Graffiti are writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.[1] Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings. Graffiti, consisting of the defacement of public spaces and buildings, remains a nuisance issue for cities.
In America, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists, and also by gangs such as the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads to mark territory. In 1969, Herbert R. Kohl published an article titled "Names, Graffiti and Culture" in The Urban Review describing how New York youth tagged their neighborhoods with their names and street numbers going back to the early 1960s.[2] Towards the end of the 1960s, the signatures—tags—of Philadelphia graffitists Cornbread, Cool Earl, and Sketch started to appear.[3][4] By the early 1970s, the New York City subway was the center for various types of innovative graffiti. Bubble lettering held sway initially among graffitists from the Bronx, though the elaborate writing Tracy 168 dubbed "wildstyle" would come to define the art.[3][5] The early trendsetters were joined in the 70s by graffitists like Dondi, Zephyr and Lady Pink.[3]
Graffiti is one of the four main elements of hip hop culture (along with rapping, DJing, and break dancing).[6] The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises both from early graffitists practicing other aspects of hip-hop, and its being practiced in areas where other elements of hip hop were evolving as art forms. By the mid-eighties, the form would move from the street to the art world. Jean-Michel Basquiat would abandon his SAMO tag for art galleries, and street art's connections to hip-hop would loosen. Occasional hip hop paeans to graffiti could still be heard throughout the nineties, however, in tracks like the Artifacts' "Wrong Side of Da Tracks", Qwel's "Brick Walls" and Aesop Rock's "No Jumper Cables".[3]
Origins
Early modernist graffiti can be dated back to boxcars in the early 1920s yet the graffiti movement seen in today's contemporary world really originated through the minds of political activists and gang members of the 1960s.[7] The "pioneering era" of graffiti took place during the years 1969 through 1974. This time period was a time of change in popularity and style. New York City was the main hub of the art form. Graffitists during this time period sought to put as many markings up as possible around the city. This was the ultimate goal of exposure. The city produced one of the first graffiti writers to gain media attention in itself, TAKI 183. TAKI 183 was a youth from Washington Heights, Manhattan who worked as a foot messenger. His tag is a mixture of his name Demetrius (Demetraki), TAKI, and his street number, 183rd. Being a foot messenger, he was constantly on the subway and began to put up his tags along with his travels. This spawned a 1971 article in The New York Times titled "'Taki 183' Spawns Pen Pals".[4][8][9]Julio 204 is also credited as an early graffitist, though not recognized at the time outside of the graffiti subculture.
Also taking place during this era was the movement from outside on the city streets to the subways. Graffiti also saw its first seeds of competition around this time. The goal of most graffitists at this point was having as many tags and bombs in as many places as possible. Graffitists began to break into subway yards in order to paint as many trains as they could with a lower risk, often creating larger elaborate pieces of art along the subway car sides.
By 1971 tags began to take on their signature calligraphic appearance because, due to the huge number of participants, each participant needed a way to distinguish themselves. Aside from the growing complexity and creativity, tags also began to grow in size and scale – for example, many graffitists had begun to increase letter size and line thickness, as well as outlining their tags. This gave birth to the so-called 'masterpiece' or 'piece' in 1972. Super Kool 223 is credited as being the first to do these pieces.[10][11][12]
The use of designs such as polka dots, crosshatches, and checkers became increasingly popular. Spray paint use increased dramatically around this time as graffitists began to expand their work. "Top-to-bottoms", works which span the entire height of a subway car, made their first appearance around this time as well. The overall creativity and artistic maturation of this time period did not go unnoticed by the public – Hugo Martinez founded the United graffitists (UGA) in 1972. UGA consisted of many top graffitists of the time and aimed to present graffiti in an art gallery setting. By 1974, graffitists had begun to incorporate the use of scenery and cartoon characters into their work. TF5 (The Fabulous Five), was a crew which was known for their elaborately designed whole cars.[13]
A heavily tagged subway car in New York City in 1973
By the mid-1970s, most standards had been set in graffiti writing and culture. The heaviest "bombing" in U.S. history took place in this period, partially because of the economic restraints on New York City, which limited its ability to combat this art form with graffiti removal programs or transit maintenance. "Top-to-bottoms" evolved to take up entire subway cars. A notable development was the "throw-up", which is more complex than simple "tagging" but not as intricate as a "piece". Not long after their introduction, throw-ups led to races to see who could do the largest number in the shortest time.
