This book is about street art—posters, wall paintings, graffiti, and murals—as political expression in three countries—Spain, Argentina, and Brazil—during the 1980s. Lyman Chaffee admits that regimes and dominant groups frequently use such art to further their purposes, but he argues that street art is best seen as a form of popular protest that allows dissidents to vent their feelings and advertise their reform programs. In this sense, the art is only one example of low-technology, mass communication in a world of high technology, but also a tool for political democratization.
And it seems to work—that is, such art can mobilize support for a group and its cause, although Chaffee is at pains to prove its effectiveness in any systematic or convincing way. Art can persuade, of course, especially in locales with a strong tradition of street culture; and Chaffee carefully places the form and content of the street art he surveys firmly in the cultural and historical context of the nations he visits. Street art in Spain reflects that country’s well-known fiery regionalism; in Argentina, the polarized factionalism between the military and populist movements; and in Brazil, the political issues stimulated by the shift from military rule to a hesitant democracy.
Chaffee’s book is decently researched, clearly written, adequately footnoted, and somewhat of a bore. In narrative but nonetheless catalogue form, it tends to belabor the obvious. The author rather mechanistically ticks off the numerous political and public interest groups that have employed street art to transmit their propaganda (and which ones have not?). From time to time he renders a little taste of what they had to say. Yet we all know from personal experience that street art can stir emotions, so we might anticipate a chuckle or a gasp of amazement or perhaps even some passion in a book that treats such a colorful and often riveting topic. What we get instead is cold, dry leaven, or perhaps the detailed examination (some would prefer “deconstruction”) of a particularly intriguing poster or two.
Certainly such a book begs for a raft of illustrations (one can hardly imagine how many wonderful ones must be available), but all this book offers is a small packet of so-so, underanalyzed photographs sandwiched in the center. In sum, for those interested in mass communication, the book has its merits. For those who celebrate culture, it is awfully pale.
