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Graffiti Street Art

Graffiti street art has been a source of annoyance for some but has inspired many artists and gained tremendous popularity over the years.

The word Graffiti has been derived from the Italian word graffiato which means scratched or itched. Although there have been popular Graffiti artists who have enjoyed tremendous popularity, Graffiti is often synonymous with vandalism. Graffiti might have started out with simple scratch marks made on walls but evolved with time to include colorful additions with spray paints and markers. Frowned upon by many, Graffiti still continues to be an effective medium and a unique art form that can be used for depicting social or political messages with a dash of confidence, bold colors and witty messages. However, running a person's personal property or valuable public property by depicting wrong things at the wrong place can be considered as vandalism and is punishable by law in most of the countries.

Graffiti has existed since the dawn of time as the cavemen painted pictures of animals, battles and themselves on the walls of their homes in the caves of Africa and Europe. Graffiti can be found in the ruins of ancient Greece and preserved in the ruins of Pompeii.

Modern day graffiti is often seen as a large part of the Hip Hop culture which started in the US in the late 1960's and early 1970's. While graffiti is not unique to Hip Hop culture, many punk rock bands such as Black Flag were famous for having their names stenciled all over walls in New York City, Los Angeles and London in the 1970's and 80's, movies such as Wild Style have made graffiti synonymous with Hip Hop culture.

Graffiti artists chose names, or "tags", that were short, easy, and could be written quickly. Many early taggers chose names that represented what part of the city they came from. Such was the case for Taki 183, from 183rd street in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Taki was a foot messenger and being on the subway, he put his name along the trains and streets during his travels across the city. A 1971 New York Times article titled "Taki 183 Spawns Pen Pals" was referring to the growing number of people who, like Taki, chose to mark their territory with names like Stay High 149, Phase 2, Cay 161 and Joe 182.

Tags quickly became more elaborate as writers tried to make their letters stand out from others. Competition grew as "getting up" became the most important thing a writer could do. The more places you tagged, the more people saw your name, the more famous you became. In 1972 an artist known as Super Kool 223 is known to create the first masterpiece or "piece" as it would be known. The piece was more than just a tag, it included an outline, a fill in, shadows, and effects of clouds, sparkles or shapes around the outside or inside the letters. The piece was multicolored and took much longer to create, however it was much more visible thus giving the artist much more exposure.

Artists would break into the train yards where the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority parked their subways and cover the train cars with elaborate pieces. This is where bombing is said to have been perfected as the usually unguarded trains would soon become rolling exhibits of artist's work that would be displayed to millions of people as the trains rolled through the city's subway stations. This is also where the use of spray paint became a must for artists who would do "whole cars" and "top to bottoms" covering the whole train cars with their name. The new goal for a writer was to have his or her work go "all city" and be seen.

Today for many Graffiti is an art form that requires immense creativity and passion, a type of attacking tool for some, but more importantly it’s a means of effective communication. Graffiti is used to express social as well as political messages through the scribbles and colors.

( based on ‘Graffiti and Street Art: A Brief History’ by Joseph Nygard

Nygard J. Graffiti and Street Art: A Brief History

[Electronic Resource] / J. Nygard. – Режим доступу:

http://voices.yahoo.com/graffiti-street-art-brief-history-755363.html)

2. Read the text again and answer the questions. Prove your point of view using the information from the text.

1. Can we consider Graffiti to be a means of effective communication? Why?

2. Is it an ancient art form?

3. When and where did modern Graffiti start?

4. What was the main purpose of the artists in the late 1960's and early 1970's?

5. Who created the first masterpiece or "piece" of Graffiti? What was it like?

6. How did the Graffiti movement change in 80’s?

7. What qualities does the modern Graffiti require?