Graffiti writing was becoming very competitive and graffiti participants strove to go "all-city", or to have their names seen in all five boroughs. Eventually, the standards set in the early 1970s began to stagnate, and in the 1980s graffitists began to expand and change the subculture as described in the 1984 book Subway Art.
The late 1970s and early 1980s brought a new wave of creativity to the scene. As the influence of graffiti grew beyond the Bronx, a movement began with the encouragement of Friendly Freddie. Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) is another popular graffiti figure of this time, who started in a Brooklyn "wall-writing group". He notes how differences in spray technique and letters between Upper Manhattan and Brooklyn began to merge in the late 1970s: "out of that came 'Wild Style'".[14] Fab 5 Freddy is often credited with helping to spread the influence of graffiti and rap music beyond its early foundations in the Bronx, and making links with the mostly white downtown art and music scenes. It was around this time that the established art world started becoming receptive to the graffiti culture for the first time since Hugo Martinez's Razor Gallery in the early 1970s.
It was also, however, the last wave of significant graffiti occurrences before the Transit Authority made graffiti eradication a priority. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began to repair yard fences and remove graffiti consistently. With the MTA consistently abating graffiti, many graffitists have quit applying graffiti on their property.
Just as the culture was spreading outside New York City and overseas, the cultural aspect of graffiti in New York City was said to be deteriorating almost to the point of extinction. The rapid decline in writing was due to several factors. The streets became more dangerous due to the burgeoning crack epidemic, legislation was underway to make penalties for graffiti vandalism more severe, and restrictions on paint sale and display made shoplifting more difficult. Above all, the MTA greatly increased their anti-graffiti budget. Many favored painting sites became heavily guarded, yards were patrolled, newer and better fences were erected, and the buffing of pieces was strong, heavy, and consistent. Stainless steel, to which paint adheres poorly (and was easily removed by the powerful cleaning solutions and spinning brushes used in automatic car washers at the yards) had also become the car body material of choice for new rolling stock, retiring hundreds of worn out carbon-steel bodied subway cars whose exteriors had made an ideal canvas for taggers. As a result of rolling stock being harder to paint, more graffitists went into the streets, which is now, along with commuter trains and box cars, the most prevalent form of writing.
Many graffitists, however, chose to see the new problems as a challenge rather than a reason to quit. A downside to these challenges was that they became very territorial of good spots, and strength and unity in numbers became increasingly important. Some of the mentionable graffitists from this era were Blade, Dondi, Min 1, Quik, Seen and Skeme. This was stated to be the end for the casual New York City Subway graffitists, and the years to follow would be populated by only what some consider the most "die-hard" graffitists. People often found that making graffiti around their local areas was an easy way to get caught so they traveled to different areas.
The years between 1985 and 1989 became known as the "die-hard" era. The last shot for the graffiti participants of this time was in the form of subway cars destined for the scrap yard. With the increased security, the culture had taken a step back. The previous elaborate "burners" on the outside of cars were now marred with simplistic marker tags which often soaked through the paint.
By mid-1986 the MTA and the CTA were winning their "war on graffiti", and the population of active graffitists diminished. As their population lowered so did the violence associated with graffiti crews and "bombing". Roof tops also were being the new billboards for some 1980s graffitists.
Clean Train movement
The current era in graffiti is characterized by a majority of participants moving from train carriages to "street galleries". The Clean Train Movement started in May 1989, when New York City attempted to remove all of the subway cars found with graffiti on them out of the transit system, as they brought in new graffiti-free rolling stock like the R62, R62A, R68, and R68A. Because of this, many graffiti vandals were unable to continue vandalizing them. Much controversy arose among the streets debating whether graffiti should be considered an actual form of art.[15]Videograf Productions was the first graffiti video series to document the New York City's clean train movement.
Prior to the Clean Train Movement, the streets were largely left untouched not only in New York City but in other major American cities as well. After the transit company began diligently cleaning their trains, graffiti burst onto the streets of America to an unsuspecting, unappreciative public.
City officials elsewhere in the country smugly assumed that gang graffiti was a blight limited largely to the Big Apple.
No more. The stylised smears born in the South Bronx have spread across the country, covering buildings, bridges, and highways in every urban center. From Philadelphia to Santa Barbara, California, the annual costs of cleaning up after the underground artists are soaring into the billions.[16]
During this period many graffitists had taken to displaying their works in galleries and owning their own studios. This practice started in the early 1980s with practitioners such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started out tagging locations with his moniker SAMO (Same Old Shit), and Keith Haring, who was also able to take his art into studio spaces.
