have a look at this:

Inner city Melbourne, VIC

you like that? Check this out:

Bin sticker, Kelvin Grove, QLD

Okay, so you like what you see. Tell me, what's the connection then to this:

St. Patrick's, Melbourne, VIC

there's a good chance that you thought something along the lines of "They're all visual things - stuff I can see" or you may have deduced that they are all examples of 'Art' (actually the elderly would say that only the last image was 'Proper Art' and the young rebels amongst us would say that only the first two were. Makes you think about what's going on when we are young and stupid and old and senile). Of course you'd be absolutely right - but is that where the similarities end? Think about this: where is each artwork located? Does it have something to do with our built environments? Why did each artist make their images, or what purposes do they have? many questions........hmmmmmm.....
so you've decided to learn something about the Visual Arts. Notice that I use those two words:
there are many different ways in which one could be creative visually. why would anyone do it. surely street art is not a high cash-yielding enterprise, and lead-light windows don't exactly pull the honeys. there must be another reason why visual artists around the world spend time, effort and materials in producing stuff to look at. You may think that Street Artists are all about 'getting up' - building rep and gaining respek, and those religious artists are just being preachy - trying to convert people to their particular belief system. Well, in response let me pose my next question in the form of an image:

Gaffa Tape Teresa, Inner Brisbane, 2008

 Or what about this:

'Poley Jesus' Melbourne, VIC

Not so smug now, are we? Obviously, there is something pretty big going on that a lot of people don't have a great amount of access to - but word is spreading.
when I think about why people make cool looking stuff, I think of the Pyramids.

Pyramids, Giza

Built by pharaoh kings - I'm sorry - slaves of pharaoh kings that are long dead, these structures exist for mostly one purpose summed up in a phrase that I saw carved into a wooden bench in a park near where I grew up - "I woz ere, 88". Of course the pharaohs were not around in 1988 (at least not without bandages and attacking frightened women and brave, daring hero-types that somehow manage the same haircut from film to film - not even a good haircut) but in true ultra-wealthy style, these dead kings chose to proclaim their existence with the very stones that have lasted millenia.  These statements of existence are in many ways reminiscent of the words by Descartes: "Cogito ergo sum"or "I think, therefore I am", written in 1637.

Rene Descartes

Not only did the pharaohs know that they existed, they wanted others to know. Throughout all of history! Imagine making a mountain that was dedicated to your life. Sure makes tagging the train-line seem a little obsolete. They also wanted to communicate something about how they existed - namely their importance. Did I mention that they were guys, and also had a hang up about size. They were the institution, the rule-makers, the big bosses. The splendor of the ancient world was theirs - but just like everyone else, they grew old and 'shuffled off' to the afterlife.They communicated the things that were important to them and promoted their beliefs and ideas - which were centered on themselves. With this in mind, most Visual Artworks are not only a testament to the artists who created them, but also an effort to communicate something to someone through time, like a voice from the grave (creepy). When we look at an artwork, we become aware of who made it, when it was made, how it was made and we may speculate upon it's intended purpose. All these thoughts are what we consider as the 'context of production' of the artwork, and are different to the 'context of viewing' it. Times change and so do peoples' ideas. This is why the old hate graffiti and the young despise the traditional colonial landscape oil painting.