Texel Feder Paper

Texel Feder, “Between the Street and the Gallery: Street Art in Montreal,” BOZetto, Vol. 2, Spring 2014, 5-8.

            For the most part, we tend to think of street artists as rather egocentric graffiti punks who do not really care about how they affect those around them or the city in which they live.  The graffiti aesthetic is widespread in pop culture but is often seen as a symbol of rebellion.  The artists we are familiar with, such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey, or Barry McGee, are depicted as lone agents who are somehow separate from society.  Street art by contrast lacks a cohesive history.  Despite the common conception of what street art is and who street artists are, this understanding is inadequate for all locations and historical moments.  Montreal in the 2010s, for example, lacks the resistance and isolation to mainstream culture that existed in New York in the 1980s or San Francisco in the 1990s.  Rather, there is an embrace of mainstream values and a desire to belong to a community outside the art world.  The affective content of work in Montreal is about fun and positive change where Banksy's work is the opposite.  Montreal artists have a different outlook and values and are using different strategies than other street artists.  They are institutionalizing themselves, working to create collective practices, and establishing events and spaces that foster co-education. 

            While the average person may not have a strong opinion about street art and its role in society we need to take an interest in the street art movement because it is community based, participatory, and visible throughout the city.  Failing to understand street art in Montreal will result in the loss of positive impacts, such as community events and low-cost galleries, as well as community-oriented individuals who are working to improve Montreal.  In the past three decades, street art has transformed and evolved into something quite different than what it was in the 1980s.  Although the settings might be the same, street art has become more than just tagging or graffiti.  In Montreal, it has become a movement and a community.

            Graffiti originated as a subculture, a pushback against the dominant culture.  However, as trained art students such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring started to move into the Bronx and Brooklyn and to see the graffiti there, they were inevitably influenced by it and their work was welcomed into mainstream art circles.  About a decade later on the west coast, artists like Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen made a name for themselves and other Mission School artists in San Francisco.  Banksy is another key figure in the street art movement, although his reputation as a lone, anti-authoritarian, guerrilla street artist again differs greatly from artists in Montreal who seek to integrate themselves into society, rather than isolate themselves from it.

            While graffiti and street art often overlap, the differences between them are important to understanding the scene as a whole.  What distinguishes street art from graffiti is the emphasis on engagement and activism and is often what drives the movement.  Adrien Fumex, one of the gallery managers at Fresh Paint in Montreal, has observed that street art is not only more visually dynamic and engaging but it has meaning, motivation, politics and different convictions.[i]   The government of Montreal has embraced street art to a certain extent, but it still has an active anti-graffiti campaign, further illustrating the separation between street art and graffiti and how important that distinction is when it comes to issues such as lawful postings, government funding, and public support.

            Although galleries that show street art are often considered to be alternative venues, they function in the same fundamental way that traditional galleries do:  they sell works to make a profit.  In Montreal, the first underground art gallery was Yves Laroche Gallery which opened in 1991.  Other galleries in Montreal have since shown and sold work by street artists, such as Space 27, whose owners describe it as a “private art gallery and appointment only dealership and consultancy presenting fresh and forward thinking art work from some of the most innovative and exciting young artists in contemporary Urban, Street, and Fine Arts.”[ii]  Many people involved in the street art scene in Montreal have also expressed an understanding and desire for street art to be something more than simply spray paint on a building.  Adrien Fumex described the nature of his “gallery” as follows:  “Fresh Paint is not necessarily a gallery, [it is] more of a movement. We are trying to establish a new generation of artists.”[iii]

            Many of the emerging spaces in Montreal allow artists to show for little if any profit and are reminiscent of the early years of Fashion Moda Gallery in the 1980s.  They often combine gallery-like shows with workspace for artists or interested community members or offer classes at minimal rates.  Social events are vital to most spaces as they provide a friendly atmosphere for individuals to form relationships and strengthen the community.  Fresh Paint is a temporary art project that allows artists to practice graffiti and “street art” in a culturally and creatively conducive environment.[iv]   The gallery also hosts a monthly art slam called Beaux Degats, or “Beautiful Damages,” at various locations around Montreal in which six teams compete for the title of favorite mural and the winner by popular choice gets to “tag” the other groups' works. Station 16 is a unique combination of an urban gallery and creative silkscreen print shop in Montreal that focuses on handmade limited edition prints.[v]  WZRDS GNG is a group of street artists who work together to produce collaborative pieces and “has worked hard to create and solidify arts communities in Montreal, through the creation of interesting, socially conscious group shows, etc.”[vi]  The gallery provides a place for artists to display and sell work but it also provides a place for artists to learn from one another.

