Graffiti: Urban Art

Graffiti is known as an ancient and widespread art in most civilizations which is one of the main branches of art that with growing urbanization that became active and dynamic as an urban art. Graffiti formed as a new field of activity in Iran after the revolution.” It can both search the social realities of Iran in art of that time during the revolution and also with investigating the art of Revolution by using sociology and semiotics it can be achieved the recognition of some social realities of the country during the revolution”. (Goudarzi, 1387: 87) After the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1357, Iranian society encountered with emergence and formation of a new artistic field that its internal relations and its relations with other fields

At the beginning of the revolution power in a decentralized form was distributed among political parties and movements and graffiti was too. Graffiti gradually settled down with the support of revolutionary institutions and after these supports, themes and messages of wall works went towards the official political interpretations and revolutionary slogans and positions. "In that period graffiti supported by some centers as Foundation of Martyrs, governmental institutions and mosques as social centers and it was born by portraying martyrs on the walls of the city and its activities culminated in the mid-80s.” (Kfshchyan Moghadam, 1385: 25) In this period instead of previous modern and decorative works emerged walls images with revolutionary themes. "Different approaches of cultural brokers in the first half of the decade (1370-75) compared to the second half (1375-80) was one of the main factors that contributed to the richness of the decade." (Eskandari, 1385: 53) After the year 1357 can be divided into three periods of "revolution", "war" and

“Achieving this required the formation of artistic events inside the artist and he knew that the main revolution should be inside him otherwise the recognition will not be found.” (Mohebi, 1388: 84) Expressional characteristics of these works performed its observational-visual principles with selectivity of expressing methods of painting styles and art form events of the countries with a similar situation of Iranian Revolution in artistic form. In the visual structure of these works as in the past, used of specific forms and political, religious and cultural symbolic elements more than anything else and images such as the Qur'an, Imam, flags and revolutionary symbols were used as the main elements in works of wall. In the midst of revolution, graffiti was ethnographer art and was produced in the form of street art and protester through drawing leaders of the revolution. (Picture