An Essay On The History Of American Graffiti

A perfect example of the presence of artworks available for viewing is in graffiti. Graffiti is often a derogative term used to describe writing, drawing, or images placed on the surfaces of public buildings or areas. Although not considered fine art by many, as an expression of creativity and imagination, it falls under the category of artworks. What separates this form of artwork from those found in galleries is the atmosphere and environment that is attached to graffiti that cannot be replicated or found in art galleries. The raw nature of graffiti makes it appealing for viewers, however, the fact it is abundant in the urban environment justifies the idea that it can be viewed without the need for an art gallery.

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”.

Graffiti is derived from the Greek word graphien which means drawing on a surface such as stone. It was originally created as a word to describe the illegal drawings that ancient

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.

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)

Art has been around ever since the ancient city of Pompeii. The people of Pompeii used graffiti as a way to display their cleverness; from poetry contests to playful recombinations of the letters that form Roman Numerals. In the early ‘70s, graffiti was used as a way for young teens to mark their territory. During that time, many people – especially in New York City – saw graffiti as vandalism and prohibited it. Even though graffiti has been misused in some occasions, as long as the purpose is not to deliberately mischievous or malicious destruction, graffiti is art.

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

Graffiti portrays a message whether it’s spelled out on the concrete or hidden behind a sort of code. It lets unheard voices, be heard. There are many different forms of graffiti, tagging is the form of street art that most often results in consequences (Eickmier). This is because tagging is basically signing your nickname on a wall, and once the police figure out your pseudonym they will most likely find you. Graffiti is not always considered to be ugly though, some artists work actually ends up in museums (Wark) A manchester artist who goes by the name “Banksy” ultimately avoided jail because his work was deemed “artistic” He was later given an opportunity to showcase his work in a museum. Graffiti does not

Graffiti can be found everywhere and anywhere. It is a way for people to express themselves and be creative in a public manner. It shows how passionate and talented they can be when it comes to drawing or tagging and have it displayed as a piece of art for everyone to see. Graffiti goes way back to the ancient times and is now very well known in the modern days which makes more and more people interested and fascinated by them. It can be used in different types of ways. Many artists can either spray paint, carve, paste, or stencil them on a surface. From how we see them today they are usually images of random cartoons, big bubbly letters, vintage black and whites or inspirational quotes. Virtually anything colorful or not and big that can be easily spotted. Graffiti is more superior to be known as art than vandalism because it is a self expressing act. People need to be open minded about the images they see and look at the message behind it or else they will immediately criticize and say it is vandalizing property.

The origin and history of graffiti is not what one might expect. Believed to have been created by a Philadelphia high school student named Cornbread in 1967, it was a bold effort to catch the attention of a girl (De Melker). In this same time period, graffiti sprung up in New York as well. It was “one among many forms of social protest” during

“According to Kim Dovey, Simon Wollan, and Ian Woodblock, graffiti is a type of art as well. She claims that there is different type of graffiti. They first talks about the different types of graffiti. Some of the types listed are stencil tags, throw up, and slogans. There are free handed drawings that are called stencil drawings. Stencil graffiti combines elements from spray-paint graffiti and from street art. Stencil artists carefully prepare stencil blueprints on hand-made sheets, which they then place on a surface and cover with spray paint. Stencil graffiti works are the easiest and quickest pieces to replicate” (Lerman 299). “Throw up are just free handed paintings. Slogans are when they

There is a fine line between being allowed to do graffiti and not being allowed when really, it’s not as confusing and hard as it has to be.

However, graffiti doesn’t solely belong to gangs and gang members that need to communicate and speak through that. For instance taggers are artists, or lets say many of them think of themselves artists. Their graffiti is usually very clever and artful. Their art may still be associated with the act of vandalism (since they typically post their art on public belongings, public property, on the floor, on buses and trains, on the window of commercial businesses, walls and etc.). Some art museums are known to show tagger art in special exhibits. The foremost basic sort of graffiti is tagging within which the creator writes his or her name in his/her own distinctive style. This is style was really popular throughout the 1980's. The more advanced sort of graffiti called a piece or masterpiece that typically depicts a scene or well-known characters with some sort of expression. I significantly found this sort of graffiti extraordinarily political. This way of graffiti typically breaks the present taboos within the society. These types of graffiti art are most frequently found on subways or trains or sometimes even in tunnels in New York City.