            In addition to these physical spaces that serve as alternatives to the traditional galleries, there are other venues in Montreal that range from festivals to events to collaborative projects. Under Pressure is a graffiti festival that focuses on “community development, artist empowerment, and positive youth development though ownership and responsibility of a shared space.”[vii]   Another unique Montreal collaborative project is EN MASSE which focuses on the creation of a collective vision through large-scale black and white murals. Mural Festival is a celebration of the creativity and democracy of urban art and the sheer scale of the festival—with more than 35 local and international artists creating nearly 20 murals citywide—once again reflects the remarkable attitude of those involved with the street art scene as well as the city as a whole.  Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Montreal, one of the nineteen boroughs in the city of Montreal, was in fact an official partner of Mural Festival.  What makes this partnership even more intriguing is that the council of Plateau-Mont-Royal has an active anti-graffiti campaign that provides free graffiti removal for building owners and sponsors a mural creation program in the interest of beautifying the district.[viii]

             The street art scene in Montreal is community oriented and focuses on providing better and more resources for all involved.  Sterling Downey, founder of the Under Pressure Festival, once said that “by keeping the festival small, community oriented, community funded and organized by community volunteers it is able to reflect their needs and be a true representation of their voice through their involvement.”[ix]  Newer groups such as WZRDS GNG have kept the community focus of older groups and festivals like Under Pressure and have created unique group shows to help solidify the arts community in Montreal.  EN MASSE takes its name from the French phrase meaning “as a whole” or “all together” and seeks to nurture the broadening and solidification of artistic communities everywhere it goes, to provide an alternative to mainstream galleries, and to serve as a “bridge for the artist to institution, and vice versa.”[x]  The street art movement is civic-minded and has worked to involve and strengthen the community where it exists while also creating new spaces and events.  This motivation differs significantly from other historical and geographical groups of street artists but reflects a set of values specific to Montreal.  While Montreal artists continue the heritage of street art by creating illegal public works on the street, the emerging community spaces they are creating represent something new that has not yet been defined or termed by the art historical world.  As the movement develops, its products will likely improve in the eyes of the art world so that they will no longer be associated with graffiti and tagging.

            While Montreal artists do address social and political issues to a certain extent, overall the work in the city is more about conviviality and beauty than about socio-political issues.  The contrast between the enjoyable work in Montreal and other contemporary street artists, such as Banksy or Shepard Fairey, again highlights the unique culture of that city.  Artists are more interested in how their work can affect change through the fostering of relationships and community than through the content itself.  This approach seeks real interaction and engagement, rather than simply commenting on issues, and in many ways is actually more effective than work in the vein of Banksy or Barry McGee.  The power behind activist movements comes from the people who are involved, in their interacting with one another, talking, putting on events, and generally creating stronger community ties.

            Montreal is home to a unique mix of older, more established street artists as well as younger artists and groups who are just beginning to make a name for themselves.  Because the older generation has been creating relationships and partnerships with the community and government authorities for a number of years, the younger generations have a strong foundation of support compared to many other cities.  However, a 2007 report titled Waging Culture: A Report on the Socio-Economic Status of Canadian Visual Artists found that the typical Canadian artist made $20,000 from all sources of income compared to the national average of $36,301 and national median of $26,850 for non-artists, which does not include non-work income.[xi]  The report relied upon the Canada Council for the Arts' definition of an artist:  “The Canada Council defines a professional artist as someone who has specialized training in a field (not necessarily in academic institutions), who is recognized as such by her or his peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition), and who has a history of public presentation or publication.”[xii]   Although street artists are not explicitly mentioned in the report, they do have specialized training, are recognized by their peers, and work in the public realm, so the government should also consider them artists.  The main goal of the report was to gather data about the socio-economic status of artists in Canada, as well as education, housing, family, language, and race.  Montreal artists had the greatest amount of postsecondary education at seven years, as compared to the entire province of Québec at 7.2 years.  The Montreal artists’ high level of postsecondary education likely correlates with the community-oriented, activist nature of street art in Montreal.  Higher levels of education about how the world works lead many artists to seek alternatives to existing social and economic structures. 

            Despite the growing interest in street art and its presence in mainstream culture, there is a sense that the interest may not be long lasting.  The individuals who are genuinely involved in the movement will continue to create new structures, relationships, and collaborative projects and change many of the historical stereotypes about street art.  The community benefits and social improvements that have developed as a result of street art will only remain if we move beyond the superficial interest in the street art aesthetic to what is driving the movement:  a desire for change and community.  As street artists in Montreal work to institutionalize themselves, create collective practices, and establish events and spaces that foster co-education, it is vital that the broader community around them recognize the value in street art and its potential to facilitate change.