So I think this video from Sweatshoppe is a. pretty cool, and b. street art. When I first saw their work a while ago, I thought the whole thing was a bit corny. But I’ve almost completely changed my mind. Yes, I’m sure there are writers out there who won’t appreciate the hard work of painting with a roller being mimicked, but I think the results look too damn nutty (in the best way) to complain.
As for the work being street art, most of Sweatshoppe’s work appears to be done with minimal or no audience so in that sense it is unlike some of the projections done by artists like Evereman and Saber, but I’m not too bothered about that. Yes, you could say they are taking advantage of street art’s hipness (and an idea pioneered by GRL) to promote something that could be done more easily on the wall of a studio or on a computer and I think that’s a fair concern, but as I tweeted the other day, there is a degree to which the street is the web and the web is the street. More people have seen this video and appreciated it in much the same manner as they would have appreciated a wheatpaste than would have seen an actually wheatpaste or illegal mural by Sweatshoppe. Just like in street art, the barriers to entry on the web are a hell of a lot lower than the traditional art world. I’m pretty sure I’ll be expanding on these ideas in the coming months, but this post from last year will have to do for now.
