A Quick Lesson In Graffiti History -

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions and markings found on the walls of ancient ruins, such as in the civilizations of Greece and Rome. Graffiti was done by the ancient Egyptians, the Vikings and even the Mayans. These people communicated with each other about daily life, current events, etc., offering us a direct look into their ancient street life. It is a tradition of communication.

Even before this, there were caves in France where prehistoric man left markings on the walls to let us know who was there. And over the centuries, those caves evolved into the tunnels of New York subway system, and today onto your computer desktop.

So you can go back in time and find that certain Renaissance artists explored the ideas of painting their names on walls as forms of decoration. French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800's. There are also many examples of graffiti occurring in American history. It is part of our timeless quest for self-identity and self-affirmation.

So, how did this markamking end up where it is today? Those same stylized markings can be found on clothes, in graphic design and as a basis for fine art in galleries around the world. Even the word "graffiti" has evolved over time to include any type of markings inscribed onto any surface, what some regard as vandalism.

From the womb to the tomb, we as human beings have had the need to create and to mark our territory. We need to let the rest of the world know we are here. This is the true foundation for graff writing.

 

Modern History
The beginning of what we call modern graffiti was laid out in Philadelphia in the late 1960's. Two writers named CORNBREAD and COOL EARL are credited with the first early efforts. They gained a lot of attention from the Philadelphia press and the community by leaving their signatures everywhere. Then, somehow, for reasons unknown, this concept traveled from Philly to New York around 1971.

Soon after that migration, New York produced one of the first writers to get even more media attention- TAKI 183. After an interview with him was published, hundreds of kids began to write their names all over New York. This was the start of getting fame, when writers used their signatures to become heroes in their own communities.

As graffiti became more and more popular and more visible, writers, created new styles and thought of new ways to write their names and make their tags unique. Writers created many new script and calligraphy styles and enhanced their tags with flourishes and symbols. Some symbols were strictly for visual impact while others had meaning, such as crowns, which writers used to proclaim themselves kings. They used arrows to show movement and underlining to show importance. Quotation marks and exclamation points became essential design elements. This time, let's say between 1969 and 1974, is referred to as the "pioneering era" when graffiti experienced a surge in styles and popularity. But it was still strictly tag-based.

 

The Emergence of the Piece
The next major development was scale. In addition to the growing complexity and creativity, tags grew larger as writers increased letter size and line thickness and outlined their work. This was the beginning of the piece, short for masterpiece. It is difficult to be certain who did the first true piece, but it is a commonly credited to SUPER KOOL 223. The thicker letters provided the opportunity for writers to further enhance the name and to color the interiors of the letters with patterns and designs.

Around 1974, writers like TRACY 168 and  BLADE created works that had serious backgrounds, incorporating characters, scenery, and other illustrations on subway cars. This formed the basis for the mural whole car, called the burner, which led to top-to-bottoms, works that span the entire height of a subway car, and the end-to-end burner, when the entire car is covered.

By the end of 1974, the foundations were laid, allowing styles to develop that departed from tag-styled pieces. This was a turning point in graff history, when graffiti made the leap from tagging to style-driven pieces. Soon arrows, curls, connections and twists ran all through the letters. These additions became the basis for semi-wildstyle and unreadable wildstyle lettering.

Writers such as RIFF 170 took ideas from other writers and improved upon them, helping the competitive atmosphere, which is a necessary aspect of graffiti. Other writers, including FLINT 707 and  CASE 2, made major contributions in the development of three-dimensional lettering by adding depth to the piece, which became the standard.

 

Graffiti Worldwide
The spread of graffiti worldwide happened during the '80's with the explosion of the hip hop subculture. Fueled by music videos and films, images of New York street culture were channeled around the world. Almost overnight, everyone wanted to be a New York City B-boy. Modern graffiti is often seen as being mixed with hip hop culture. However, let's be clear: Modern graffiti predates hip hop by at least a decade. Graff was here before hip hop, graff will be here after hip hop, and if it wasn't for graff, there would be no hip hop.

That said, hip hop and graff reached Europe together. European writers spent years studying letters, styles, and New York street culture. They copied the early styles, then expanded upon them. Graffiti magazines documented early movements across Europe. And the printed media proved to be an additional catalyst for the expansion of graffiti art worldwide.

Also during the early 1980's, American writers began touring Europe via art galleries in cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Stuttgart. There was one major difference: European writers were focused on painting walls, not trains, which led to different styles.

Europeans also wanted to paint in the birthplace of modern graffiti, so many Americans hosted them in what were called pilgrimages to Mecca. American writers went to Europe to paint and European writers came to America to paint. By the late '80's the European graffiti scene was in full swing.

 

Graffiti: It's All About Style
Graffiti art is a uniquely American Art form. Today, it is inluencing the work of creative individuals worldwide in areas as diverse as graphic design, photgraphy, advertising, fine art, and even multimedia and technology.

Why are we attracted to graffiti? I believe that part of it has to do with what I call the psychology of self-affirmation. There is something inside of us that wants to take up space and proclaim our existence. Graffiti has always been about rebellion, style, and observation.

When you do your thing today, you will influence the people of tomorrow, and the observations they create will influence the next generation after that. And the pursuit of styles becomes a never ending quest. We must all think about improving, about getting better, because history will be watching.

I believe everyone- taggers, bombers, and piecers- needs to take his or her own style to the absolute limit, and then do it all over again. Moving forward, we are concerned with style.