Armen R. Apressyan

Despite the growing popularity of street art, the names of street artists — with the possible exception of one or two - are not known to the general public, street art is impersonal in the mass consciousness. Of course, there is a significant amount of information resources dedicated to street art, but they do not significantly affect the wide popularity of artists. Like many years ago, even the names of very interesting authors are known only to a narrow circle of fans of the genre. An absurd situation is emerging: even Banksy, who can be considered as the most famous street artist in the world, is impersonal. No one knows who exactly is hiding behind this name, and for many years fans of his artworks have been putting forward a variety of theories, sometimes frankly fantastic. The article suggests that in today's art world, a street artist can gain wide popularity, «acquire a face» only by changing his status and abandoning street art in favor of easel painting. The works of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Richard Hambleton are considered as examples.