As you think about the key words for this week (deleted accidentally from the revised syllabus) GRAFFITI and PUBLIC SPACE, it is important to acknowledge the positive aesthetic dimensions of graffiti as an art form as well as the association of graffiti with certain destructive behavior such as vandalism of property. If we think about the ways that Hip-hop's aesthetic is indebted to practices of improvisation ( sampling,free styling, breaking, etc.) how then do these terms allow us to think about the historic and social function graffiti serves? As you think about graffiti and its relationship to public spaces (buildings, subway cars, mailboxes, etc.), how does graffiti speak to issues of power and privilege?
There are several distinct positive aesthetic dimensions of graffiti. 3-D lettering, fading and blending of color are just two apparent aesthetic dimensions. Many works of graffiti were handwritten markings, or spray painted "zines" (Cheng, 125). These zines were meant to "get fame" for the artist, make political statements, be slurs, or just to deliver a positive message and show people a different but beautiful form of art. In the film, "Wild Style," Roy took on the nickname Zoro, and this is how he would brand all of his tags. Graffitist's generally translate their designs onto walls of buildings, public bathrooms, and most notoriously train cars. The only problem with this is that these locations are all public spaces. Public officials attempted to crack down on these externalities to minimal avail when graffiti began in the 70's. Sanford Garelik, the New York city council president in 1972, encouraged New Yorkers to begin "an all-out war on graffiti" (Foreman, et. al 22). He used many resources and encouraged the community to get involved in cleaning graffiti from mostly external and upper class public spaces. Since mainly the upper scale public spaces were being cleaned the ghetto became the most commonplace to find graffiti. Graffiti artist took on a lot of risks, and endured many hardships in order to perform their art. Some of the risks that they faced were: arrest, fines, incarceration, and other legal impositions. The most difficult aspects of their job included finding resources, hiding from authority (which often times meant that they worked at night with minimal lighting), being chased by authority, and the consequences of being caught.
ReplyDeleteFor all but the first glorious months of its life, graffiti has been a controversial topic. The political backlash (allegedly an indicator of public opinion, although politicians are preferentially beholden to more wealthy and affluent citizens, creating a misleading situation) is well-documented in Castleman’s article “The Politics of Graffiti.” Implicit in this article is a critique on the amount of resources devoted to removing graffiti from public spaces when urban schools in New York were falling into disrepair.
ReplyDeleteThe debate over graffiti, then, is centered on the ‘defacing’ of public property, which is problematized by the fact that it is the only available outlet for creative expression from urban youths. Public space can be conceived as a kind of commons available to all people and also, by extension, responsible to all people. If a space is truly public, it should be available to anyone. The use of the word ‘public’ in American society is loaded, as the gross disparities between various ‘public’ schools attests. The use of graffiti in public space is thus a double message: it is a particular visible place to produce art, and also by producing art in this way, that the act itself becomes an expression.
Craig Castleman’s Politics of Graffiti shows us a timeline of the history of graffiti. Castleman’s piece discusses how graffiti became big and how “antigraffiti program[s]” (28) came into place. He adds information about the graffiti on subways and how it became popular. Graffiti on subways is also depicted in the video Wild Style. The first couple of scenes show graffiti artists spray painting subway trains. The most interesting part about the movie Wild Style is Raymond’s character (a.k.a Zorro) who paints on various buildings but no one know who he is. I think it is interesting that he is famous by the name of Zorro for his art work, but when he is walking down the street no one knows he is the famous Zorro. Zorro uses graffiti to make social statements. As described in lecture, graffiti speaks to power and privilege because graffiti artists make social statements in public spaces (Sept 21 lecture). These social statements are speaking towards the ideas that there is a lack of space (specifically in New York) and access to opportunity. The only opportunities these individuals have are to make art out of their bodies, words, music, and graffiti. Many citizens are opposed to the use of graffiti on buildings and public spaces, however, the artists are not damaging these buildings, and instead they are making statements to speak to the community about their experiences and misfortunes.