To most people urban buildings and streets are just a path to travel on their way to work, the grocery store, and entertaining events, but to others they represent a vast expressive canvas for all ideas. Street art is what changes a mundane morning walk to work into a stroll through an ever changing art exhibit. Street art gives a city a sense of character and allows visitors to more accurately feel the emotions of the city. It is not limited to sidewalk paintings or graffiti but encompasses everything from full commissioned building murals, to small patches with sidewalls of buildings.
Kurt Wenner is one the best known street artists on an international level. He began working for NASA as an advanced scientific space illustrator but left in 1982 to pursue a career in art (kurtwenner.com). In 1984, Wenner invented an art form all his own that has come to be known as anamorphic or 3D pavement art (kurtwenner.com). This has come to embody what most people think of as street art. I personally enjoy most all of his pieces, especially Office Stress. This artwork conveys a powerful message about the industry that many of us will find ourselves in at some point in our life.
Office Stress, Kurt Wenner 2007
There is always a strong emotion conveyed in his pavement art. Another example of this strong sense of emotion is in Gluttony. This piece of artwork is a perfect visual example of what I think of when I hear the word gluttony. The overconsumption of food until complete physical uselessness is far too commonly accepted and I feel as if this piece exemplifies the idea that gluttony should not be an acceptable practice in any aspect of life.
Gluttony, Kurt Wenner 2008
Another internationally recognized anamorphous painter is Julian Beever. A favorite quote of Beever’s I found was “My work appeals literally to the man (and woman) in the street and is not confined in galleries or limited by the gallery system”. This is what I like most about this style of painting; it must be viewed in its natural environment from a specific perspective. Beever is a British artist who began pavement art as a busker, drawing in different countries including the USA, Australia and Europe to fund his travels (julianbeever.net). As a result of his early travels and the rising popularity of anamorphous paintings in the 1990’s, Beever began doing commercial commission in the mid 2000’s (julianbeever.net). One of my favorite paintings of his is Batman and Robin to the Rescue. It is an incredibly realistic painting that is appealing to me because of the hours I spent as a young kid watching Batman TV shows and comics.
Batman and Robin to the Rescue, Julian Beever 2006
Another interesting piece by Beever is What Lies Beneath… This pieces creates good imagery and the optical illusion is done so well that it is hard to tell what is real unless you look into the distance where the painting ends. This was painted for Terryglass Arts Festival in County Tipperary, Ireland (julianbeever.net).
What Lies Beneath…, Julian Beever 2011
Up to this point most of the artwork shown has been commission street art or artwork done by artists that are already famous. The last two pieces were designed purely for the message they convey and not a paycheck at the end. The first is very well known but there is no artist to take credit for it; this is the West Berlin side of the Berlin wall. It was almost entirely covered with street art and was the largest canvas in the world when it was completely intact. To me this is the place of ultimate unregulated expression of ideas in an appealing artist manner. There were no restrictions on what artists could put on the wall because it was open to everyone but over the past 30 years much of the controversial artwork has been removed (Wikipedia.org). The only places where artwork exists anymore are Potsdamer Platz, Mühlenstrasse, and Bernauer Strasse (Wikipedia.org). Below is my favorite section I was able to find. This picture was taken in May 1989 about 6 months before the wall was taken down (berlinwallart.com). The reason I enjoy this painting is because you can see the different layers of things painted both before and after the main painting. Also I enjoy looking at this painting because it doesn’t remind me of anything and I can just enjoy it for the beauty of the artwork.
Berlin Wall 1989 (Artist Unknown)
The last piece in this exhibit is an interesting picture that I found while doing research on street art and also ties into the Berlin Wall messages about war. The Moebius band mural shows the endless stupid destruction and construction of cities at the Gaza Strip with tanks and bulldozers in an infinite loop (mural-guide.com). To me this moebius strip concept combined with the artwork of it represents an interesting message to passersbys on their way to work rather than just a dull grey wall to look at.
Gaza Strip, BLU 2012
Sources:
http://kurtwenner.com/images/PDFs/Artist_Statement.pdf
http://www.julianbeever.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4
spmurphy2013 
Thank you for this blog! I am a big fan of all kinds of street art. My blog was on street art about the Arab Spring. I really enjoy Kurt Wenner’s art. It is unbelievable and that it does not last, makes it even more impressive to me. I really like the art from the Berlin Wall. If you ever get a chance you should see the movie, “Wings of Desire.” It was a film that was made before the Wall came down and the Wall is one of the characters. Great information about each artist and about what the art is saying. Great links! I really enjoyed your blog.
Having not seen much street art before I especially enjoyed the pieces you selected and everything you included about the artists. The Batman street art really caught my eye and although I still am not a kid anymore I still enjoy the modern Batman movies and I just loved that particular art piece. It is amazing to me how art like this can be so realistic and lifelike. I really had to look hard to decipher the edges of the art from real life. This form of art seems more realistic than most other forms of art we have studied as I’m sure the size of the piece is part of it. You seemed to fulfill the requirements of this assignment very well.
I too chose street art and I could also agree with you that the Batman and Robbin scene is one of the best. I prefer the more whimsical subjects in this particular area of art. However some of Wenner’s pieces, in particular his more serious or meaningful pieces are incredibly artful and showcase his mastery at illusion. The love for the more happy and light-heartened subjects is simply my own preference. I enjoyed your blog it had some very appropriate anecdotal explanations for your reaction to the pieces. Great job.
I have to say that I have never seen street art like Julian Beever’s pieces. I am used to seeing graffiti and murals. I also enjoyed how you opened describing street art’s purpose, “street art gives a city a sense of character and allows visitors to more accurately feel the emotions of the city.” Great Job!!