ABSTRACT
By what processes has street art entered the global art market and canon? And has the commodification of this art form become synonymous with its canonization?1 I address these questions first by analyzing the critical reception of several recent street art exhibitions in prominent museums and then by considering two case studies of leading street artists today whose careers took off in the 1990s: the British Banksy (born c. 1974), and Swoon (born 1978), one of the most famous American practitioners. By examining their distinct methods of interaction with the street and diverse branches of the art world, I analyze two quite different ways in which street artists engage with issues of critique, commodification and canonization.
