Art through the Colors of Graffiti: from the perspective of chromatic structure by Claudia Feitosa-Santana (2)

Abstract:

Graffiti is a general term that describes inscriptions on a wall, a practice with ancient origins, ranging from simple drawings and writings to elaborate pictorial representations. Nowadays, the term graffiti commonly describes the street art dedicated to wall paintings, which raises complex questions, including aesthetic ones. I studied the aesthetics of graffiti colors by quantitatively characterizing and comparing their chromatic structure to that of traditional paintings in museums and natural scenes obtained by hyperspectral imaging. Two hundred twenty-eight photos of graffiti were taken in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The colors of graffiti were represented in a color space and characterized by several statistical parameters. Graffiti have chromatic structures similar to those of traditional paintings, namely their preferred colors, distribution, and balance. In particular, a tendency for having similar colors in the same proportions. Like more traditional artists, the preferred colors are close to the yellow–blue axis of color space, suggesting that graffiti artists’ color choices also mimic those of the natural world. Even so, graffiti tend to have larger color gamuts, resulting in a greater freedom in color choice. A complementary analysis of graffiti from other countries supports the global generalization of these findings. Consequently, graffiti also contribute to bringing art to the cities.

Bio:

Claudia Feitosa-Santana has a post-doctoral in Integrated Neuroscience from the University of Chicago, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Behavior and a Master in Experimental Psychology from the University of Sao Paulo, a B.S. with Honors in Civil Engineering from Mackenzie University and a B.A. with Honors in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Sao Paulo. Former Senior Lecturer at the Liberal Arts Department of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and a visiting professor at the Florence University in Italy. She is the founder of Neuroscience for Human Development and currently develops research studies at Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, Federal University of ABC and University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and University of Minho in Portugal. She studies how the context affects perception and behavior, from colors to decision making.