Graffiti
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Graffiti is a type of deliberate application of a media made by humans on any surface, both private and public. Graffiti can also refer to website defacements, however, it usually takes the form of publicly painted art, drawings or words. When done without a property owner's consent it constitutes vandalism, although in many countries the owner must press charges before it would be considered a crime. In the UK city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behavior Act or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property isn't damaged. Graffiti has existed at least since the days of ancient civilizations such as classical Greece and the Roman Empire. The word "graffiti" expresses the plural of "graffito", although the singular form has become relatively obscure and is largely used in art history to refer to works of art made by scratching the design on a surface. Another related term is sgraffito, a way of creating a design by scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another one beneath. All of these English words come from the Italian language, most likely descending from "graffiato", the past participle of "graffiare" (to scratch); ancient graffitists scratched their work into walls before the advent of spray-paint, as in murals or frescoes. These words derive in their turn from the Greek γραφειν (graphein), meaning "to write". Historians continue to speculate over the vexing question as to where the term "graffiti" first referred to this form of marking.
History of graffiti
Ancient graffiti
Historically, the term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, etc., found on the walls of ancient sepulchers or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Usage of the word has evolved to include any decorations (inscribed on any surface) that one can regard as vandalism; or to cover pictures or writing placed on surfaces, usually external walls and sidewalks, without the permission of an owner. Thus, inscriptions made by the authors of a monument are not classed as graffiti.
The first known example of "modern style" graffiti survives in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey) and appears to advertise prostitution, according to the tour guides of the city. It stands near the long mosaic and stone walkway and consists of a handprint, a vaguely heart-like shape, a footprint and a number. This purportedly indicates how many steps one would have to take to find a lover, with the handprint indicating payment.
The Romans carved graffiti into their own walls and monuments, and examples of their work also exist in Egypt. The eruption of Vesuvius preserved graffiti carved on the walls of Pompeii, and they offer us a direct insight into street life: everyday Latin, insults, magic, love declarations, political consigns. In contrast to typical modern graffiti, alphabets and quotations from famous literature (especially the first line of Virgil's Aeneid) have been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii, either for the pleasure of the writer or to impress, albeit anonymously, the passer-by with one's familiarity with letters and literature. In an ancient variant on the "for a good time..." theme, an inscription gives the address of one Novellia Primigenia of Nuceria, apparently a great beauty and subject of constant enquiry; an illustration of a phallus was accompanied by the text, mansueta tene: "Handle with care." Love was also the object of scorn:
- ''Quisquis amat. veniat. Veneri volo frangere costas
- ''fustibus et lumbos debilitare deae.
- ''Si potest illa mihi tenerum pertundere pectus
- '' quit ego non possim caput illae frangere fuste?
- ''Whoever loves, go to hell. I want to break Venus's ribs
- ''with a club and deform her hips.
- ''If she can break my tender heart
- ''why can't I hit her over the head?
- :-CIL IV, 1284.
Errors in spelling and grammar in graffiti not only inform us of the degree of literacy of many of the graffiti scrawlers, but they also give clues as to the pronunciation of spoken Latin. Such is the case with CIL IV, 7838: Vettium Firmum / aed[ilem] quactiliar[ii] [sic] rog[ant]. Here "qu" reflects the common pronunciation of "co". Conversely, ancient graffiti also provide us with evidence of the ability to read and write among classes of people for whom literacy was not requisite and might not otherwise be assumed. For example, the 83 graffiti found at CIL IV, 4706-85 (a peristyle which had been undergoing remodeling at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius) were executed not only by the architect Crescens, but also by most of the members of the work crew for whom he served as foreman. The brothel at CIL VII, 12, 18-20 contains over 120 graffiti, the authors of which included the prostitutes as well as their clients. And finally, the gladiatorial academy at CIL IV, 4397 contained graffiti left by the gladiator Celadus Crescens (Suspirium puellarum Celadus thraex: "Celadus the Thracier makes the girls sigh.")
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic [[French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1798|campaign of Egypt]] in the 1790s. There is Chinese graffiti on the great wall of China.
Art forms like frescoes and murals involve leaving images and writing on wall surfaces. Like the prehistoric wall paintings created by cave dwellers, they do not comprise graffiti, as the artists generally produce them with the explicit permission (and usually support) of the owner or occupier of the walls.
