SprayPaint Art by BryanC

Spray Paint Art – Overview and Origin

Spray Paint Art

Spray paint art is very modern art form using spray can paint, traditionally on poster board, but can be done on any non-porous material such as treated canvas, wood, metal, glass, ceramic or plastic. It differs from graffiti art in that graffiti is performed on buildings, trains and the like, as opposed to more traditional art surfaces.

The Substrate

The artist usually paints onto the glossy surface of white poster-board, such as the kind found in large retail stores. This poster-board is relatively inexpensive, usually under a dollar per sheet. This artwork however has and can be done on any flat surface preferably glossy. As such, though rare but catching on quickly, 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 (spackle or palette knife) - 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 paper - 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, lid or plate - used as stencils and are 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 poster board is usually taped down with painters 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 the 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.

However, over the years some Spray paint artists have discovered new ways to control where the textures of their planets will appear and in what form.

Background summary

The Spray paint art form, also known as Aerosolgrafia or Sadotgrafia is thought to have originated in Mexico City in the early 1980’s. 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. 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. 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, many are trying their hand at this art form.

More Details and its Origin

As mentioned earlier, this art form is thought to have originated in Mexico City in the early 1980’s. The first spray paint artist and founder was Ruben Sadot Fernandez, who also came from Mexico City. Ruben Sadot Fernandez first painted experimentally in public in front of his studio but soon moved to the streets of La Zona Rosa, around 1982, and began attracting crowds. Sitting in a lotus position surrounded by aerosol cans he created human figures and 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. Sadot listened to classical music, rock, and pre-Hispanic Aztec beats while painting. He often shocked those watching with his strong opinions on politics and 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 Spray paint art. Within a few years, the techniques began to spread throughout Mexico's cities, before finally gaining some popularity in the United States and Europe in the late 80s and early 90s. Failing economic conditions fueled an exodus of the Mexican spray paint artists. As the form spread north, the subjects of the paintings took on a more cosmic feel, moving away from the original, Aztec-inspired imagery. Still, the original influences can be seen today, as pyramids, temples, and ruined cities stand underneath ringed planets, comets and galaxies.

Spray Paint Art is a very modern art form. Relying on nothing but aerosol spray paint cans, simple stencils such as jar lids, scraps of paper, straight-edges, knives, and scalpels, spray paint artists are able to create highly detailed, deeply textured paintings depicting fantasy and science-fiction inspired landscapes in mere minutes.

Because of the speed of the painting process, the flashiness of the techniques, and let's face it, the downright awesomeness of the art form, spray paint art is just as much a performance art as it is a form to be admired passively, long after the artist has produced his painting. The artists take to the streets, pumping out painting after painting for admiring spectators. It's like ice-carving, except faster, more colorful, more futuristic, and more engaging.

It is very difficult to convey just how cool the rapidity and the brilliant ingenuity of the art form is. One can find many YouTube videos capturing the brilliance (over 100 videos here and 100 more here) but they certainly don't do it justice. When you see it for yourself, you can't help but be amazed at how brilliantly simple some of the techniques are. 

• Comets are formed simply by pushing the nozzle of a can of white spray paint against the canvas - the jet comes out perfectly shaped. 
• Magazine paper is crumpled to create ripples and bands in gas giants. 
• Putty knives are used to create textured pyramids and mountains. 
• Scalpels uncover lower layers of paint, for bright lines and rings. 
• A flick of the hand, dripping with wet paint, delivers small spots of white for randomly-placed stars.
• Lid jars are used to create flares around the outlines of planets. 
• An impromptu flame-thrower, made with a lighter and a can of clear spray paint, is used to heat-dry the paint, so it can be sold right away. 

How cool is that. The first time I encountered a spray paint artist was in Malta, on a day out with my family, about 2 years ago. It was mid-afternoon, about 2 or 3 pm. We heard some loud music and applause emanating from a crowd gathered around an artist's tent down the street. Curious, we walked closer, to see a man wearing a gas mask, rapidly painting with his tools and spray paint cans, canvas after canvas.

When one was done, he'd put it off to the side and begin another right away, seemingly oblivious to the crowd. His partner handled the business end of things, off to the side - while the artist painted, the partner negotiated with the spectators for the sale of the latest creation.

The artist alternated between black and white paintings and full color. After watching for about an hour, we tried to purchase one of the newly made color paintings. Just as he had finished his latest masterpiece and had handed it over to his partner, I could not believe what I had just witnessed. The painting was beautiful but the best part of it was that I had seen it being done and knowing how it was formed, and seeing it created in front of my very eyes in less than 10 minutes somehow makes it even more special. I wish I knew the artist's name, he signed it but I can't make it out. In the past 2 years I have been to several European cities, but I have not been so fortunate to encounter any spray painters, most likely because I always travelled during winter.

