Ghost Images, Spirals and the Pink Elephant by Connie Livingston-Dunn
‘Modern’ street art (graffiti) supposedly began in the late 60’s when a young man in New York City began writing on walls with a felt tip pen to get the attention of a girl and it progressed and spread to subway cars and spray paint, as the art had to be completed very rapidly before they were discovered and arrested for vandalism. The ‘authorities’ would try to white wash it, cover it with paint to get rid of it, but there would frequently be a faint ghost image under the paint. In the 80’s the artists started using stencils, which helped to speed up their process and cut down on the risk of being caught. Some of the art was so amazing, that eventually several graffiti artists were invited to make their art in galleries, it became ‘high’ art and they became famous.
We could also consider ancient paintings on cave walls and glyphs carved on rocks to be the original graffiti, and yet we look at them, in our present era, as rich treasures from the beginnings of our human artistic past. Murals in the pyramids of Egypt or on the walls of pyramid structures at Teotihuacan in Mexico are also part of the past, although they were generally done by the priests/shamans with the blessing of the ‘authorities’. Early Christians were not blessed by the authorities in their art so it was originally hidden underground, decorating the burial catacombs in Rome, hidden from the sight of the authorities.
Banksy, one of the most famous street artists (Neanderthal Waiter) from England, whose identity has not been divulged, painted an elephant pink. I am not in agreement with Banksy’s painting the actual elephant, even though it was done to make a political point. To me, it made the elephant beautiful, but I don’t think it was healthy for Elephant, or respectful of his/her status as a species that is about to disappear, but perhaps it makes it more poignant and people will wake up.
I just happen to personally know one very intellectual Pink Elephant (that I have painted in rainbow colors, in my computer so that no property was damaged), who was involved in a robbery in Clarksville, TN, so I’ve included an URL on that interesting tidbit below, along with more on graffiti, street art and Banksy, so you may explore them in more depth.
That wasn’t really what I was going to discuss, and my mind has rambled and spiraled (my personal symbol) around an interesting topic, and back to the original path and down another fork. I too, make ghost images by painting over collages or old paintings and beginning fresh, with the remnants of the past shining through the present painting that is changing into the future.
I paint in various ways, but if I am using an old painting, I may white wash it. If I begin with a blank paper and am going to make a mixed media artwork, I will look through my stash of papers that I have painted, printed, stamped, stenciled, scribbled, written words, torn up old artworks, and whatever else I can find, and select ephemera, compatible papers and sometimes cloth. I also tear up sheet music, pages from a calculus book from the 30’s, hand printed fractals that I create on the computer with a fractal program, etc. and begin ‘auditioning’ various pieces to see what I want to glue down on the fresh painting space.
Then I lightly white wash it with a brayer and the auditions begin again. Sometimes I scribble on top of the white wash or write words with my left (non dominant) hand.
The cover photo is the end result of the painting, with more scribbling, painted collage pieces with my handmade stamps.
PS, I sold the painting.
On Street Graffiti Art http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/the-history-of-american-graffiti-from-subway-car-to-gallery/ http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall09/gurrey_s/evolution.html http://www.widewalls.ch/the-history-of-street-art/ Banksy’s Street Art http://www.inspirationgreen.com/banksy-environment.html Women Graffiti Artists https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/let-us-spray-girl-power-graffiti-documentary-sany On the Clarksville Pink Elephant and the Robbery http://www.roadarch.com/critters/ele.html
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/sites/default/files/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/003/davisr.pdf
Revised from a story originally published at cowbird.com.
