Street Art is an original type of art that we can find only in the streets. Many people don’t recognize this artwork like art and sometimes people relate this art with vandalism.
The artist usually tries to leave the same kind of message like political issues, feelings, their emotions … And these expressions are exposed in the street where all the people can enjoy and valuate them. Usually the people who do it, are anonymous and we can refer to any person when we admire one of their works of art.
Street Art includes different kinds of terms and technique for example, graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheat pasting and street poster art, Taping, Mosaic tiling, Performance and Installations.
The desire for security and peace - in the face of hundreds of armed conflicts, more topical than ever - moved people from the earliest times. They have always longed for both for personal peace, i.e. peace with oneself, as well as peace with other people and peoples. Accordingly, from antiquity to today, on the subject of "peace" a multitude of representations, some of which originated very far back.
Indulgence, 2020
Paper maché and Acrylic
70x47 inches
The artwork depicts a tree that literally grows out of a book. The meaning behind the word “peace” varies from person to person, for me it is the feeling of getting lost between pages of unknown worlds and unseen things. Of indulging myself in someone else's life, of having the ability to forget reality and just slip into a story. While the text on the book is a passage of one of my favorite books, Patrick Rothfuss “The Name of the Wind”, the tree that has its roots firmly planted inside the book and strongly growing outwards. The thought behind this depiction was that all kinds of literature plant a small seed inside someone's head, causing an idea or representation to grow if they make the time to tend to it. I personally love reading and enjoy not only the books themselves but also what comes with the content and the possible paths that are opened to the reader to think about after finishing a book. My definition of peace is the idea of finding something that grounds you, something that helps you to stay calm, something that allows you to appreciate the little things, and for me that something is reading.
Lense, 2020
Poster Prints, Installation
24 x 36 inches
This artwork found its inspiration from a project I had done a couple weeks prior. My idea was to create a program where students choose between two images about peace and the chosen one would then be compared to a new image. It was important to always keep the question in mind, which image represented peace better. After giving classmates the option to play the peace game, I played my program one final time to have a “winner-image” with the class. Every time we had a choice we would vote which one we want to choose to continue. This winner image is represented by my artwork. Even though the original image didn’t have a high enough resolution this image comes closest to what the original image represented, peace in connection with nature. I also wanted to include a personal aspect for my project. This is represented by the bike. The bike for me is a personal object of peace. I had recently been on my first “Ride for Black Lives” and I noticed how powerful bikes could really be. I connected this personal aspect with the results of my peace installation, so not only does this artwork represent a personal connection to peace, but also a class-wide understanding of it. Something that I really like about the structure of this artwork is that you see the image through the bike, the bike acting like a lens.
Levitating Window of Peace, 2020
Paper frame on canvas
18x25 inches
As an artist, I am essentially interested in creating artwork which shall appeal to the eye of the viewer. Peace is not only such an important aspect of art but also such an impacting one on it’s own. Everyone has experienced it in their own unique way and so have I. At first I started gathering my thoughts and supplies that best suited my ideas. Bright colors catch the eye and therefore I chose to work with my favorite bright colors (Neon- Yellow ,pink, orange). I chose to make an installation that has the form of a window. The window represents the way we see the world which is through the window of your own eyelids. Peace to me, is to be free and fully yourself without taking over the identity or freedom of another. To be free is to fly, I incorporated the aspect of flying by adding flying cranes at the bottom and then Butterflies on the black canvas in the middle to get a popping effect. I painted the frame gold and the boards silver, these colors are supposed to represent Achievement. You only see what you look at, and you choose what you look at. Your eyes are the windows to the world.
Prostest, 2020
Wood, spray
97x12 inches
I created this artwork in order to raise awareness for the freedom of peaceful protesting, specifically climate rallies and “Black Lives Matter” protests and marches. This artwork shows five protestors, that look ambiguous due to the black color, wearing masks. They are all facing the same direction, which shows that they are all standing together and facing a problem, be it BLM or Climate change, which are shown in the sings to the left and right of the protesters. The viewer of the artwork should feel a sense of power from the artwork, showing that peaceful protesting is powerful and effective. The colors in the background of the figures represent the variety of issues that can be peacefully resolved as well as the diversity of protestors that can make a difference. The artwork as a whole should also portray street art with the element of spray paint, as well as the range of colors that my favorite artist, Shepard Fairey, uses.
