Art in the Form of vandalism
Graffiti can be considered as a form of self expression in the form of art. Some look at Graffiti as a form of vandalism, but I see it as a way for one artist to capture their inner emotions and feelings and lets them release those feelings in the form of colored shapes and letters, thus revealing an underlying image. Those who paint on canvas or sculpt three dimensional inanimate objects using their hands are considered artists, but those who do graffiti are considered vandals.
Historically graffiti was used as a tool for political activists to help them make a statement. Also on the more negative side graffiti was used by gangs to mark their territory, but neither was done in the artistic form that we see on city walls across the country. The movement was started in 1960 in Philadelphia by two artists by the names of “Corn Bread” and “Cool Earl”, and these two writers wrote their names all over the city, thus drawing attention to their talent. In the early ‘70’s the motion moved to New York and writers were writing or “tagging” their names all over the city and on the subways. With the large variety of styles and names, the graffiti game began to get competitive. Now artist were putting up tags, which are shorter or abbreviated versions of their “tag” names, and the logic of shortening the name is, the artist can put up more tags in a shorter amount of time. The idea of “Bombing” was created when writers would ride around on trains posting up tags trying to avoid being caught. Once someone one discovered that the trains dock bombing became so much easier and the graffiti game was once again revolutionized. Groups of writers or Graffiti artists would get together and “bomb” trains and or different areas of their town or city, and this group would be known as a “bomb squad”.
Once the styles of the tags began to evolve the amount of competition started to increase. Artists would start to use what are known as “fat caps” which are caps on spray cans with wider nozzles. These nozzles helped writers to create larger and bolder tags, which stood out more. In addition to the different caps writers would also use a variety of colors and designs such as polka dots and or cross hatching to fill in and outline their letters. With these new tools and ideas an entire work of art was completed and credited to “Super Kool 223”. Today we see remnants or different versions of the styles created by artists such as “Phase 2” and “Top cat”. Styles such as softie letters, leaning letters, and block letters were credited to these two artists. Once the competition grew even more three dimensional letters started to become more prominent in the graffiti world, thus establishing a new and unique form of art.
Graffiti was first considered and looked at as art when a college student by the name of Hugo Martinez decided to create the United Graffiti Artists. The UGA was made up of the best artists from the area, and he organized and showcased their work in an art gallery for everyone to see, that graffiti was not vandalism and was actually an art form. The most successful exhibition was the Razor Gallery which opened the eyes of many of the artists’ viewers. It also caught the attention of Richard Goldstein, a writer for the New York magazine. Goldstein wrote an article titled “The Graffiti Hit Parade” which championed and complimented the artists for their art work. This article really put graffiti on the map, thus leading to it becoming a known art form.
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