Street Painting, Another Way To Express Idea

2010 Sarasota Chalk Festival photo by Rod Millington

Street painting, also commonly known as pavement art, chalk art, sidewalk art, is the performance art of rendering artistic designs on pavement such as streets, sidewalks, and town squares with impermanent and semi-permanent materials.

Origin
Street painting has been recorded throughout Europe since the 16th century. Street Painters, a name these performance artists are most commonly called in the USA are historically called I Madonnari in Italy (singular form: madonnaro) because they recreated images of the Madonna. In England they are called Screevers and in Germany Strassenmaler.

The Italian I Madonnari were itinerant artists. Aware of festival and holy days in each province and town, they traveled to join in the festivities to make a living from observers who would throw coins if they approved of the artists work. For centuries I Madonnari were folk artists, reproducing simple images with crude materials such as tiles, coal and chalk until World War II disrupted their tradition and reduced their numbers.

From Pop Art to Abstract Art Painting