Graffiti is a type of art genre that means writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls and bridges throughout the world. Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Henry Chalfant is an American photographer and videographer most notable for his work on graffiti, breakdance, and hip hop culture.
John Frederick Brill was an English soldier and painter who created the Bardia Mural. A photograph of John Brill painting his mother can be found here. On 1 July 1942, the Axis launched an attack with the target being the capture of Alexandria, which was to become known as the First battle of El Alamein. The allied forces fought hard and the line held until the evening of that day. It was also on that day that John Frederick Brill, who was a Private in the British Army, 5th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, died at the age of just 22. On 21 April 1942, some 9 weeks earlier he signed the Bardia Mural, which he is said to have created, depicting his memories of home. Some might say it depicts the memories of the world he would die to protect. He was buried at the El Alamein War Cemetery.
Donald Joseph White, "DONDI" was an American graffiti artist.
Since the 1980s, the area surrounding the Sydney inner west suburb of Newtown, New South Wales (NSW), Australia—including the suburbs of Newtown, Enmore, Erskineville, Camperdown and St Peters—has been known for its wide range of prominent graffiti and street art on walls. The public visual art in the Newtown area consists of a variety of styles and methods of execution, including large-scale painted murals, hand-painted political slogans, hand-painted figurative designs, spray painted semi-abstract designs "tags"), and other stylistic developments such as stencil art and street poster art, "Yarn bombing", and sculptural items cast from plaster and other materials.
Blek le Rat is a French graffiti artist. He was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the "Father of stencil graffiti".
Donald Baechler was an American painter and sculptor associated with 1980s Neo-expressionism. He had lived in Manhattan and Stephentown, New York.
Cartrain, often stylised cartяain, is a British artist associated with the graffiti urban art movement.
Graffiti in New York City has had a substantial local, national, and international influence. Originating in Philadelphia and spreading to the New York City Subway and beyond, graffiti is among the most common forms of vandalism committed today.
King Robbo was an English underground graffiti artist. His feud with the artist Banksy was the subject of a Channel 4 television documentary called Graffiti Wars, first shown in August 2011.
Slave Labour is a mural that was painted by a British graffiti artist, Banksy, on the side wall of a Poundland store in Wood Green, London in May 2012. The artwork is 48.03 inches (122 cm) high by 59.84 inches (152 cm) wide, and depicts an urchin child at a sewing machine assembling a bunting of Union Jack patches. The work was a protest against the use of sweatshops to manufacture Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics memorabilia in 2012.
Jon Naar was an English-American author and photographer celebrated for his pioneering images of New York City graffiti in the 1970s, and for portraits of Andy Warhol and other celebrities, including the British Prime Minister. Active through his late nineties, Naar had a multifaceted career as an intelligence officer in World War II; a globe-trotting marketing executive during the postwar years; and an environmentalist, with 12 published books to his credit.
James Prigoff was an American photographer, author, and lecturer focusing on public murals, graffiti, and spraycan art. He has traveled extensively throughout the world documenting these art forms, and his personal archive of 100,000 slides may well be the most comprehensive of any individual mural and graffiti documentarian.
Shamsia Hassani is an Afghan graffiti artist, a fine arts lecturer, and the associate professor of Drawing and Anatomy Drawing at the Kabul University. She has popularized "street art" in the streets of Kabul and has exhibited her art in several countries including India, Iran, Germany, United States of America, Switzerland, Vietnam, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, Italy, Canada, and in diplomatic missions in Kabul. Hassani paints graffiti in Kabul to bring awareness to the war years. In 2014, Hassani was named one of FP's top 100 global thinkers.
Make Everything Great Again was a street art mural by artists Dominykas Čečkauskas and Mindaugas Bonanu. It was located on the wall of the barbecue restaurant Keulė Rūkė in the railway station area of old town of Vilnius in Lithuania.
Well Hung Lover, also called Naked Man Hanging From Window and simply Naked Man, is a mural by the anonymous street artist Banksy, on a wall in Frogmore Street, Bristol, England.
Crack Is Wack is a mural created in 1986 by American artist and social activist Keith Haring. Located near the Harlem River Drive in East Harlem, the mural serves as a warning against crack cocaine use, which was rampant in major cities across the United States during the mid to late 1980s. As a symbol of anti-drug activism, Crack Is Wack commemorates Haring's powerful sociopolitical presence as an artist and remains a part of New York City's vast repertoire of iconic public art.
The "Nightmare Elk" was a metal sculpture of an elk, temporarily installed in Portland, Oregon.
