3/23/06
Junior Morality
Mr. Sciuto
GRAFFITI: WHAT IS IT REALLY?
You may have noticed it as you walk down the street on a cloudy day, or saw it on your way to school on some days. As you walk by, you ask yourself, “What does that mean?” and you stop to stare at the painted work on the wall. But as you stand there in its presence, you wonder, is this considered vandalism, or is it a work of art simply expressed on a different medium than that of traditional art? As you ponder this question, I will begin to tell you what it really is: it is art. Graffiti is an art form that unfortunately has been lowered down to the status of gang writing and an act of worthless vandalism, yet true graffiti really has nothing to do with gangs, and while it may be vandalism, still is a legitimate field of art.
However, before we can begin talking about whether or not graffiti is art or vandalism, one must understand the basics true graffiti. It started in New York City the late 1960’s as a means of simply marking one’s name on a wall. This simple form of “tagging” as artists call it was the first form of graffiti art1. The early “writers” (the slang term for graffiti artist) used simple permanent markers and the signature spray can for their tags and such2. Contrary to popular belief, (that is the spray can was chosen for its “street like credibility”) spray paint and markers were chosen simply for the fact that they were easy to conceal when moving from place to place. It was nothing more than a convenience issue3. As these tags got larger and larger, because of writers being competitive and wanting to outdo each other, more colors became involved in the tags and the writers started to use “bubble-letters”, which makes the words have a more picture-like vibe to them, and ultimately, make them harder to miss, and therefore gain more notoriety in the city4. These grew in popularity and were soon becoming a mainstay in the graffiti world. They are called “pieces” (short for masterpieces)5 and they are the most common form of graffiti today, even outdoing the simple tag in sheer numbers. As these pieces suggest by their name, they are more complex than the tag. Within these pieces, there are different categories still. The most common are called “throw-ups” (a.k.a. throwies, throws)6 because of their nature of being quick pieces, usually with no background and only two or three colors, and sometimes only one if it’s the outline to the letters. The next type of piece is called a “burner”, and this is for two reasons. It can be called this because it’s a very creative, unique design not normally seen on a wall before, and the piece seems to “burn” the wall off7, or its when a rival writer of another goes and does something better over the other’s, or right next to it8. Both could be considered to be burners in this sense. The next type of piece is simply called that, a piece. It is a more detailed than a throw-up, but may lack the style of a burner. That doesn’t mean, however, that the regualr piece isn’t worth the time it takes to paint it. It can be done in a time consuming fashion and it still has an array of colors and the style of lettering can range from block to bubble to ever popular wildstyle (a type of lettering that intertwines the letters in a unique and complex way as to, most of the time, the passer-by will not be able to read the piece. But in the graffiti world, to be the best, one must have a mastery over this style, since it is the most respected for its difficulty in doing)9. And finally, the most detailed and respected of all pieces, the mural. Usually a mural is a collaboration between a group of writers but can be a single writer doing it all on his own. Sometimes a mural can be the project of a crew (a group of writers that paint together. Crews are the reason that graffiti is too often associated with gangs, because they write in groups, usually made up of friends, why that would automatically label them as a gang is an argument I will address later.) and/or a collaborations between crews10.
Now with the worldwide spread of graffiti over the past forty or so years, many new styles have surfaced from all over the world, some being region specific in its execution. For example, when graffiti spread to California, the famous writing style known as the “L.A. Wildstyle” emerged from Los Angeles11. The style of graffiti known as wildstyle encorporates the complex intertwining of the letters and uses an extremely complex fill in using numerous amounts of comors; needless to say it is the most difficult form of graffti to paint12. L.A. Wildstyle epitimzes the goal of many writers on the west coast; to simply be able to paint it and execute it correctly and have it be seen by other writers. L.A. Wildstyle has such a complex intertwining of letters and such a complex color pattern that most people cannot read it at all. However this is the precise goal of the writers. Its like a game between the artist and the passer-by, he must fgure out what the artist is trying to convey in this piece. When the writer successfully can master this technique, he will be known as a premier writer in his region13. Another example of a region-specific style is what is known as the “Italian Bubble Lettering”, and while not as complex or difficult to write as the L.A. Wildstyle, it still is a respected style of writing. The letters are very ‘organic’ in their apperance and often incorporate some part of the background that they were painted on14. For example, if the wall had wires or something of that sort hanging down, the letters would appear to be twisted in the wires and the writer would paint more on the wall to have the same effect on the wall: to make it seem that the wall is actually part of the piece and vise versa15. While not having the complexity of the L.A. Wildstyle, the talent of the artist must be very great in order to achieve the true effects of this particular style of graffiti. And while there are MANY more regional types of graffiti, these are just a couple that compare easily.
