| This first scholarly analysis of the phenomenon street art, provides unprecedented insight into the subculture and goes a long way towards solving the conundrum of exactly where street art, here also named as post graffiti, is positioned in relation to graffiti, fine art and commerce. Julia Reinecke’s four year project took her out into the streets of Berlin, Hamburg, London, São Paulo, New York and other cities of the world, where she was able to research activists such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Jeroen Jongeleen (aka Influenza), Space Invader, Gomes, Solo One, Os Gemeos and D*Face. In extended interviews, some of these artists share their motivations, role models and their views on where post graffiti lies in relation to the fields of fine art and design. Reinecke uses Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory to assess the relevance to post graffiti of symbolic, cultural and social capital, and amongst other things, the role of the habitus in the post graffiti field. She looks at the state and characteristics of post graffiti as a subculture, and examines various phases of subculture theory and research over the past fifty years, in particular that undertaken by the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies and the Chicago School. This book also considers commonalities between post graffiti and land art, pop art, Dada and Situationism and how post graffiti is used today in guerrilla marketing and image advertising. Incisive, enlightening, and cleverly analytical this unique new book is an unmatched foray into the continually evolving world of street art. |
