s no absolute truth in this topic tho. I think it’s highly personal, depending on motives you have as an artist. Do you want to get filthy rich, you will probably not give a single F about ‘selling out’. Do you want to make a name for yourself in the scene, you probably really care about other peoples opinions, about the status quo, about how the crowd thinks about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ in an artistic, social and community sense. Take for example graffiti artists that want to stay anonymous, do not want to be featured in galleries and only want to get their name/tag out there and do damage.
There’s a million different flavours between the two camps I just described. There is no absolute truth I think, again, it depends on what your personal target is. The scene consists of every person in it. So you might want to come up with a bunch of questions/situations that people would have to rate or give feedback on in order to kind of opinionate a group of people in the scene?
I love to help professionalise artists with ambition, this is also one of the reasons we are building the network and heavily investing in building smart tools for professional artists to get more grip on market, assignments and positioning.
*ps you only really care about insults if you value the person saying it. Right? Otherwise its just noise.. and zero fucks are given.” Bart Temme – Co-founder Street Art Cities
“I had a conversation two years ago with a very well known international street artist about the concept of “selling out”. The artist told me “The people who label other artists as ‘sell out’s’ are the people who aren’t making money doing their own art”.
If an artist stays true to their own creative process, then they aren’t “selling out”. As Street Art and Graffiti become more popular in the contemporary art world, some people will make more money and have more opportunities. That’s a natural process in art. Street Art and Graffiti are incredibly important art movements. As both movements become more sought after and collected, some artists will be in more demand than others. That doesn’t make those artists “sell outs”. It is simply the natural demand cycle seen in previous art movements.
We should celebrate the artists that are seeing commercial success. Their success opens the door for other artists. It is absolutely possible for artists in both the Street Art and Graffiti movements to retain their integrity and still have commercial success.
That was a major theme of our movie “Saving Banksy” – We want everyone to appreciate the art in these movements, support these artists and encourage their success.” Brian Greif – Curator/Film Producer/Art Dealer
“There is no such thing as selling out. Just don’t do a mural project claiming to be something you’re not. Don’t be duplicitous, but let the naysayers stay broke. And don’t be greedy as long as everyone is getting paid and not played you good.” GAIA – Street Artist
“Whether an artist decides to paint illegally or legally, as well as to sell canvas through the art gallery system or what festival they will be painting, is part of their artistic statement. Not all festivals are the same and an artist should research about it before committing. If they marry the project’s cause and they want to support it I don’t see it less ‘noble’ than painting illegally, it’s just different.
Every artist is entitled to do whatever they want with their art, this is still part of their artistic freedom. We should only judge our own choices, career-wise and in life.” Giulia – Blogger
“It’s really a matter of personal opinion. Every artist decides the way they want to work and knows their own boundaries. They know the way in which they feel comfortable working. You can not make everyone happy and everyone will not agree with you, so I think it’s vital to just be honest with yourself.” Paola Delfin – Street Artist
“For me a “sell-out” is someone that changes his or her ideology for a job. Banksy is the one they love to call sell-out but as far as I’m concerned the dude just made money rather than sold-out. He’s done a couple of close to the line ones, i.e. The Simpsons and a The Times promo video a few years ago, both Murdoch publications, which could be seen as hypocritical but overall he hasn’t changed anything.
Ben Eine is hands down the king of this though. He does every single commercial job under the sun and seemingly couldn’t give a shit and instead of being vindicated he’s celebrated for it. This for me is his attitude, he’s never preached with his work so why shouldn’t he team up with these companies?
That said I do think there is an increased leaning towards money from this scene. When it kicked off there wasn’t a penny to be made and that made it pure, most importantly it made the artwork pure. Now we have rent-a-can artists making a decent living painting 4 storey adverts for Banks and Corporations, which is great for them, but everyone else pays a price for it.” Doug Gillen – Freelance director/
“I think it’s a huge mistake to concede the state and society to Capitalism. There’s a huge groundswell of support for alternative modes of governance and for structuring society and it is beginning to show. Particularly in our more progressive institutions. I don’t believe we’re as Fukuyama famously stated, at the end of history, I like to believe this is the last gasp of Neo-liberalism. Art and culture have a crucial role to play in this. The “It’s difficult to survive as an artist so I’m going to take commissions from McDonalds”, no, try surviving serving fries. Art still has work to do in the world, we are absolutely obligated to using our voices and platforms as artists and curators to challenge the prevailing Neo Liberal paradigm. If you think “fuck it”, life’s too short, fine. But don’t moan when you get called out on it.” Martyn Reed – Curator/Author/Art Dealer
“50 Cent said it best when it comes to this topic – “When you walk into HMV and can’t buy my record, that’s what selling out is.” We’re not little kids anymore, this is my job and has been for the last 20 years.” Ben Eine – Street Artist
“It’s a super grey area. Depends on who you work with and what you do for them in my opinion. Artists have to eat and the art market is hyper cruel to emerging artists in terms of sales. One must balance their moral compass as an artist with their personal needs to survive. There are ways to successfully do both at once but the artist must stand their ground so as to not undermine others or their own artistic integrity.” Ann Lewis – Public and Activist Artist
“Well as with everything, it’s never just black or white. As a youth I would easily point the finger at artists who were selling out. However with time, I realized that things are far more complex than I previously thought. I may feel that some artists have sold out, but I am far more open minded and try to consider different points of view before making that judgment. I am hesitant to work with big entities unless it lines up with my sensibilities and values. For me there has to be a give and take. If there is a progressive agenda, which promotes sustainability, equality, diversity or goodwill, I am far more likely to jump on board.” Kevin Ledo – Street Artist
“Learn to live with less. Get a part time job that will feed your art conceptually, i.e. writer/taxi driver. Then only do projects that you think are good. Works for me.” Axel Void – Street Artist
“To me the majority of main key players here in London that dominate the scene tend to be ex graphic designers, well educated, nice families. I don’t know why people seem to think street artists are vegan, off the grid anarchists fighting the good fight?! The mind boggles.” Dale Grimshaw – Street Artist
“I’m almost 50, I’ve done my grind, I work for who I want, I share when I can and paint what I love, but then again, I’m too old to give a shit…” Naeem Searle – Street Artist
“Selling out” is ultimately a subjective state, based on an artist’s mindset during creation rather than their income upon completion. As the reception of the Street Art movement evolves, we must bear in mind that internal factors predominantly decide a work’s validity. Complexity lends even more meaning to the movement’s message.