Now that you have a little knowledge on the basics of graffiti, we can now shed light on the ever-pestering question that plagues graffiti writers and is asked by all the skeptics: Is graffiti really are or is it just worthless vandalism? While one will get many different answers depending on who one talks to, there is one clear thing we can point out here; this is not a question easily answered. There are many conflicting views on whether or not this practice can be consdered legitimate art. When trying to answer this, one must look on both sides of the issue, even if one favors one side or the other.
On the side that lowers graffiti’s status to worthless vandalism, the people argue that graffiti destroys and lowers property value, and while defacing public property it makes the city look very drab and unclean. Many police and city officials make this point. They argue that how can something that destroys property ge any kind of artform in the first place? And also how can something that is quite illegal be a legitimate artform? As Jack Thompson said in a statement, “No one wants to see or have to clean up graffiti artists practical joke…and that joke happens to be all around our cities and towns in the United States.”16 Most of the cities in the US have Anti-Vandal squads in their police forces. The anti-vandal squads usually view graffiti artists to be public nusences, and nothing more. A statement from a New York Vandal Squad officer says “…we’re here to get rid of the virus known as graffiti…it makes its way around the city while slowly deteriorating it and making it die cosmetically from the inside out…”17 Now I know for a fact that the city of St. Louis Police Department has a small, yet active Anti-Vnadal Squad. They are in charge of the buffing (the chemical erasing of graffiti off of walls) orders that are given to Missouri Department of Transportation and then the Missouri Department of Transportation carries out the removal of the graffiti from the walls. Now whether you agree with these people is your business, but one cannot overlook the other side’s opinion.
Personally, this is the side that I agree with; the people that say that graffiti is indeed art, just done on a different medium than that of most other conventional art18. These artists clearly put their heart into their work, as you can see from some of their pieces that they paint. But what is it that really makes graffiti art tom the writer and not just a practical joke? World famous writer Cope-2 says that graffiti “is a means of gaining fame. As graffiti artists, we do what we do because of a deep hunger inside us that wants notoriety, fame, and reputation. Its like a hunger to be known to the world, in a mysterious hidden way because we never use our real names; its always an alias that we create or a word that is a part of who we are as a person.”19 The passion that these artists feel when they are writing and the adrenaline rush it gives when out late at night, knowing you could be caught at any moment, makes this practice more that just an art. It’s a way of life to many writers. Some, like German artist CanTwo, and British artist Banksy have made graffiti into a career for themselves20. While doing conventional are on paper and other mediums, some businesses actually have them come, and do graffiti all over their buildings on purpose! Some give out cash, some don’t. But then skeptics will raise the question, is this graffiti then? Or just a new requested paint job. The answer, writers say, is that its still graffiti and it is still art, no matter the intention of someone wanting it to be done or not.
And the second issue concerning the vandalism of graffiti is that it MUST be vandalism, because only gangs do it. Now there is some truth to this statement. Yes gangs like the Bloodz and the Crips do write and tag graffiti. This type of graffiti is called “Tagbanging”, where the object is to not spread ones name around to gain reputation, but more to claim more territory for the gangs that city21. This often leads to gang warfare and violence. However, true graffiti crews do no such acts. While yes, the graffiti itself IS illegal, there is no denying that, crews do not under ANY circumstance try and stake out territory between them. Nor do they go to war over things of that sort. Lie Cope-2 stated, crews just paint together to get group fame, and maybe a chance to get into bigger and better crews that spread across the nation and even get into international crews such as SUK (Stick Up Kids-members from Germany, Italy, France, USA, Japan, Thailand and others.)22 Another world-wide crew is the UA Crew (United Artists- members from Britain, USA, Germany, Italy, France, China, Japan, Thailand, almost all of Latin America etc. etc.)23 But some graffiti artists, if they do engage in violence with other crews or other writers, could be considered tagbanging or even gang-like. Despite all of this, what one must understand is that true graffiti crews have nothing to do with gangs, drugs, fighting etc. etc. True graffiti crews are a group of writers that share one common feeling: They want their voices to be heard.
So, in conclusion to all of this, I’m not telling you what you should or shouldn’t believe on this issue. All I ask is that next time you see a piece or throwie when driving through the city or your local neighborhood, don’t dismiss it as trash right away. Take some time, look at it, try and decipher the message the artist is trying to convey to you, the passer-by. And maybe, if you figure the message out, you can truly decide for yourself what the answer to that ever-pestering question for yourself: What is graffiti to ME; is it just some kid pulling a prank on us, or is it a trained and skilled artist who is trying to become known by doing it the only way he deems necessary: By just putting it up. Which will you decide? The choice is up to you.
ENDNOTES
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