With SWG3 announcing the return of Yardworks festival, a two-day event in the Galvanizers Yard which celebrates street art from all over the world, it’s time to look at the importance of street art on Glasgow’s culture.
Despite Glasgow’s numerous museums, street art has become the forefront of the city’s art scene.
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Street art takes genuine creative expression out of the galleries and opens it up to a whole new audience, anyone walking past.
What some people see as vandalism, others see as creative genius. Art is subjective, after all.
Appearing at Yardworks festival this year is Zurik, a Colombian-born artist based in Spain.
Her 15-year career has taken her around the world, from Barcelona and Madrid, to Marseille and Guadeloupe, and soon, to the most beautiful of them all, Glasgow.
Zurik has a unique style, combining classic graffiti lettering with more extravagant portraits, primarily spray painted on the side of buildings.
Zurik said: “I base most of my work on 3D letters because I learned to paint through it, I didn’t start making throw ups or quick pieces, I started directly with letters.
“My main interest is to bring to the people a kind of graffiti that they can feel related to.”
There is still a stigma surrounding graffiti in the street, and part of Zurik’s mission is to change the way which people look at it.
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“For most people, graffiti is something strong and hard, they don’t understand the background of it all, and they don’t have to, I understand that. It still has a very negative connotation.
“What I’m trying to explain to them is that there is a part of graffiti that they probably don’t like, but there is more beyond it. We just need some kind of communication to talk more beyond the piece, which is what I really like about it being in the street. It’s amazing to bring that part of my world to them.”
The benefit of this style being present in the street is that it brings up conversation.
No one can ignore the 50-foot portrait on the side of a building, and whether they like the piece or not, it is sure to strike some sort of emotional reaction in passers-by.
“It’s very interesting how you build something, and you have a lot of ideas in your mind to construct something on the street, and then what the people get and keep from it is a different thing.
“There was one girl who told me she saw dragons in my piece, and I don’t know where!
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“The feedback for the most part is very good, what people like most about my pieces is the colours, the way the characters look, the look in their eyes.
“Most people are actually surprised that this is coming from graffiti.”
A lot of people see graffiti and street art as one in the same, which is not strictly true.
There are no strict definitions in art in general, but street art is more for a public audience, while graffiti is more of a mode of self-expression.
The streets of Glasgow are flooded with both mediums, making them equally important to our culture.
From the ever-changing graffiti wall down by the Clydeside in the centre, to the 20 plus murals on Glasgow’s famous Mural Trail, it is undeniable that this is a city grounded in the space of public art.
Last year saw the city trial legal graffiti walls in the city centre, which is a step in the right direction.
The reason for this trial was to “revitalise urban spaces and create visually appealing areas for residents and visitors.”
And anyone who has ventured down to Custom House Quay at the Clyde, can attest to the artwork down there, there is something for everyone, all the weird and wonderful.
Having legal walls helps to moderate the art being put on the streets, it lets people express themselves without being dragged down by the graffiti that people associate with the art form; homophobia, sectarianism, nastiness for the sake of it.
Instead, the walls of Glasgow could become a canvas of expression, not something to look down on but something to be proud of.
As the late great Glasgow artist, Alasdair Gray, said: “If a city hasn’t been used by an artist, not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively.”
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