Spray paint art

Spray paint art is an artform utilizing spray paint and performed on posterboard or wood. It differs from traditional graffiti in that graffiti is performed on buildings, trains and the like, as opposed to more traditional art surfaces.

Background

This is a unique form of art that is generally performed on the street in large metropolitan cities creating surreal landscapes of planets, comets, pyramids, cities, nature scenes as well as simple one-colored backgrounds or even multi-colored backgrounds where the paint swirls together or fades from one color to the other through a series of differing values (of each color).

This art form (also known as Aerosolgrafia or Sadotgrafia by its founders) originated in Mexico City in the early 1980s. Ruben “Sadot” Fernandez first painted {experimentally in public) in front of his studio but soon moved to the streets of La Zona Rosa (1982) and began attracting crowds. Sitting in a lotus position surrounded by aerosol cans he created human figures & faces, and natural landscapes on paper, cardboard, or canvas. He did not use a brush.Sadot wrote poetry, made mosaics, and did art in a number of traditional art media, but became most renowned for his work with aerosol spray paint. An important aspect of this art form is the music that often accompanies the performance. This inspires the artist and is an integral part of the experience for the spectator. Sadot listened to classical music, rock, and pre-Hispanic Aztec beats while painting. He often shocked those watching with his strong opinions on politics & government, and mystified the crowd with his metaphysical observations of culture and the human condition.Though Sadot was the first, many followed his lead venturing into the world of Aerosolgrafia. Due to the ready availability of the minimal tools necessary, how quick a work could be produced, and the possibility of making good money at it, others soon tried their hand at this art form.

The Substrate

The artist usually paints onto the surface of white poster-board, such as the kind found in large retail stores. This poster-board is relatively inexpensive, usually under $0.75 per sheet. This artwork however has and can be done on any flat surface preferably glossy. As such, though rare, it is possible to find pieces of artwork in this style on anything from canvas to skateboards & hoods of cars.

Tools

* Spray paint
* Joint compound spatula - metal scraper usually used to remove paint from the painting in the creation of buildings, bridges, lightning and other effects.
* Assorted clay modeling scraping tools - used to remove paint from the canvas in the creation of trees, bushes, shrub, grass and other effects.
* Magazine page - used to remove paint in a random fashion from the canvas for adding texture.
* Stencils - used to paint stenciled areas onto a canvas.
* Round bowl or bucket - used like the newspaper but is especially good for making planets
* Latex gloves - to keep artists' hands from getting painted and sticky.
* Round flat objects such as ice cream tub top, soda bottle cap, trashcan lid etc.
* Face mask to prevent inhalation of fumes.
* Paper towels and sponges for cleaning utensils and achieving different textures.

Process

The posterboard is usually taped down with masking tape. Taping the edges of the painting is done to ensure a white border around the painting area. The tape is removed after the painting is finished.

Using several different colors spray upon each other in a small area of the canvas lightest to darkest, the artist will remove some of the layers of paint creating a texture to the paint. Using a magazine page to remove the paint in layers, the artist places a magazine page over top of the paint that was just painted on the canvas, with a gentle wipe on top of the magazine page, some of the paint will adhere to the magazine page. Removing the magazine page will randomly remove layers of paint and generate a texture. This method of paint layering and paint removal allows the artist to create several different effects from the creation of planets to creating landscapes.

Though over the years some Spraypaint artists have discovered new ways to control where the textures of their planets will appear and in what form.

Gallery

ee also

*Aerosol Paint
*Airbrush
*Graffiti