Sprayed Paint

The history of sprayed paint application begins around 30,000 years ago with the cave art site Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, where, in a self-referential gesture, artists sprayed pigment using a hollowed bone or reed over their outstretched hands. Throughout history, artists have used a variety of techniques to splatter and otherwise diffusely apply paint droplets, but industrial developments from the 19^th to 21^st centuries firmly brought sprayed paint into the painter’s lexicon, where it continues to develop as a medium and language. In 1888, the atomizer was patented and was soon adopted for spraying paint. 1949 saw the patent of the aerosol spray can, with artists such as Hedda Sterne and David Smith adopting its use soon after. From the late 1960’s through to the present day, graffiti artists have embraced spray paint and it has become a part of the urban vernacular. A uniting characteristic of artists who chose to pick up spray as a tool is that the artist needn’t even touch tool to canvas (or wall), maintaining a distance and thus using body language – moving closer and further, in small and large gestures, to observe an image develop before them. This session will call for art historical research on artists who use this tool, artists who engage with spray paint themselves, and those undertaking technical research on sprayed paint applications.