I Support Street Art from Greece: “Meeting of Styles is a jewel of the street scene”

Hello World! This is Philipp Gor, the founder and administrator of www.isupportstreetart.com . It doesnt get more bold than that, as the mission is the name. They support street art from wherever it comes and mediate to bring it up to a globally wider audience.

The page initially started off on facebook back in 2010 and grew further into other social media. In 2014 our website was establihed offering a wide range of content in relation to urban art from around the world. Our team consists of passionate bloggers in France, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Germany, the UK as well as partners in the USA, South Africa and South America. All published content is received directly from our sources and we aim to support artists and urban art organisations as an independent and non commercial mediator. Through several partnerships including Meeting of Styles, we offer increased visibility to international street art events, exhibitions, festivals and artists. With our direct communication all our content comes straight from the source and our viewers love it. We are proud to be an internationally recognised street art community. Moreover we have developed new sections including ARTIST CALLS, BOOKS and more is to come…

Our inspiration comes from the artists from all 5 continents, from brave initiatives, from inspiration that just seems to be endless and very powerful. Its a huge satisfaction to be part of someone elses effort to beautify the streets or even a project to create awarenes through street art in regard to big issues that humanity is facing such as climate change, environment protection, racism, women rights, equal opporunities, social justice, and the list goes on and on.

 

Its impossible to distinguish a favourite locatio, project or collaboration, street art has flourished globaly and every city seems to have an active scene developing more and more. The hot spots today are Lisbon, Berlin, Athens, Moscow, Barcelona, Paris, Bogota, New York, Hong Kong, and many other second cities. Not to mention rural areas with villages or abandoned factories. There seems to be no end!

We always plan to increase our collaborations and presence within the scene. Since we are an online based effort, the dream I guess would be to one day have a physical HQ upon which mutli events could be taking place for all to visit. We are always open to proposals and fresh ideas. Being part of the culture of creativity, Meeting of Styles for us is a jewel of the street scene, a flying circus of unity and joy! Widely recognised, it pays respect to its core values and continues to represent the real uncensored voice of artists from all over the world. It is way so much more than just a painting jam event. We are very proud to be partners with MOS and we hope it lasts for ever!

 

Social media just like on all other fields has been a very powerful game changer. With 2 sides on this coin it has brough some positive impact but also some negative too. The good thing is that it has surfaced lots of creativity to a wide audience, stepping up visibility for smaller and local artists and nowadays you can browse the art creations from anywhere in the world. Street shots are very common and interaction has increased massively. On the down side the volume is so big that it all starts to lose its value and content becomes short lived. Most works just get a glimpse and a ‘like’ while little evaluation is given to the real meaning of the content. Just like the rest of art competition for views neglects quality and seeks easy to grasp attention content. That is not exactly the point of art. Inspiration is at risk and commercialism has found it to be a very good opportunity to serve its purpose. We use Social media but we try to stick to certain values and principles we believe in and that is I guess what makes a difference for us and for viewers as well to a certain point.

Big scale murals we see very positively. Even though they require more organisation, funds and sponsors in most cases, overall they beautify ugly parts of our cities and offer a breeze of inspiration to walkers by. Under the condition that big mural artists are allowed to create with no sencorship, by experience, we have seen some monumental artworks being delivered. Regarding street art in general there is no doubt that commercialism has intruded and the whole scene has been exploited by big companies to promote their products and services. Even residential areas and development projects have taken into consideration street art to maximise market values. This is all normal I think and unavoidable in todays capitalistic environment. The outcome is what needs to be judged and the intentions. Independent and illegal street art will always remain alive and coexist, it is a matter of what we seek to look at and where we look for it. We on ISSA try to look in all directions and most in places where few people will look, to keep it interesting and original.

Ilegal Graffiti will never die. For most teenagers it is the introduction phase to the art of creating and spraying on public spaces. Some as a rebelion and some as way of expressing their ambitions.

Public buildings and historical monuments belong to tax payers and all citizents to use and enjoy. I think vandalising regularly such positions with graffiti makes a big part of the public opinion to have a negative opinion of graffiti. Graffiti mobilises imagination, the sense of independence, creativity and adrenaline. (when done without permition). Tons of events have been taking place across most countries with a strong graffiti and street art scene. An explosion of works has occured virtualy everywhere, from little neighborhoods to big urban art events. The big bang of art just happened for those who didnt realise and now we need to how it will settle for the future.

 

 

Art as a form of art is wide as painting. Depending on the situation and the mood different kinds of music can be compared. From classical to Trip hop, from Hip Hop to Cumbia or Jazz and Rock. A mix of all is the ideal! On a personal level – our planet. Humanity is devastating nature in an unprecedented pace. We need to change the way we think and act. We are currently destroyin the future of the next generations. I will shortly mention the main facts in order to remind our viewers of what is at stake.

Biodiversity is collapsing, One million species are at risk of extinction. -Ecosystems are dissapearing in front of our eyes -Every year 10 million hectars of forests are being lost -Oceans are over fished and choking in plastics -Coral reefs are dying -Air polution is killing 9 million people annualy -Infectious human diseases are emerging as a result of human effect on wildlife -Permafrost and Ice is melting -Naural disasters are increasing rapidly -Carbon Dioxide levels are sky high and still incresing Human activity is pushing itself to chaos – we all need to make it a top priority topic since we are all affected and worst of all the poorest countries will be the first to suffer.

 

If I had huge power I would work hard for social justice – eco friendly shift of all economies – abolish plastics – make street art a compulsary lesson in all schools.

”Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse” a quote by Sophocles -5th century BC- Athens