BERLIN, September 9, 2011—To anyone walking the streets of Berlin, it’s no secret that the city’s artists have traded in their paint brushes for spray cans, exchanging their platitudinous canvases for three-dimensional sidewalks, fire hydrants and brick walls. Call it a playful paradox, but some of Berlin’s most prolific artists are steeped in ephemeral art.
“While both use the street as the same medium, there is a significant difference between graffiti and street art,” said Johann Haehling Von Lanzenauer, director of CircleCulture Gallery in Mitte. “Graffiti is the culture of words, in which the word, typically void of meaning, is the vessel. Street art is more figurative, using posters, stencils or even armies of kids equipped with stickers—it’s an urban intervention.”
Despite the dizzying amount of neon-bright “tags” and wheat-paste posters coloring the boroughs of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, graffiti and street art are, by definition, illegal art forms.
Despite the consequences, the 1 Up crew has made a somewhat of a mockery out of the city’s anti-graffiti laws and set the bar for other graffiti “bombers” in Berlin. Also known by the name of One United Power, 1 Up has developed an air-tight method of evading the polizei: Clad in ski masks and hoodies, the group runs into a train station and pulls the emergency break, stopping the train and, subsequently, locking its doors. Passengers watch as their windows become clouded with silver and black spray paint, and the 1 Up crew hustles to complete their tag within a span of two or three minutes (before law enforcement arrives). Further, the entire event is recorded for YouTube, making the 1 Up crew local heroes of the “underground” and helping to inspire the 2011 documentary, “Unlike U – Train Writing in Berlin.”
“Outsiders usually can’t understand why we do what we do,” said one of the masked graffiti writers featured in the documentary film. “We don’t get any money … and the police chase us. In the end, it is only the love [for] the art—and that's it.”
Albeit a train car or a shop front, the more valuable the property with which the artist chooses to work, the greater the risk. Consequently, when graffiti writers breathe new life into dilapidated buildings in some of the seedier parts of the city, people tend to look the other way.
At Friedrichshain’s RAW Tempel complex, a former train depot-turned-cultural space, urban art runs rampant. Nightclubs blasting electronic music occupy its decaying warehouses, which are coated with layer after layer of paint, posters and ink, each artist trying to outdo the last.
“Graffiti has its borders,” explained David Baumgarten, a former graffiti artist, who currently studies visual communications atBerlin University of the Arts. “Everyone steals from each other. It’s as if you can’t invent a style that is completely new.”
Berlin’s Alias is a prime example of an artist “standing on the shoulders of giants.” His use of propaganda-style posters in red, black, gray and white, echo the work of Shepard Fairey, who skyrocketed into stardom with his Obama “Hope” posters in 2008. Further, Alias’ manipulation-made stencils are almost indistinguishable from those of Banksy, London’s oh-so-elusive guerilla artist, who is fast becoming the Picasso of the Millennial Generation.
On the contrary, Berlin-based artist, Lake, has recently come into his own. Fans of his art will note a change from his photo-realistic graffiti of the early 1990s, executed exclusively with spray paint, to the large-scale acrylic murals that he paints today. Much of his work has been exhibited in galleries, and he now owns a gigantic rock-climbing tower within the RAW-Tempel complex.
A poster by Alias shares similarities with the work of other popular street artists, including Shepard Fairey./Image: Skye Mayring
Galleries around town, including Mitte’s CircleCulture, as well as local street art festivals and events have helped legitimize urban art, especially over the past few years. Of these celebrations of urban subcultures, the Backjumps Live Issue festivals have left a mark on the city—quite literally. Subversive murals created by internationally-renowned guest artists, Victor Ash and Blu, during these legal street art festivals still stand tall over Kreuzberg’s residential areas.
Another urban art festival will make its foray into the Berlin art scene this fall. From Oct. 14-17, the Stroke.ArtFair promises an exhibition of not only street art and graffiti but all related art forms birthed out of subcultural urban movements, including tattoos, digital art, illustration and comic art. The exhibition will take place at Berlin’s recently restored Postbahnhof, a former postal train station that now serves as an event space for concerts, banquets and parties.
A growing trend to “go legit” is undoubtedly developing in the capital city. Kreuzberg’s infamous 36 Boys even appear to be on the straight and narrow. The former gang, made up of mostly Turkish immigrants, has allegedly retired from the violence and vandalism (including graffiti writing) of their past—but their legacy lives on. Former member, Sinan Tosun, has capitalized on the mystique of the 36 Boys, and operates a shop near Kottbusser Tor that sells urban-inspired clothing and accessories branded with the gang’s logo.
Likewise, local artist Mr. 6, also known as 4rtist.com, is taking advantage of Berliners’ cravings for tangible representations of urban living. The difference? He’s not charging a cent. The artist garnered attention from 2003-2004 for tagging thousands of items on the streets of Berlin with the number “6,” which is reportedly the easiest motion for him to make whilst simultaneously riding his bike. At present, he focuses on tagging abandoned, removable items (i.e. trash) so that passersby will remove the branded objects from the streets.
Visitors interested in finding some golden garbage of their own can do so with the help of a trained eye. For approximately $420, out-of-towners can spend a half day patrolling the streets with an English-speaking guide from art agency, GoArt! Berlin. Guides are well versed in urban art and are likely practitioners themselves.
Berlin, however, isn’t the only high-profile city capitalizing on the urban art movement. In 2008, London’s Tate Modern commissioned six international street artists—including JR from Paris and Sixeart from Barcelona—to use the building’s iconic river façade as a canvas.
This year, within a period of less than four months, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) attracted more than 200,000 visitors with its “Art in the Streets” exhibit, marking the highest exhibition attendance in the museum’s history.
Traditionalists beware—urban art is not going away any time soon. And so it seems, in some of the most progressive cities across the globe, one man’s garbage is truly another man’s treasure.
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