In some cases, graffiti practitioners had achieved such elaborate graffiti, especially those done in memory of a deceased person, on storefront gates that shopkeepers have hesitated to cover them up. In the Bronx, after the death of rapper Big Pun, several murals were dedicated to his life, appearing virtually overnight;[17] similar outpourings occurred after the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Big L, and Jam Master Jay.[18][19]
St. Louis
A regularly scheduled event called Paint Louis is held annually in St. Louis.[20] Paint Louis brings together graffitists from around the world to paint for two days as a celebration of the craft to paint on the longest continuous wall to make the "longest mural in the world".[21][22][23]
Regulations
The application of graffiti is illegal in many cities. Graffiti-making supplies may be regulated by local ordinances.[24]
Oregon
The intentional application of graffiti is inclusive under the state statute ORS 164.354 - Criminal Mischief II without regard to amount of damage. It is punishable by up to one year of incarceration.[25] Additionally, applying graffiti in which the damage exceeds $1,000 or on certain categories of property such as those owned by railroad is chargeable as a felony.[26][27]
Additional restrictions may apply through locality specific ordinances that may apply to the acts of applying graffiti, commanding others to apply graffiti, causing graffiti to be applied, as well allowing graffiti to remain on surfaces within their respective jurisdictions.
For example, the city of Forest Grove code states that
5.160 Graffiti Prohibited (1) It is unlawful and a violation of this Ordinance for any person to place or put by any means, any drawing, inscription, figure, symbol, mark, or any type of graffiti on any public or private property without the consent of the owner, occupant or responsible party of the premises, or upon natural surfaces such as rocks, trees or any surface whatsoever. It is unlawful and a violation of this Ordinance for any person to solicit or command another person to apply graffiti or aid or abet another person in applying graffiti.[28]
Beaverton's code includes to read regulations against the application as well as keeping of graffiti.
5.05.093 Graffiti. No person shall place, or cause to be placed, graffiti upon any property in the City of Beaverton. No owner or occupant of property shall allow graffiti to be on the property. Property upon which graffiti has been placed and has remained for more than seven (7) days is hereby declared to be a public nuisance, and shall be subject to the provisions of BC 5.05.230 relating to summary abatement.[29]
Public opinion
Graffiti proponents perceive it as a method of reclaiming public space or displaying an art form; their opponents regard it as a nuisance, or as costly vandalism requiring abatement. Graffiti can be viewed as a "quality of life" issue, and its detractors suggest that the presence of graffiti contributes to a general sense of squalor and a heightened fear of crime. Graffiti has a strong negative influence on property values and lowers the tax base, reducing the available funding for municipal services, such as schools, fire protection, and sanitation.[citation needed]
In 1984, the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network (PAGN) was created to combat the city's growing concerns about gang-related graffiti. PAGN led to the creation of the Mural Arts Program, which replaced often-hit spots with elaborate, commissioned murals that were protected by a city ordinance, with fines and penalties for anyone caught defacing them.
Philadelphia's Broad-Ridge Spur also features a long-standing example of the art form at the Spring Garden to 8th Street station. While still existing, it has long been quarantined and features tags and murals that have existed for upwards of 15 years.
