THE CULTURE PHENOMENON

From its massive rise in popularity in the 1980s, street art has become more respected each day. This is not a story just about graffiti. Although street art owes a part of its glory to this kind of artistic expression, it is a marvelous art form in its own right and it is amazing to follow the evolution and diversity of street art in the 21st century. For example, stencils have been a part of history parallel to graffiti and have been vessels for socio-political activism for those in power, and even more for those who resisted. The evolution of street art became evident through such artists as Banksy, who transformed views of this art form with his documentary Exit through the gift shop. With the emergence of artists such Vhils or BLU, street art became a ground for experimenting with different kinds of methodology, but never giving up on its rebellious position in front of the hegemonistic patterns and structures of popular culture and mass media reality.

Today, street art has become a massive culture phenomenon and there is a community of artists and fanatics all over the world who incorporate other arts such as film, photograph and literature to this form of expression.