Tag (graffiti)

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Tags in Amsterdam Painted wall and door full of urban graffiti and glued street art; free photo Amsterdam city of Fons Heijnsbroek, 01-2022.jpg
Tags in Amsterdam

Tags are one of the primary forms of graffiti, along with throw ups and pieces. The act of writing a tag is known as tagging. Tags are often thought of as the simplest form of graffiti art, prioritising legibility and flow [1] and are the form that most artists start with. [2] Tags, perhaps due to their simplicity, are more likely to be considered vandalism than other more elaborate graffiti styles. [3]

Contents

Form

Often done in spray paint or markers, tags are established from throw-up and pieces. They are two-dimensional, often smaller in size, and with thinner lines reflecting the need for quick execution due to the often illegal nature of tagging. [2] This necessity for speed has led to tags which are written in a single stroke called one-liners. [4]

While throw-ups and pieces may be formed from any word or even a sentence, a tag functions similarly to a signature, as if they are the graffiti artist's pseudonym (although rarely a personal name may be used) written in the artist's unique style so that two artists with the same name would be distinguishable, although an artist using a name of an existing artist in their locale or a "king" (well-respected artists) is a faux pas. An individual's unique style is called a handstyle. [5]

Tags are commonly used for anonymous communication on streets. Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine 2023 Graffiti communication.jpg
Tags are commonly used for anonymous communication on streets. Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine 2023

Tags may be existing words or made-up by the writer, but are usually only 3-5 letters or digits long, again due to the necessity of speed. [6] Many tags use Latin script even in countries where this is not the primary writing system. [7] [5]

About tagging, graffiti artist Kaves said “with graffiti, most people can pass by and not even give a shit about it while other people are looking at the style, the letters—the technical stuff, y’know? The many layers of it. So, learning that over the years, you start to find your own style—your own voice". [8]

History

Tags were the first form of modern graffiti. While people have been writing their names on things since ancient times, [9] [10] tags were unique as stylised monikers writers used to "get up" (make their name seen by as many people as possible).

Tags originated in Philadelphia with writer Cornbread, [11] and became hugely popular in New York City in the 1960s and 70s with artists such as TAKI 183 and Julio 204 who unlike Cornbread, wrote over the whole city rather than just their own small locale. [12]

Function

A sticker with a tag on it Sticker graffiti Sydney Penrith.jpg
A sticker with a tag on it

The purpose of tags is for an artist to have their tags recognised by other artists in their locale. [2] The most prevalent taggers in an area are known as "all city", a term that originated in traditional New York graffiti. [13]

While tags are often written onto objects directly, they are also sometimes written onto stickers (known as "slaps") and stuck onto things, which is faster and safer when illegally tagging. [14] Postal and "my name is..." stickers are commonly used for this purpose.

Crew tags

Crew tags function differently to personal tags, as they are written by multiple members of the same crew, who all have their own handstyles. Crew tags are often initials [15] and tend to be shorter than personal tags using only 2-3 letters.

They are sometimes postcodes. [16] Crew tags are often put up next to personal tags, or used to sign larger pieces, especially if made by multiple members of a crew. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graffiti</span> Drawings and paintings on walls

Graffiti is art that is written, painted or drawn 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sticker art</span> Type of street art

Sticker art is a form of street art in which an image or message is publicly displayed using stickers. These stickers may promote a political agenda, comment on a policy or issue, or comprise a subcategory of graffiti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAKI 183</span> American graffiti artist

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildstyle</span> A form of graffiti

Wildstyle is a complicated and intricate form of graffiti. They are the most complex type of pieces. Due to its complexity, wildstyle can be difficult to read for those unfamiliar with the form and process. It is considered the most difficult graffiti style to master.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revs (graffiti artist)</span> American artist

Revs is a New York City graffiti artist whose wheat paste stickers, roller pieces, murals, sculptures, and spray-painted diary entries earned him the reputation of an artist-provocateur over the course of two decades. "Revs" is his tag name; his real name is unknown. Before adopting the tag name "Revs" he had used the tag name "Revlon". in a 1993 New York Times interview he said he decided to shorten it to "Revs" following an epiphany he experienced after contemplating suicide on the Manhattan Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street art</span> Art that is public and temporary in public spaces

Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glossary of graffiti</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julio 204</span>

JULIO 204 was a Puerto Rican resident of Inwood who wrote graffiti in his youth. He was not the first graffitist to write in New York City, even though he's usually credited as being the original New York City writer and the inspiration for Taki 183. He started writing his nickname in his neighborhood as early as 1968. He retired when he was arrested for vandalism in the summer of 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phase 2 (artist)</span> American graffiti artist (1955–2019)

Michael Lawrence Marrow, known as PHASE 2 and Lonny Wood, was an American aerosol paint artist based in New York City. Mostly active in the 1970s, Phase 2 is generally credited with originating the "bubble letter" style of aerosol writing, also known as "softies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban art</span>

Urban art combines street art and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or present urban lifestyle. Because the urban arts are characterized by existing in the public space, they are often viewed as vandalism and destruction of private property.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francisco Rodrigues da Silva</span>

Francisco Rodrigues da Silva also known as "Nunca" is a Brazilian artist who uses a graffiti technique to create images that confront modern urban Brazil with its native past. His name Nunca is an affirmation of his determination not to be bound by cultural or psychological constraints. Nunca is one of the most famous street artists of his generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pichação</span>

Pichação, sometimes misspelled as pixação, is the name given to Brazilian graffiti. It consists of tagging done in a distinctive, cryptic style, mainly on walls and vacant buildings. Many pichadores compete to paint in high and inaccessible places, using such techniques as free climbing and abseiling to reach the locations. Pichação is mostly condemned both by society and the government as an act of Vandalism. The main difference between Graffiti and pichação is both the consenting nature and benevolent Artistic Expression of Graffiti, while pichação is made as an act of vandalism made without consent and to uglify a public space as a form of protest and social validation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graffiti in the United States</span>

Graffiti are writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graffiti in New York City</span> Street arts evolution in NYC

Graffiti in New York City has had a substantial local, national, and international influence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graffiti in Toronto</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graffiti in Russia</span>

In Russia, graffiti is an ambiguous phenomenon, i.e. considered to be desecration by some, and art by others. It is done for a variety of reasons, including expressing oneself through an art form, or protesting against a corporation or ideology.

Handstyle or hand style is a term in graffiti culture denoting the unique handwriting or signature/tag (graffiti) of an artist, also known as a writer. The same way that in typography there are different typefaces or fonts, in graffiti there are different handstyles. Similarly to the way a typographer would focus on typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing (leading), and letter-spacing (tracking), a writer would focus on line lengths, line direction, line curvature, letter size and letter balance.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piece (graffiti)</span>

Pieces, short for masterpieces, are a form of graffiti that involves large, elaborate and detailed letter forms. They are one of the main forms of modern graffiti, along with tags and throw ups, and are the least controversial of the three and least likely to be seen as vandalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Throw up (graffiti)</span>

Throw ups, or throwies, are a form of graffiti that fall between tags and pieces in complexity. The name comes from the way they are designed to be "thrown" onto a surface as quickly as possible. They are almost always done with aerosol paint.

References

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