Advocates of the broken window theory believe that this sense of decay encourages further vandalism and promotes an environment leading to offenses that are more serious. Former New York City mayor Ed Koch's vigorous subscription to the broken window theory promoted the aggressive anti-graffiti campaign in New York City in the early 1980s, resulting in "the buff"; a chemical wash for trains that dissolved the paint. New York City has adopted a strenuous zero tolerance policy ever since. However, throughout the world, authorities often treat graffiti as a minor-nuisance crime, though with widely varying penalties. In New York City rooftops became the mainstream graffiti location after graffiti on trains died out.[citation needed]
In 1995 New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani set up the Anti-Graffiti Task Force,[30] a multi-agency initiative to combat the perceived problem of graffiti vandals in New York City. This began a crackdown on "quality of life crimes" throughout the city, and one of the largest anti-graffiti campaigns in U.S. history. That same year Title 10–117 of the New York Administrative Code banned the sale of aerosol spray-paint cans to children under 18. The law also requires that merchants who sell spray paint must either lock it in a case or display the cans behind a counter, out of reach of potential shoplifters. Violations of the city's anti-graffiti law carry fines of US$350 per incident.[31]
On January 1, 2006, in New York City, legislation created by Councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr. attempted to make it illegal for a person under the age of 21 to possess spray paint or permanent markers. The law prompted outrage by fashion and media mogul Marc Ecko who sued Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Councilmember Vallone on behalf of art students and graffiti artists. On May 1, 2006, Judge George B. Daniels granted the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction against the recent amendments to the anti-graffiti legislation, effectively prohibiting (on May 4) the New York Police Department from enforcing the restrictions.[32] A similar measure was proposed in New Castle County, Delaware in April 2006 and passed into law as a county ordinance in May 2006.[33]
Chicago's mayor, Richard M. Daley created the "Graffiti Blasters" to eliminate graffiti and gang-related vandalism. The bureau advertises free cleanup within 24 hours of a phone call. The bureau uses paints (compatible with the city's 'color scheme') and baking-soda-based solvents to remove some varieties of graffiti.[34]
In 1992, an ordinance was passed in Chicago that bans the sale and possession of spray paint and certain types of etching equipment and markers.[34] The law falls under Chapter 8-4: Public Peace & Welfare, Section 100: Vagrancy. The specific law (8-4-130) makes graffiti an offense with a fine of no less than US$500 per incident, surpassing the penalty for public drunkenness, peddling, or disrupting a religious service.
In 2005, the city of Pittsburgh implemented a customized database-driven graffiti tracking system to build evidence for prosecution of graffiti suspects by linking tags to instances of graffiti.[35] One of the first suspects to be identified by the system as being responsible for significant graffiti vandalism was Daniel Montano, known as MFONE.[36] He was dubbed "The King of Graffiti"[37] for having tagged close to 200 buildings in the city, and was later sentenced to 2.5 to 5 years in prison.[38]
Rapid City, South Dakota contains a section of the city known as Art Alley,[39] a back alley in the downtown district between Main Street and Saint Joseph Street and stretching from 6th to 7th Street. It first began to properly form around 2005, and has expanded since. While graffiti is largely illegal in Rapid City and there are no ordinances condoning it, Art Alley is purposefully overlooked by law enforcement and clean up crews and relies on the community of artists and landowners to add to and maintain the space. The alley has become quite popular for tourists and has become a cultural center for the city.[40][41][42]
The Chicago Transit Authority has been utilizing the civil court system to sue graffiti vandals or parents of juvenile vandals that have been caught to recover the clean-up costs. The CTA reported they experience about $1 million in graffiti related expenses annually.[43]
Comparison with street art
Typically, the term street art, or the more specific post-graffiti, is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art. Some people consider street art a crime; others consider it a form of art. It is a borderline issue.[44]
Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
Beat Street is a 1984 American dance drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to various elements of early hip hop culture, including breakdancing, DJing and graffiti.
TAKI 183 is the "tag" of a Greek-American graffitist who was active during the late 1960s and early 1970s in New York City. The graffitist, whose given name is Demetrios, has never revealed his full name.
Spray paint is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized container and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. The propellant is what the container of pressurized gas is called. When the pressure holding the gas is released through the valve, the aerosol paint releases as a fine spray. Aerosol painting is one form of spray painting; it leaves a smooth, even coat, unlike many traditional rolled and brushed paints. Aerosol primer can be applied directly to bare metal and many plastics.
Lady Pink, born Sandra Fabara, is an Ecuadorian-born American graffiti and mural artist, active in New York City.
A number of words and phrases that have come to describe different styles and aspects of graffiti and its subculture. Like other jargon and colloquialisms, some of these terms may vary regionally, taking on different meanings across different cities and countries. The following terminology originates primarily in the United States.
Martha Cooper is an American photojournalist. She worked as a staff photographer for the New York Post during the 1970s. She is best known for documenting the New York City graffiti scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
OSGEMEOS are identical twin street artists Otavio Pandolfo and Gustavo Pandolfo. They started painting graffiti in 1987 and their work appears on streets and in galleries across the world.
Michael Christopher Tracy, known as Tracy 168, was an American graffiti artist. He pioneered the art form known as wildstyle. Tracy 168 came to be known as one of the most influential graffiti and street artists of all time, as variations of wildstyle writing spread around the world. He is acknowledged to have been a seminal figure in the development of street art. Books about 1970s graffiti feature his car-long paintings with their characteristic kinetic script embellished with flames, arrows as well as cartoon characters and the "Tracy face," a grinning shaggy-haired visage in wrap-around shades.