Your best bet is Mexico and other American cities, of course. Barring that, pretty much any of the larger cities in Mexico will feature such street artists, as they're fairly easy to find down there. And all of the major American cities (Los Angeles, New York, Miami, etc.) have at least one or two at any given time. The further south you are, the better your chances are of finding one, six or a whole movement of them. I tried to cover as much as possible regarding the fascinating world of Spray Paint Art and I hope that you find this information useful in some ways. This form is too new and is not regarded as an acceptable medium by many (probably still associated with graffiti), but it is definitely catching on as more and more people are trying their hand at it. Deep down I know that it’s only a matter of time before it is fully recognized as a modern art form, a form where imagination is the most important tool and the reason it is often referred to as - The World of Spray Painting Art.

Here's a few Stencil tips of one of the paintings I did.

Step 1: First identify a picture which is suitable to be stenciled. I usually go by the amount of black or white there is on the pic and by how many different colours there are. The below pic is of the latest one I did. It is an actual photo of a stone Buddha. The colours are light reflections and shadows at the time it was taken.

Step 2: For the purpose of this tutorial, this painting will be done on an 11 X 14 poster board. The first thing I do is draw a 2.5cm border all around the poster board allowing enough space for the painting to be framed without actually covering any of it.

Step 3: Next I place the picture on the poster board, always lining one side. Very rarely you will be able to cover the whole area so sometimes you will have to draw the missing parts yourself.

Step 4: The colour identified to be stenciled shall be the black in this case since it?s the least colour covering the surface area of the painting. I always go for the least colour visible especially since there is lots of white in this case. Next you start by tracing the outline of the black area with a pen(notice the continuation of the lines to the edge of the border) making sure to make enough pressure in order to mark the poster board, as this needs to be visible in order for you to draw over it.

Step 5: After you are done, go over the marked areas with the pen and make sure that you have missed nothing. You should have something like this.

Step 6: Start cutting the stencil out with a fine sharp blade and try to be as accurate as possible.

Step 7: When you are done with the cutting you should have something like this. As you can see the picture is already identifiable and now all we need to do is put the colours down.

Step 8: The next step before you start painting is to mask the 2.5cm border with normal low tack masking tape in order to leave a white border around the pic.

Step 9: Next we are ready to spray down the base of the painting with blue purple white and black, always following the picture and making sure that we are as close to the original as possible. When done it is important to leave this to dry for a couple of hours before you put the stencil down. Otherwise it will stick and ruin the base. As you can see, although this is a very simple stencil, it does take some time to complete the whole process.

Step 10: Next we are ready to lay down the stencil we made earlier on top of the base that we have just painted. It is important to secure it properly so no paint bleeds underneath the stencil. As you can see in the pic I use simple pebbles. I don?t like to put heavy things that cause unnecessary pressure on the base paint as at this point it is still a bit fresh.

Step 11: Next we are going to fill in the stencil with the black paint purple and blue. First fill in the whole area with black and then pass over with little squirts of blue and purple following the original picture and you should have something like this.

Step 12: Remove the stencil straight away, but do not remove the masking tape until the painting is completely finished and you should have something looking like this. Now we?re always getting closer to the end result but not quite yet.

Step 13: This is the last step and the hardest one too. Now, as you can see when you do stencils you are going to get a lot of straight sharp edges where different colours meet and we need to eliminate those. Other wise the painting will look dull. I use a technique which I nicknamed the dry technique, but I use several materials to deliver this method, depending on the painting. As I said we have to smudge the edges into each other and this is how I do it. My preferred method is with a piece of fine cloth, important that is has no texture at all. I dab it in paint, then wipe it almost clean on a piece of cardboard and when it is barley leaving anything I start going over the edges first with one colour and then with the other making sure that they blend into each other. If the paint gets too dry on me I use a little paint thinner on the cloth and this ensures the flow of my index finger. Sometimes when there is lots of white like in this case you going to need the help of a paintbrush but most of the time not. I also use a toothbrush some times if I want a rough texture.

As you can see the process is long and laborious and you need to have patience. It depends only on your self ho the end result looks. The more time you spend on it, the more detail you can achieve and the painting will look something like this. I hope this was of some kind of help and I hope that someone will soon try it out. Please let me know if anyone needs to know anything else.