Balance, 2020
Black tape on canvas
16x16 inches
My project represents peace versus suffering in the world. The peace is represented here by the dove of peace and the suffering by the storm cloud. In the background of the two cut-outs you can see a scale made from tape. These scales are in exact equilibrium, without any deviation. The meaning behind this is that although there is peace in large parts of the world, there is still unrest in many other parts of the world. This balance seems to be stable if you only look at the project, but the deeper meaning behind the scales with its pronounced sensitivity must also be considered. This means that although peace exists, suffering is just as present and at all times the suffering is caused by e.g. War can outweigh peace to such an extent that peace becomes less important and takes a back seat. In summary, this means that peace should by no means be taken for granted.
Candles of Peace Explosion, 2020
Wood, paper, wax, spray paint
36x24 inches
My work of art on the topic of “Peace Street Art” consists of a poster full of colors which is attached to a wooden plate. I used wax as a medium, which I melted and dipped or sprayed onto the poster. A large peace symbol is mounted above the wax and is completely covered with black wax. The peace sign is made of wood and is mounted about 2 cm above the colored wax.
Paix Brisée, 2020
Tiles, Acrylic
12x16 inches
This piece represents how world peace can only be achieved through unity and cooperation. The piece is composed of 9 tiles, and the image is only complete with all tiles present, obtained without everyone's collaboration. The tiles are broken to show how fragile the concept of world peace is, and that a fully peaceful world is hard to achieve.
Inner Peace, 2020
Wood, tarp, spray paint, furniture, mirror, table
52x 52x 75 inches
“Peace” is a very broad term. Still, I believe that one of the deepest forms of peace is peace with yourself. Today's day and age is more competitive than ever, shaped by social media through which you can compare yourself every day with other people who seem prettier, more talented and more popular. Precisely this is why it is vital to internalize the fact that you are enough and to find an inner peace within yourself. This concept is illustrated in my art installation as the user walks into the room, sits down and takes the time to reflect on the person they see in the mirror in front of them, themselves. The user is then intended to write something down about themselves that they would like to come to peace with on one of the given sticky notes. This can be a physical feature, a character trait, an experience or anything else. Finally, the sticky note should be stuck on to the back wall of the “room”, so that with use, this wall gradually fills up with colorful notes that encourage inner peace. On the side walls of my constructed room, the quote “In a society that profits from your self doubt, liking yourself is a rebellious act” by Caroline Caldwell is spray painted in typical graffiti lettering. This quote strongly resonated with me since in today's society that profits off of social media, clothing, makeup and other things that are supposed to increase your feeling of self worth, already having this sense of self worth within yourself is rare but important. Therefore, I think it fits well to the concept of my art project, as it embodies the necessity of self love and inner peace in a world that so often discourages this.
Peace Poem, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
23x 31 inches
The work is the definition of peace to me. I expressed myself in the form of a poem as this was something new to me and thus the true meaning of self expression. With my poem I tried to make it clear that peace will always win. The flowers also represent peace for me, because their bright colors and shapes are for me something that can only be connected with peace.
The Mobile of Peace, 2020
Mixed media
This mobile is my personal creation that represents what peace means to me. When thinking about peace, my childhood is the first thing that comes to my mind. Children do not care about your origin, your skin, color or your ethical beliefs. They love everybody equally. In the background there are excerpts of lullabies or songs that remind me of my childhood.
On the mobile there are pigeons hanging on threads which are super thin. Those pigeons are a symbol of peace and these thin threads visualize the destructibility of peace. It can be gone from one day to the other if we do not put enough effort into it. By effort I mean that everyone and each of us has to see peace as their first priority in order for us all to be ready to do our best to keep it. Peace is not a permanent circumstance but something that needs to be actively kept. That's what we all, as creatures, are in charge of!
The Peaceful Ocean, 2020
Paper print, spray
92X25 inches
I found my inner peace by looking at things through a different perspective. I created this artwork using photos of beaches I have taken in my 16 years of traveling the world. I created a collage by glueing them onto the poster, as well as I spray painted the quote onto the final product, using a different language for every word to reflect the idea of me being lost in the unknown cultures of every single country, not knowing the languages or people. Having lived in so many different places, I had the opportunity to see and contemplate the world from almost every continent and from many different countries. Traveling and moving so much have many stressful factors, yet, it does allow you to find your peace in so many possible places and ways. My aspect of peace has always been the beach. I have always been fascinated by them and their surroundings. Especially since every beach in every country is different in so many ways, yet they are similar in appealing ways, since they are all connected to each other through the ocean. Coming back to my statement, this artwork explains that one should look at problems and situations from different perspectives, that are somehow still connected to the center, in order to be able to find peace. Through my constant admiration for the stillness of the waves, the peacefulness of the air and the views of the wide world, each time from a different place, I found my peace and a home in yet so terrifyingly strange places.
