Graffiti can be anything from simple scratch marks, to writings in pen, or large wall murals with paint. 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. Evidence of random writings on walls of structures that back between the 1st century BC to 4th century AD have been found in what is now modern day Syria, Jordan and Iraq. These writings, were on topics of religion, politics, romance. Some cartoon like drawings resembling people have also been found. The Romans wrote graffiti on walls and monuments and these writings have given a great deal of insight into life in these ancient times. From the Mayans in Guatemala to the Vikings of Scandanavia, the soldiers of Napoleon to the pioneers on the Oregon Trail, they all left their mark along their routes of travel forever preserving their accomplishments and lifestyles for the future civilizations of the world to see.
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. Graffiti is seen as one of the four elements of Hip Hop, along with break dancing, emceeing and djing. While graffiti is not unique to hip hop culture, many punk rock bans 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.
Modern day graffiti as we know it started in New York City. 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 183 is credited as being the first tagger in New York City. 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. Tags soon gave way to “bombing” or covering an entire wall or door or any area with tags. 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 Metropolitain 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 in all five boroughs of New York City.
In 1979 Fab Five Freddy, a rapper, and Lee Quinones, a graffiti artist, had their works displayed at a gallery opening in Rome. Lee displayed many different works of art by both himself and other famous New York City graffiti artists. This was the first mainstream exposure that Europe had gotten to the new art form. England had its own underground graffiti scene that mostly done by punk rockers and their fans in London, but the rest of Europe had seen very little of this emerging movement that was taking New York City and the rest of the US by storm. Tags and pieces soon became common sights in cities like London, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome and Oslo.
During the 1980’s with the graffiti movement in full swing, the government started to crackdown on illegal tagging and bombing. The crack epidemic had made the streets much more dangerous and graffiti was seen as a nuisance. The Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City began to clean their train cars thoroughly, making it nearly pointless to do any type of graffiti on them since the public would never see the pieces. Authorities actively seeked graffiti artists, guarding areas that were more prone to graffiti and increased penalties for those caught writing. Many graffiti artists however, chose to take the changes as a challenge rather than a reason to stop. Bombing in the subways gave way to aggressive bombing in the streets by die hard writers such as BG 183, Blade, Dondi, Cope2 and Skeme. Many artists found that getting up in their own neighborhoods would lead them to be caught easier so they traveled to other areas of the city to write.
Through the late 1980’s and early 90’s the graffiti movement spread like wildfire both nationwide and worldwide. In Los Angeles, Mexican American muralists incorporated graffiti into their artwork, producing some of the most intense street art in the country. Street gangs in Chicago, Dallas and many other cities nationwide use graffiti to mark territory and threaten rival gang members. In Europe and Asia where hip hop culture had become just as big as in the US, graffiti artists were bombing the trains and walls of nearly every major city.
Today, graffiti is becoming more of an accepted art form in many ways. While stronger laws and more effective cleaning methods have made it harder than ever to get up these days, an underground scene still flourishes around the US, as well as the rest of the world. Graffiti is on display in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, where writers from the 70’s and 80’s such as Futura 2000, Lady Pink, Crash and Daze are featured. Designers such as Marc Ecko and PNB Nation use graffiti in their logos and on their clothing lines. And legal murals can be found in many inner city neighborhoods. In New York City the TATS Cru has murals all over the city in memory of deceased famous people such as Notorious BIG, Big Pun, Tito Puente Princess Diana and Mother Theresa. Graffiti is so much more than an illegal form of art. Graffiti has become an important part of pop culture, and a well respected form of art.
