Street Art: Mural vs Graffiti
Art is a broad term. It has different meanings to each and every one of us making it unique. It is a form of expression through the use of physical or verbal means that applies the elements of creativity and imagination. Public spaces or streets are common locations for street art, hence its name. Two examples of street art would be murals and graffiti.
These types of street art are actually rampant in the Philippines. Although, they do have their own stigma in the eyes of the public, one being bad and the other good. This then begs the question, while both of them are considered street arts what are the differences between the two?
Murals
Murals have existed for a very long period of time. It was first used during the Renaissance era. When an artist is hired professionally to paint a wall, it is now referred to as a mural. This includes an authorization for painting on the wall as well. In essence, it means that the created art on a wall is done through legal means.
Usually, mural is a work of art that incorporates the use of different art materials, not just the utilization of one tool. In addition, the art style is not usually considered through the written format. The art created is mostly from the visual perspective where one must understand rather than read.
In the Philippines, murals are mostly seen in Bonifacio Global City, there are many walls there that incorporate street arts bringing life to a flourishing business area.
Graffiti
There is a bad stigma going around graffiti for a long time. They are usually correlated to the term vandalism. In turn, graffiti now means art done through a wall with or usually without permission or legal means.
We need to get clear on something first, graffiti is an art style. Vandalism involves damage to property or doing something you do not have permission for. What you see in those walls that are painted illegally is called vandalism. It just so happens that most graffiti art styles are utilized in it. We need to establish the difference between vandalism and graffiti and know the true meaning of it.
Furthermore, graffiti art is an art style that typically uses words as a medium to express creativity and art. However, just because they usually use the word or symbol format as the medium, does not mean that they do not use drawings. A key indicator of graffiti art is that most of the utilized art materials are spray cans. Most importantly, to distinguish this street art, they usually utilize a variety of colors in artwork, bubble formats in words, or a combination of icons and letters.
The definition of the two can interchange a lot based on their technical aspects, but we all know that they are two unique and exciting art forms that we see in our everyday streets, with each of them having its own prosperous culture.
