I wrote a blog entry on this earlier, but then it struck me that there was something wide ranging and important to say about the artspace we set up in Brighton a while ago beyond what we are doing. The ethos behind our idea was to create a place where art can exist outside of the traditional galleries, a place where art can be created as well as be sold!

Too often in this country art is either public funded, often unsaleable installations or "public art" decided by committee on the one hand, or commerical galleries selling traditional landscapes for middle class suburban living rooms.

If you are just starting out in street art and looking for more information the marketplace can be confusing.

There are literally hundreds of graffiti books around now, and it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees, so check out what in our opinion are the top 4 essential street art books to own if you are looking to learn more about the scene. Covering everything from the birth of the graffiti scene in New York, to contemporary global street art and artists.

The urban art scene is diverse. There are however several themes running throughout which separates it as distinct in terms of contemporary art and pull together disparate influences into a coherent whole.

One of the interesting aspects of the street art movement is the remixing of existing images, particularly popular or modern art classics into contemporary forms. Street artists are not scared to take an image wholesale and add twists of context or a change of style.