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti, as an art form, started in 1971. It was at first considered an act of crime, destroying public property. According to Craig Castleman's article, "The Politics of Graffiti", "In 1973, police arrested 1,563 youths for defacing subways and other public places with graffiti. Of those arrested, 426 eventually went to court and were sentenced to spend a day in the train yards scrubbing graffiti" (24). Why is it that police were spending more time capturing and sentencing the youth for free expression, rather than focusing on real crime in NYC? We may never know the answer to that question. Authorities saw it as an act of destruction, rebellion, and violence to the city. However, graffiti's purpose is not what the government and city officials sought it to be. Graffiti is an expression of art where the artists are "out for fame". The subways and walls are not used for the destruction of property, but a means of free expression. Inner cities did not have the resources to create billboards of artwork, and yet who would see them? In order to "get fame" among a community, you have to display artwork within that very own community. Graffiti, with its various forms of art, social statements and political views, it became a phenomenon that would last a lifetime. According to Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West, "Life's a game, but it's not fair. I break the rules, so I don't care. So I keep doing my own thing...We gonna run this town tonight". This can be compared to Graffiti in the world. Graffiti artists broke all the boundaries, all the rules, and did their own thing. They stood up against the law, let their freedom fly and ran their own towns for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe term graffiti is looked upon as a somewhat co-existing word. Meaning that initially when the term graffiti coined itself it was looked at in a negative light based upon it’s illegal discrepancies, and vandalism of property. However, now the term graffiti has emerged itself into a form of explicit art. Now more than ever, it’s a form of expression rather than a means of vandalizing property, even though it may appear that way. When one expresses themselves through graffiti on public spaces such as trains, buildings etc. it’s a sense of power that has been desired by that particular individual. For example, sometimes individuals involved in graffiti express their words by shapes that look as if they could be words, and usually are secret words within their gangs. These people are trying to portray to the public that nobody can stop their desire to express their art, whether it’s illegal or not. Although something may be illegal to people within our society, finishing that final product on public spaces is there means of a privilege, rather than an illegal discrepancy.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti has been recognized as both a positive and creative form of art, but also as a form of vandalism and defacement of property. Graffiti is the act of using spray paint to configure writing or designs and it is usually constructed on public property. This writing can range from being large and extravagant, like “burners” on the side of subway cars, or can be as simple as a single “tag”, someone’s name or pseudonym used to identify the artist. In the article titled “The Politics of Graffiti”, Castleman gives a chronological account of graffiti in early 1970s New York City. The article shows many examples of how graffiti can be looked at as vandalism. Starting in1971, then-mayor John Lindsay did everything in his power to try and prevent graffiti from appearing around New York City. Lindsay referred to graffiti as “the worst form of pollution we have to combat” and "malicious mischief” (Forman and Neal 22). The article also explains the astronomical amount of money used to combat graffiti. Just in 1972, New York City spent over $10 million dollars on graffiti combat and cleanup (Forman and Neal 24). The amount of money spent on the anti-graffiti effort increased substantially in future years. The Roundtable article by Adams, et al. shows a different side of graffiti. All being current or former graffiti artists, the speakers have a great love and respect for graffiti art and graffiti culture. During the conversation, the members of the discussion show that graffiti may have started by inner city youth spray painting on walls, but now it has transformed into a form of commodity for many artists and businesses. Recently, graffiti has been used in everything from advertisements to CD covers. This conversation shows that there is much more to graffiti than rebellion or spontaneity. The art of graffiti involves time, history, experience, and quality.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, one of the most important functions of graffiti is self-expression. In “Words and Images: A Roundtable on Hip-Hop Design,” Brent Rollins describes graffiti as advertising for yourself: “I mean art is more so like, ‘I gotta comment about something or express something about some situation.’ Graffiti seemed to be, ‘I’m gonna talk all about myself, I’m gonna publicize myself’” (118). Rollins makes an important description of graffiti because showing off your talent and making a name for yourself is the main reason for tagging or writing graffiti in the first place. Graffiti also serves an important social function by showing off another part of hip-hop culture, allowing those who didn’t have a chance to take art classes to share their creative talents.
ReplyDeleteCraig Castleman’s article “The Politics of Graffiti” explains the relationship between graffiti and public space. He describes the various political and rule-making measures the city of New York used to stop graffiti, which ended up in failure every time. Graffiti writers were out to show the rest of the world that they lack the power and/or privilege to become “accepted artists,” and they used public spaces that could be seen by every social class to make their message widespread. However, graffiti artists are no longer confined to alleys and subways, since they have transformed what used to be “vandalism” into fine art works that people pay thousands of dollars for.