No Peace No Equality
Spray paint, stencil, painting
14 x 17 inches
For my project I decided that my artwork would come together as a whole to be symbolic of peace instead of drawing more common symbol of peace such as a peace sign or a dove. The overbearing statement of my artwork is that there can not be peace without equality, so in my eyes peace will only be achieved when there is no question as to peoples value, grit and goodness based on their skin color. Additionally this can only happen when monsters like the murderers of Breonna Taylor or the cops who stood by as their colleague slowly suffocated George Floyd are brought to justice. The revolver in my artwork represents violence and the roses protruding out of the barrel represent that peace can come out of violence. It alludes to the fact that the changes that need to be made in our society are ones that we, the people can make happen if we all come together. One of the flowers protruding from the barrel of the gun is black and the other is white, this represents first and foremost that the change is needed in our world today in order to achieve equality is the responsibility of all people no matter your skin color. Secondly it represents a world in which all people are equal and live together in harmony. The BLM banner that hangs down from the white flower represents a society in which there is no question as to whether black lives matter, where the preposterous notion that a person is inferior or superior because of their skin color is rooted out of our society and politics. I define peaces as a world in which all people can live equally without bias or prejudice.
The Irony of Peace, 2020
Digital Print
11x 8,5 inches
“The Irony of Peace” is meant to show how peace is not easily achieved, and how the pursuit of peace often leads to conflict and suffering. All throughout history, war has been waged with the end-goal of achieving, but I chose to represent that irony using the Vietnam War, especially since it took place in and somewhat instigated one of the largest peace movements ever. The poster juxtaposes symbols of peace and symbols of war to really show how sometimes the path towards a goal undermines the goal itself.
Dove of Peace, 2020
Stencil, Spray
17x 23 inches
The task for our art assignment was to create a piece of street-art that represents what the idea of peace means to us or what it means in the world today. I decided to focus my artwork on a topic that is more relevant today than it has historically been in many years - the fragility of world peace. Increasing globalisation, the end of the Cold War and international cooperation through organisations such as the UN, give us the impression that we live in a post-conflict age. This causes many people, especially young people in developed countries, to take peace in the world for granted. My spraypaint stencil depicts a dove, the universal symbol for peace, perched on a tombstone labeled with the “peace” symbol. This combination represents a contrast between peace and the absence thereof, war and violence. Symbolically, this serves to remind the viewer not to take peace for granted and to keep in mind that peace is not necessarily a given in the world, unlike many of us might believe.
Peace over War, 2020
Mixed media collage, Stencil of four graffiti sprayed on
11-3/4 x 16-½
My Peace Street Art Project consists of a large number of newspaper cutouts, which all help to create a bigger picture with the intent of being the background for the main part of the art work, which are the graffiti on it. The graffiti constitutes the biggest part of this artwork. These are the white/yellow dove; the green, peaceful alien, the red V-sign, and the navy-blue peace sign. The background represents in this context the negativity in humanity and all the conflict that exists, and the chosen graffiti and motifs are symbols for all the positivity, harmony and peace. By placing the graffiti in the foreground, it shows that one should forget the conflicts and concentrate on making the world a better place by being positive and spreading peace.
Music of Peace, 2020
Mixed media
35 inches diameter
For me music is a passion, which I started practicing in my Childhood. In difficult times music is always helpful. Also, music is international and you don't need a language to understand music. It's heard all over the world and everyone understands it, because it is mainly about the sound and the harmony. Especially classical music or other music without singing is all around the world and connects people, countries and cultures.
Music is peace for me.
Propitius esto numquam obliviscar - Forgive, never forget, 2020
Sticker
The piece shows a battered earth who is recovering from major damage and injuries. Inside the masses of land there are paintings that represent forgiveness. It shows that the people within the countries have destroyed the earth to the state it is in but they are also the only ones capable of fixing it, and the way to start that is with the act of forgiveness. Conflict is so often escalated by people's emotions based on irrelevant things of the past that realistically have no effect on the future. After separating those emotions from actions we must remember never to forget situations of the past. We cannot let resent or vengeful emotions dictate our actions but instead learn from them and learn from mistakes of the past. Therefore we cannot just forgive, forget and move on nor can we stay endlessly locked in past convictions; so we must forgive, but never forget.