Modern graffiti
Modern graffiti is intertwined with Hip-Hop as one of the 4 main elements of the culture (along with the MC, the DJ, and Break Dancing), and is often viewed as a misunderstood art form. In addition, graffiti has been made synonymous with the anti-establishment punk rock movement of the 1970s, with such bands as Black Flag and Crass stenciling to gain notoriety, thus bringing it into punk culture. Graffiti today has evolved into a complete culture from its roots as a subculture of hiphop. Graffiti culture itself is the creator of its own fairly extensive slang primarily used by graffiti artists and not by the unaffiliated wider hiphop culture, making it unique to style. The most prominent years in graffiti’s history were the years from 1966 – 1989. During this period graffiti was evolving through activity in subway stations and on the subway cars themselves.
Graffiti artists or "writers" sometimes select their nicknames ("tags"), like screennames, to reflect some personal qualities, but often a tag is chosen for how the word sounds when spoken aloud or how the letters sit with each other when written; usually referred to as how the tag "flows". The letters in a word can make doing pieces very difficult if the shapes of the letters don't sit next to each other in a visually pleasing way. Also some tags are humorous plays on common expressions, such as: Page3, 2Shae, 2Cold, In1 and many others. Tags can also contain subtle and often cryptic messages or in some cases the writers initials or other letters become a part of the tag. The current year is often put up next to tags as well; the bomber Tox, from London, never writes just Tox; it is always Tox03, Tox04, etc. In some cases, writers dedicate or create tags or graffiti in memory of a deceased friend, for example, "DIVA Peekrevs R.I.P. JTL '99". Tags are usually between 3 to 5 letters long to make the process of doing them illegally faster, but can be any length at all.
Initial groundwork for graffiti begin around the late 1960s. Around this time, graffiti was mainly a form of expression by political activists. It was considered a cheap and easy way to make a statement, with minimal risk to the writer, often at the time a hippie. As the foundations of graffiti began, gang graffiti also began to arise, used largely by gangs to mark territory. Some gangs to make use of graffiti during this era include the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads. Towards the end of the 1960s the modern culture began to form in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The two writers considered to be responsible for the first true bombing are Cool Earl and Cornbread. They gained much attention from the Philadelphia press and the community itself by writing their names everywhere. Around 1970-71, the centre of graffiti innovation moved from Philadelphia to New York City. Once the initial foundation was laid (occurred around 1966 - 1971), graffiti "pioneers" began inventing newer and more creative ways to write.
Pioneering Era
The time between 1971-1974 is referred to as the "pioneering era" where graffiti underwent a surge in styles and popularity. Soon after the migration to NYC, Bronx (Manhattan) produced one of the first graffiti artists to gain media attention in New York, TAKI 183. TAKI183 was a kid from Washington Heights who worked as a foot messenger, his tag is a mixture of his name Panayiotakis, TAKI, and his street number, 183rd. Being a foot messenger, he was constantly on the subway and began to put up his tags along his travels. Due to the strange name and number people began to take notice of him. This spawned a 1971 article in the New York Times titled, ""Taki 183" Spawns Pen Pals". TAKI 183 wasn’t the first writer, but he was the first to be recognized by society outside of the graffiti subculture. Fab Five Freddy is another popular graffiti figure of this time, often credited with helping to spread the influence of graffiti and rap music beyond its early foundations in the Bronx.
As the influence of graffiti grew, Brooklyn began a graffiti movement as well with such prominent artists as Friendly Freddie. 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 writers at this point was to have as many tags as possible, in as many places as possible. Writers began to break into subway yards in order to hit as many trains as they could with a lower risk, often creating larger elaborate pieces of art along the subway car sides. This is when the act of bombing was said to officially be established. Around this time, tags began to take on their signature calligraphic appearance, this was due to the huge number of writers- they needed a way to distinguish themselves. Aside from the growing complexity and creativity, tags also began to grow in size and scale. Spray paint use increased dramatically around this time as writers began to expand their work. For example, many writers had begun to increase letter size and line thickness, as well as outlining them in colour. Eventually the use of designs such as polka dots, crosshatches, and checkers became popular. "Top-to-bottoms" made their first appearance around this time as well. They are tags which span the entire height of a subway car. The overall creativity and artistic maturation of this time period never went unnoticed by the mainstream. An example of this is Hugo Martinez, who founded the United Graffiti Artists (UGA). The UGA consisted of many top writers of the time, and aimed to present graffiti in an art gallery setting. By 1974, writers had begun to incorporate the use of scenery and cartoon characters into their work. The many new styles and innovations that emerged during this era eventually broke into what some refer to as the climax of the culture. After the original pioneering efforts, which culminated in 1974, the art form peaked around 1975 – 1977. By this time, most standards had been set in graffiti writing and culture. This was the time of the heaviest "bombing" in U.S. history. Partly because of the economic restraints on New York City, limiting its ability to combat this artform with graffiti removal programs or transit maintenance. Also during this time, top-to-bottoms evolved into whole cars. Pieces the size of entire subway cars became pretty commonplace. Most note-worthy of this era proved to be the forming of the throw-up, which are more complex then simple "tagging", but not as intricate as a "piece". Not long after its introduction, throw-ups lead to races to see who could do the most the fastest. Writing was becoming very competitive. Throw ups and whole cars were the jewels of this time period. Eventually, the standards which had been set in the early 70s began to become stagnant. These changes in attitude lead many writers into the 1980s with a desire to expand and change.
