Graffiti Culture In America

The history of the underground art movement known by many names, most commonly graffiti begins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the mid to late 60's, and started with bombing. The writers who are credited with the first effort are CORNBREAD and COOL EARL. They wrote their names all over the city gaining attention from the community and the local press. Then the movement made way to New York City where the teenagers would write graffiti on the subways. It is unclear whether this concept made way to New York City on purpose or if it was an accident.

Graffiti has been around for more than half a decade and practiced worldwide. However there is debate between whether it is a form of art or vandalism. Graffiti artists’ debate that many do not understand the reason most graffiti artist take the risk of incarceration, fines, injuries, and in some cases death to paint a wall. A graffiti artist can have the simple desire to become recognized, or to create a piece that speaks to their audience as a form of self expression. Because graffiti is associated with gangs and acts of destruction to some many cannot see the history and importance graffiti can have on a worldwide scale. Due to the fact that graffiti is usually produced illegally, meaning it is

Most people can argue that there is a fine distinction between what is recognized as art and vandalism. The individual is often faced with uncertainty when the topic of graffiti arises. The public often portray graffiti as a destructive act towards his or her surroundings however; graffiti can also be considered a form of self-expression. Many questions can be made pertaining to the graffiti movement, but the main question is graffiti a crime or an art? The answers lie in the complex phrase of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

If you walk through almost any city, the buildings, bridges, and any other available spaces are seemingly filled with colors, picture, and words that are not part of the original architecture. This graffiti, which is a mix of tags, stencils, pieces, and freestyle, seems to have almost taken over cities across the world. Some of this graffiti, such as tags, are eyesores, but some pieces, such as the High Line “Love Is the Answer” and “Kiss” murals in New York City, are sites that have become iconic pieces of artwork. Unfortunately, pieces like these are also starting to be covered to a seemingly astronomical rate, which is causing outrage among those who visited to them.

By definition, graffiti is illegal. It is also considered vandalism because public or private property is intentionally destroyed, but in Alex Boyd’s blog “In Defense of Graffiti”, he clearly conveys his argument about how graffiti shows qualities of value and shouldn’t be criticized on impulse. Even though many people have seen graffiti as something to be condoned, punishable, and terrorizing, it is actually just another form of expression, communication, art, and point of view.

In the early 70’s the common style of graffiti was tagging just a single lined tag, later on as the 70’s progressed a graffiti artist known as T-Bone who was the leader of the graffiti club, KCD (Klub City Decorators) drove up to New York City to check out the graffiti scene up there. When he arrived, he saw double wide lettering (like Bubble words) all over the subway and he was amazed. The lettering was filled in and not only had the name of the artist but also had objects drawn next to the name like a parrot on a tree. Something like that had never been seen before in Philly during that time. Upon seeing New York style and loving it, T-Bone and his friends brought the style back to Philadelphia with them. They were arguably known to start New York style in Philly. Later on this “New York style” would be called Throw-up, double wide lettering

According to Boyd, through Graffiti is essential to understand as a form of art that crosses the boundaries of location, method, and motivation. He acknowledges that graffiti might include “racist remarks, empty slogans and illegal signatures.”(Boyd 251) Boyd’s piece is also very informative because according to the author, there are two methods for creating this form of art: murals and tagging. The most popular one is tagging because it can be found almost everywhere from fence posts to trains, street walls to buses. The main goal of graffiti writers is to put their signature tags in places to be recognized by their

The roots of graffiti started about 1971 by a Greek American who tagged “TAKI-183” in all New York subway system, he declared that he “used graffiti to create an identity in which he is certain about” (Fortuna 3), then it emerged all around America and the world. (David 72)

There are many associations with graffiti writing, Hip-hop being the first. Though the emergence of graffiti can be attributed to street gangs; which, they used to mark their territories (Chronopoulos 2011, pg. 79), graffiti began to merge with hip-hop culture in the 70s (Chronopoulos 2011, pg. 82). Ultimately, this combination promoted the public domination over public spaces in New York City through the use

In the 70s graffiti was just tags or small pictures but it quickly turned into and “art movement” (Eickmier). This means that the young and the old artist had finally found a way to express themselves and were spreading it around cities like wildfire. In other countries the amount of graffiti shock american tourists, it is seen as a good thing. “Instead of walls being used to separate people from each other, graffiti brings people together and keeps conversations going.” (Wark) Graffiti has value as art and it tells a story worth reading. (Wark) Most teens resort to graffiti as their last option, and most people see that as wrong, but it lets them express themselves in a really different

The US Government should consider making graffiti completely legal. Graffiti should be legal for a couple of reasons.

This negative shadow on the art form of graffiti has caused the decline of the graffiti movement. As many have predicted, “graffiti may eventually disappear” (“The Writing's on the Wall; Graffiti”). Graffiti has already begun to dwindle from what was once a flourishing art movement, to an almost disesteemed hobby. However, a soiled reputation is not the only culprit in the murder of authentic graffiti. The occupation of the current generation with technology and social media has caused many artists to focus solely on selling their work and gaining attention through social networking platforms. Another, perhaps more common, reason for the decline is the improvement of police work and punishments for those indulging in the illegal form of graffiti (“The Writing's on the Wall; Graffiti”). Because of this decline in authentic and prohibited graffiti, artists have channeled their work into new forms and established their own artistic community.

Art has been a highly valued way of expressing oneself in any culture. Through the use of the artistic skill one can show the oppression that may be felt from society, or to develop a certain style that follows what the culture is up to date with and problems that may need some emphasis to be noticed. Art is not only left for the artistically skilled to do anyone who can develop a thought and can put artistic meaning on their own creative canvas can be considered an artist. Graffiti has been considered as an irrational way of property damage called “art”, or a beautiful way for the common artist to express their problems, thoughts or ideas. Graffiti should be considered a modern form of art. Graffiti possesses all the makings to be considered artwork that can be achieved by anyone and is placed on public walls for all to view and interpret as they feel accordingly.

Should graffiti be banned and graffiti artists be prosecuted? This and a variety of related questions have been increasingly perplexing society as a result of the popularization of graffiti, starting with dissemination of its works in New York City in the early 1980s (346). Since then, graffiti artists have both been banned and cherished, deprived of their work and allowed in art galleries. Thus, another question has been raised: Should graffiti be considered art or a form of communication with aesthetics on a background? This question is addressed in the essay, “Revolution in a Can,” written by Blake Gopnik and first published in the November 2011 edition of Foreign Policy (345). In the essay, Gopnik presents an argument that essentially divides the world of graffiti in two spheres: Western and non-Western. In the former, graffiti has gone from being a means of speaking against prevailing inequalities to “[saddling] with the oldest high-culture clichés” associated with art (346). While in the latter, graffiti is used to communicate ideas and to “[speak] truth to power” (346). Ultimately, what is at stake here is how do we accept and identify new forms of self-expression which are vital to human development? While many can agree that the likelihood of a person running into graffiti in a Western art gallery is greater than doing so in the non-Western world, the act of regionally dividing the purpose of art seems questionable to say the least. Thus, even though Gopnik makes a

Street art, also known as “guerilla art” and “neo-graffiti” is a literate and self-conscious form of visual art, created and displayed in public locations, as a way for artists to communicate directly with an audience. Popular in cities and densely populated urban areas, street art is often commonly confused with graffiti. However, the two mediums have their differences. Graffiti takes the form of written words, usually a name or a tag, scrawled across structures such as walls or bridges in spray paint. Tags tend to be used as claims of territory or dominance over an area, and are demonstrated in a rebellious fashion.