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BARBARA KLEIN: I'm Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I'm Steve Ember with Explorations in VOA Special English. Today, we travel through city streets all over the world to explore street art, a popular and lively art movement.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Street art can be found on buildings, sidewalks, street signs and even trashcans from Tokyo to Paris to New York City. This special kind of art can take the form of paintings, sculptures, cloth or even stickers. Its international presence is supported by Web sites, artist communities, books and magazines. Street art has become part of a global visual culture. Now, even art museums and galleries are collecting the work of street artists.

STEVE EMBER: It is not easy to provide an exact history of the street art movement. This kind of art has developed in many kinds of ways in places all over the world. Also, street artists usually work secretly because it is illegal to paint public and private property without permission. This secretive nature of street art and its countless forms make it hard to define exactly. And people have different opinions about the movement. Some think street art is a crime and destroys property. But others see this art as a rich form of non-traditional cultural expression.

BARBARA KLEIN: Many experts say the movement began in New York City in the nineteen sixties. Young adults would use paint in special cans to spray their “tag” on walls and train cars around the city.

This tag was a name they created to identify themselves and their artwork. This colorful style of writing is also called graffiti. It is visually exciting and energetic. Some graffiti paintings were signs marking the territories of city gangs or illegal crime groups.

STEVE EMBER: Graffiti also became a separate movement expressing the street culture of young people living in big cities. Graffiti art represented social and political rebellion. This art rejected the accepted rules of culture and power. These artists could travel around areas of the city making creative paintings for everyone to see. The artists could become famous without being officially recognized. Sometimes this street art created a dispute between artists and city officials. Graffiti artists created their images and city officials quickly painted over them.

During the nineteen eighties two New York painters who began as street artists became very famous. Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat started creating their paintings on the streets. But soon they began showing their work in art galleries and museums. This is when street art started to become part of the popular culture.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Street art today takes many forms. One well known New York City street artist goes by the name of Swoon. Swoon creates detailed paper cutouts of people that she observes around her. She places these life-size images on walls in different areas of New York. For example, one of her artworks is of a little boy playing. He is turning his smiling face and seems to be running into the distance. The lines of Swoon's drawing give energy and movement to the picture. She placed the picture of the boy next to other large graffiti images. It looks like he is running around between the different pieces of artwork.

Swoon did not start her career making street art. She studied fine art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. But she says she lost interest in the official workings of art galleries. She soon started taking her art into the streets.

Swoon likes how her work changes slowly after it is outside for a while. The art slowly disappears because of the effects of time, sun and rain. She also enjoys the freedom of expression which street art permits. And people enjoy Swoon's strong and imaginative pictures. In fact, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City has bought several of her works.

STEVE EMBER: Many street corners in Paris, France show the work of an artist known as Space Invader. Space Invader was the name o

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