Crash is a graffiti artist.
PRIZ-ONE is the graffiti tag of a Cuban-American commercial artist, illustrator, and ex-golden glove boxer.
Subway Art is a collaborative book by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, which documents the early history of the New York City graffiti movement. Originally published in 1984, the book has been described as a "landmark photographic history".
RISK, also known as RISKY, is a Los Angeles–based graffiti writer and contemporary artist often credited as a founder of the West Coast graffiti scene. In the 1980s, he was one of the first graffiti writers in Southern California to paint freight trains, and he pioneered writing on "heavens", or freeway overpasses. He took his graffiti into the gallery with the launch of the Third Rail series of art shows, and later created a line of graffiti-inspired clothing. In 2017, RISK was knighted by the Medici Family.
Graffiti in New York City has had a substantial local, national, and international influence.
Graffiti in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a cause of much disagreement among its residents. Graffiti is seen by some as an art form adding to the Toronto culture; however, others see graffiti as form of vandalism, viewing it as ugly, or as a form of property damage.
Darren Cullen is a London-based professional graffiti artist who is commonly known by the tag name SER. Cullen emerged as an artist from the British graffiti art scene in the early 1980s.
San Francisco Bay Area Street Art are any visual images created in public places such as on walls or street walk ways. Street art is often developed in order to create artworks that are outside of the scope of normalized art standards. Street Art has been a major part of the Bay Area's culture since the early 1980s. As the years went on street art became more and more prevalent in the Bay Area. While in some areas of San Francisco this art is done with the permission of the wall owners the majority is done illegally.
The Faith of Graffiti is a 1974 essay by American novelist and journalist Norman Mailer about New York City's graffiti artists. Mailer's essay appeared in a shorter form in Esquire and as a book with 81 photographs by Jon Naar and design by Mervyn Kurlansky. Through interviews, exploration, and analyses, the essay explores the political and artistic implications of graffiti. The essay was controversial at the time of publication because of its attempt to validate graffiti as an art form by linking it with great artists of the past. Some critics also said Mailer was using the essay as a platform to express his political grievances. Faith grew out of Mailer's existential philosophy of the hip, in which a Hipster is guided by his instincts regardless of consequences or perception, and upholds graffiti as a subversive and healthy check on the status quo. Like several of his other non-fiction narratives, Mailer continued his use of new journalism techniques, adopting a persona, the A-I or "Aesthetic Investigator", to provide both an objective distance from the topic and to engender the text with the creative and critical eye of the novelist.
Danielle E. "Utah" Bremner and Jim Clay "Ether" Harper VI are American graffiti artists, dubbed the "Bonnie and Clyde of the graffiti world". They have tagged trains and buildings in over 30 countries on five continents, and have made books and videos about their exploits. They have also been arrested, fined, and served multiple prison sentences for vandalism. Their use of social media has been used as an example in a book about graffiti artists, and they have been the subjects of a video exhibit and a song.
The Death of Graffiti is an acrylic painting by the graffiti artist, Lady Pink. The work was completed in 1982 and measures 19 in by 22 in. Currently, the painting is in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York after being donated in 1994 as part of the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection. The Death of Graffiti has also been displayed in the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields' 2017 exhibition entitled "City as Canvas: New York City Graffiti From the 70s & 80s".
References
↑ "Graffiti". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
↑ Hager, Steven. Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti. St Martin's Press, 1984 (out of print).
↑ Abel, Ernest L., and Barbara E. Buckley. "The Handwriting on the Wall: Toward Sociology and Psychology of Graffiti". Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977.
↑ "Graffiti | City of Madas, Oregon". Retrieved April 24, 2019. NOTE: If there is intent, then any dollar amount of damage is inclusive under this law and is not restricted to exceeding $100.00. (Any class 'A' Misdemeanor is punishable by up to 1 year incarceration upon conviction.)
↑ "Oregon Laws ORS 164.365". A person commits the crime of criminal mischief in the first degree who, with intent to damage property, and having no right to do so nor reasonable ground to believe that the person has such right: (a) Damages or destroys property of another:(A) In an amount exceeding $1,000; (E) Which is the property of a public utility, telecommunications carrier, railroad, public transportation facility or medical facility used in direct service to the public;
↑ "Code Book"(PDF). City of Forest Grove, Oregon. 2014. p.190.
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