Public Art

Public art does add a few new restrictions; such as weather restrictions, or the ability to be taken down at any point in time. However, public art takes away from some of the museum restrictions, such as not being able to physically touch the paintings in museums. Also, society assumes that people need to be intelligent in order to interpret the artwork in museums. In public art, any civilian can view the art without judgement. Berger says there are restrictions in the museum from paying but public art takes these away. You don’t have to pay for public art, its right in the open. With the piece I found I could walk right up to it and touch it. In the museum I couldn’t do any of that.

Public Art Restrictions

     Even though public art doesn’t have that many restrictions it has a few including the time its up , whether it survives the weather conditions, and if it is really considered art. The time barrier is a restriction in that graffiti can be removed or poor weather conditions could ruin a poster. This is what’s happening to the Shepherds Fairy piece I found. As you can see above the bottom is peeling off from poor weather conditions and people touching it. You never know when it will be taken down or destroyed. It could be a day to a month to a year.

            When I was little and would go to Fenway Park, I would walk by this same famous piece of graffiti that had been there my whole life. It was even there during this past summer. When we had to go get public art pieces I was going to use that, but when I went to the spot where it was it was gone. This is a perfect example of the time barrier. It had been up my whole life and the next month I go to find it the graffiti is gone. Just like that it was removed.

            There is also a barrier that Berger proposes; “Yet when an image is presented as a work of art, the way people look at it is affected by a whole series of learned assumptions about art” (143). Berger is saying that if you say a work of art is Art with a capital “A” then people will assume it is actually art. Unlike street art, which isn’t in a museum and doesn’t have that label of real art. This is one of the restrictions on street art. Since it is bound to that label then it is harder to interpret.

            Overcoming these restrictions are difficult, taking a picture of street art will preserve it but then take away meaning which is another whole problem for Berger. With seeing art as “Art” not just street art will be hard to overcome but you will just have to realize that street art is real art too.        

            Public art has the restrictions of time and seeing street art as real Art not just graffiti. You can touch it, go as close as you can to it, and see it at any hour. This is unlike the work in the museum but it still has its restrictions.