Hip-hop as a genre, not only in terms of music, can be seen as a movement of/with self-expression. In Castleman’s article he mentions “there have been very little reduction in the amount of graffiti…proof that the city’s antigraffiti policies have failed” (26). The artists in these urban areas see their tags as statements, or works of art. When “the man” tells them not to do something, there is a higher chance that because they are tired of being told what not to do, they are going to continue doing it. This is their chance at letting their voice be heard and share their issues. These tagged public spaces are areas where the community is congregating and discussing the issues at hand, it only seems fitting to place your statement where you know it will be seen. In terms of the Hip-hop culture, graffiti speaks largely to the people who are out to let the world know they are ready for change. This is their billboard, their advertisement. Their way to reach the masses. Often times the places that are being tagged are prime examples of what the artists are speaking out against; the very things that are affecting their neighborhoods and communities.
ReplyDeleteThe term “graffiti,” similar to most of hip-hop culture began as a way for urban youth to express themselves and has continually been associated with the “negative” behaviors. Graffiti is a great example of the historic chance in society’s attitude towards hip-hop culture. Today, people look at works of graffiti on the streets and are able to appreciate their meaning and the artist’s effort. Graffiti artists like Fab 5 Freddy are selling their pieces for thousands of dollars.
ReplyDeleteAs we learned in class, graffiti can be found almost anywhere but the problem for Mayor Lindsay was that his city was being affected by an epidemic of “malicious mischief” (22). He begged the people of New York City to aid their city by putting much scrutiny on the criminals that were destroying public spaces. During that time, the public was hearing a very one-sided story from wealthy government officials and biased press, that graffiti was offensive and one of “the worst forms of pollution” (22). What urban youth, who were constantly surrounded by adversity and grew up without art programs in school thought of as a way to express themselves and art, was interpreted by the higher class as crime.
We learned in class that sampling, breaking, and more have had an impact on hip-hop both historically and socially. Graffiti also has an impact on hip-hop in its own way. It’s historical because it has been around by the first graffiti writers who pioneered the way for others. We also discussed in class how graffiti serves as a social function because the artists put themselves out there by their work, and some of them talk to each other through their work in a code that only certain people understand. Public spaces provide graffiti artists the ability to display their social function, but it also allows the artists to express their issues or emotions. In the article “The Politics of Graffiti,” author Craig Castleman discusses a city’s attempt to stop graffiti, but a chief judge pointed that that the city “has neither the time nor the facilities to handle graffiti cases.” The judge’s statement supports that it is interesting how so much money is being spent on trying to stop graffiti when the it could be spent providing music or art education for underprivileged children. The mayor of the city expresses her frustration in the article because it was clear that the graffiti issue could not be controlled in her eyes, and this shows the power that graffiti can have in a community.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti was a surreal thing when it first started appearing in the early 1970's in New York. In the article titled "The Politics of Graffiti" it received many mixed reviews, mostly negative as it became a political issue and started appearing at the forefront of many politicians who didn't see it as an "art." In 1972 New York City council President Sanford Garelik said "Graffiti pollutes the and mind and may be one of the worst forms of pollution we have to combat." This idea goes against the ideas brought up in the article, "Words and Images: A Roundtable on Hip-Hop Design." As this article talks about how graffiti shifted the look of pop culture from clothes to shoes, to even cars. A good example of how graffiti connects to hip-hop is when Sanford, on page 137 of the Chang book, talks about how he did oil paintings of historical black figures and people didn't recognize the people, but it was the same people that artists like Public Enemy were talking about in their music. Graffiti can be so powerful, as it can be a highly debated political issue yet still teach people about different historical figures and events, while still staying relevant with the current state of hip-hop at the time.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading “The Politics of Graffiti,” I never realized how big of a “war” there was between the authority and graffiti writers. Millions of dollars were spent to rid the city of graffiti and to retaliate those efforts, writers only stepped up and tagged even more. While the art of graffiti is truly remarkable, you have to think of the property that these taggers are leaving their mark on. These public spaces where the tags are left were built or provided from taxpayers’ dollars. Part of the beauty of graffiti is that those doing it live in no fear, for what they convey through their work may be their only creative outlet available and will therefore go though great lengths to achieve completing a “burner” or a tag etc. Graffiti artists do not see what they do as necessarily defacing public property, but rather a means of expressing themselves.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti is held to be one of the four components of Hip-hop (Persley, lecture 1). Since graffiti’s beginning and popularization in the 1970’s (Castleman 21), it has had a stigma of being “ugly” or “obscene,” and New York City worked to eradicate all signs of graffiti in public spaces (Castleman 23).
