Mumbai's Gallery XXL Is Bringing Post-Graffiti And Urban Art To An Indian Audience
"Art belongs to the elite, graffiti to the streets." - Bufón Pinta, Bufón Chilean graffiti writer
Vaaswat Sarkar, Homegrown, April 17, 2023
This quote rings true when you examine the history of art. Art, especially high art, is accessible only to the cultural elite and has been primarily contained in white cube spaces. The vocabulary of art appreciation, let alone owning a piece of high art, is a privilege reserved for a handful in society — the intellectuals, patrons, and collectors. When graffiti was born in the United States in the late 1960s, it ushered in an era of vibrant counter-culture. While most deemed it as vandalism and still do, it is an artistic movement that moved beyond the consumerist and elitist nature of niche art circles and brought it to the forefront of the streets and its people.