The late 1970s and early 1980s brought a new wave of creativity to the scene. It was also, however, the last wave of true bombing before the Transit Authority made graffiti eradication a priority. The MTA (Metro Transit Authority) began to repair yard fences, and remove graffiti consistently, battling the surge of graffiti artists. With the MTA combatting the writers by removing their work it often lead many writers to quit in frustration, as their work was constantly being removed. It was also 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. In 1979, writer Lee Quinones, and Fab Five Freddie(Fred Brathwaite) were given a gallery opening in Rome by art dealer Claudio Bruni. Slowly, European art dealers became more interested in the new art form. For many outside of New York, it was the first time ever being exposed to the art form.
During the 1980s the cultural aspect of graffiti was said to be deteriorating almost to the point of extinction. The rapid decline in writing was due to several factors. For one, the streets were becoming increasingly dangerous due to high powered weapons being brought in by the crack-cocaine epidemic. Also, legislation was underway to make penalties for writers more severe, and restrictions on paint sale and display made racking materials difficult. Above all else though, 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 buffing of pieces was strong, heavy, and consistent. As the popular saying goes: ‘where there is a will, there’s a way’. Many writers took this to heart and chose to see the new problems as a challenge rather than a reason to quit. A downside to these challenges was that writers became very territorial of good writing spots, and strength and unity in numbers became increasingly important. This was probably the most violent era in graffiti history. Writers who chose to go out alone were often beaten and robbed of their supplies. Some of the mentionable writers from this era were Skeme, Spade, BG 183, and Flight. This was stated to be the end for the casual NYC subway graffiti writers, and the years to follow would be populated by only what some consider the most "die hard" writers.
Die Hard Era
The years between 1985 and 1989 is known as the "die hard" era. A last shot for the writers of this time was in the form of subway cars destined for the scrap yard. The MTA reduced cleanup on these soon-to-be-decommissioned cars. 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 was winning their "war on graffiti", and the population of active writers diminished. As the population of writers lowered so did the violence associated with graffiti crews and "bombing." Some notable writers of this era were Ghost, Cavs, TC5, and Reas.
In some cases, writers have 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, [link] several murals dedicated to his life appeared virtually overnight; similar outpourings occurred after the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.[link][link] Princess Di and Mother Teresa were also memorialised this way in New York City. Other works covering otherwise unadorned fences or walls may likewise become so highly elaborate that property-owners or the government may choose to keep them rather than cleaning them off. "Free walls" or commissioned walls are now a common part of the culture.
\"Clean Train Movement\" Era
Currently, the graffiti movement is in the "Clean Train Movement" (1989-present), and is characterized by a majority of graffiti artists moving from illegal graffiti to "street galleries". The Clean Train Movement started in May, 1989, when New York attempted to remove all of the subway cars found with graffiti on them out of the transit system. Because of this, many writers had to resort to new ways to express themselves. A lot of controversy arose among the streets debating whether graffiti should be considered an actual form of art. [link]During this period many graffiti artists have taken to a new medium, displaying their works in galleries and owning their own studios. This phenomenon had started in the early 1980s for artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started out tagging locations with his signature SAMO (Same Old Shit), and Keith Haring, who was also able to take his art into studio spaces.
With the popularity and legitimization of Graffiti to an extent, it has begun a stage of commercialization. The act of public destruction will remain illegal, however the opportunity for companies to profit from the culture has come to light. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign which involved people in various states spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "I Love Linux." However due to illegalities some of the "street artists" were arrested and charged with vandalism.[link]
Along with the commercial growth has come the rise of video games also depicting graffiti, usually in a positive aspect. Titles such as Jet Grind Radio tell the story of a group of teens fighting the oppression of a totalitarian police force that attempts to limit the graffiti artists free speech. Following the original roots of modern graffiti as a political force came another game title [[Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure]] which features a similar story line of fighting against a corrupt city and its oppression of free speech. Mark Ecko, an urban clothing designer, has been advocate of graffiti as an art form during this period, stating "Graffiti is without question the most powerful art movement in recent history and has been a driving inspiration throughout my career." [link]
