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A new poster by Ross F. Collins to benefit the Dorothy Collins Endowment for journalism students at North Dakota State University, Fargo
Street art has gone mainstream in major cities of Europe--well, almost. Artists are still often unknown, and while some street art may be created under the encouragement of authorities, much of it still appears as a clandestine design of unacknowledged artists. Some of it does not rise above the tagging of vandals. But serious street artists exhibit work sometimes as sophisticated as the pieces hanging in galleries, and usually created under much more challenging and difficult conditions. Paris has since the 1940s encouraged--or endured, depending on your viewpoint--a lively tradition of street art. The art usually reflects counter-culture themes of the rebels most likely to create it, posing visual challenges to society in a public environment.
Among European cities Paris in recent years has grown to feature one of the world's great collections of street art. I've collected a few of them in this poster. Some may amuse you, some may shock you, but I certainly hope some will make you think.
The most famous street artist, Banksy (London), actually has his own website. But it's not going to reveal much to his followers. It reflects the shadowy world most of these artists accept, and even embrace, seeing the streets as their canvas.
This is a medium-sized art poster (18 inches by 24 inches) produced on an ink-jet printer using heavy stock. Unlike most commercially produced posters, this is NOT a high-volume offset reproduction on cheap paper. A small edition of 25 individually hand-signed and numbered posters are available at $40 plus shipping. Unsigned posters are available for $25 plus shipping.
If you love Paris, and you love art, I think you'll like this poster. One thing I'm pretty sure about--you're not going to find anything like it anywhere else.
For more information email me at ross.collins@ndsu.edu.
—Ross F. Collins