ReplyDeleteGraffiti’s prominence on public surfaces is not haphazard defacing of public space by low socioeconomic delinquents, but it is an outcry on social injustices like power and privilege. Because some public spaces travel through city centers (i.e. trains), graffiti allows the artist to express problems regarding racial issues, property distribution (using his or her art to claim public area), or any issue specific to the artist’s area.
As Cey Adams notes in “Words and Images,” graffiti has moved from the streets to album covers and has become an art industry. His artwork, illustrated in Chang’s book (p. 121), shows that graffiti is being taken to a new public space- the mass media. Because of this, graffiti is starting to slowly lose its stigma and is starting to be viewed as a (highly profitable) art form.
I never used to look at graffiti as art before we talked about it as a form of art in class. I actually never even really notice graffiti. Graffiti is often looked at as just vandalism on buildings, but it’s so much more than that. I feel like graffiti is expressed in public spaces because there aren’t really any other forums that are available. Plus, I think it would be more difficult to communicate through graffiti if it wasn’t done in a public space because the graffiti would be less accessible if it was in like an art museum. The entire nature of the art is compelling and interesting. The graffiti artists don’t have a studio and countless hours to make their creation. They have to throw up their work as fast as they can before they get caught by the police or even the owners of buildings. I think that the thrill of getting caught, adds to the artwork. Graffiti is like a sped up version of free styling. It’s free styling because the artists just take their aerosol cans and throw up whatever comes to mind. The artists sometimes may have an idea or outline of what they want to produce but it’s not completely drawn out.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti is usually used to express the artist's feelings, emotions, and experiences through colorful artwork. I do not think that graffiti is a form of vandalism, but a true communication from the artist to its viewers. Graffiti 'speaks' to issues of power by demonstrating issues, like violence, in forms of artwork in different areas. One can see designs displaying former President George Bush, talking down to minorities, and this is how one would recognize the issues of power, privilege, and the amount of inequality.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti relates to breaking, mcing, djing, ect. because it is just another way of expression by an artist. In the video, "Wildstyles", the beats of mcing and djing is in sync with the artist who is producing Graffiti. This displays how there is such a strong connection between the verbal terms and the visual terms. All seem to have a history that collaborate together, and root from same social problems in society. Gangs, violence, racism, just to name a few. Graffiti is a technique used by artist in order to produce their feelings for others to view. In all, it is a art form that need to be more appreciated.
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ReplyDeleteGraffiti as an element of Hip-hop shares many of the cultural sub text that is evident in the other three expressions. It is a format for a oppressed people to revolt and to have their voices heard. Graffiti writing is an instrument of the urban artist. In the movie "Wild Style",it is shown as a tool to mark territory, as a powerful political expression, and as an opportunity for young artists to gain notoriety throughout a neighborhood on the basis of their skill and creativity. Most writers are out to 'get fame'. As in most aspects of Hip-hop, boasting and representing is a fundamental aspect of graffiti writing. There is a sense of pride and accomplishment that is tied to the artist that can be the most bold and daring. Lee Quinones, who plays the character Zorro, mentions, "They [other writers] aren't painting. They can't even do a whole car". The fact that Zorro thinks that writing on an entire side of a subway car is the true pinnacle of graffiti expresses the writers collective view of public space. Craig Castleman expounds on this in his article "The Politics of Graffiti". From the perspective of the graffiti writer there is no difference between what they do and what big corporations do with their advertisements. In his article, the artist Taki 183 views public space as just that; public. It is not owned by anyone; it is owned by all. Taki 183 says, "Why do they go after the little guy? Why not the campaign organizations that put stickers all over the subways at election time?" (Castleman 21) The fact that writing on public space is a recurring theme in Graffiti is not accidental. It is elemental. It is a way to fight back against the administrations that are more worried about their cities looking pretty than them being safe.
ReplyDeleteThe start of the grafitti revolution in New York was indeed “the first genuine teenage street culture since the fifties” (Goldstein 1). As the Craig Castleman article demonstrates, teenage expression will always be regarded as radical and dangerous (Read: Rock n’ Roll music in the fifties) and will almost always be assimilated into popular culture. For New York officials in the early seventies grafitti was dangerous and ugly in the public eye, and at first, the city had the media on its side. As time went on, New York Magazine began to give Taki awards for creative tags and graffiti pieces in honor of Taki 183, a poor teenage tagger and the first artist picked up by mainstream media.
ReplyDeleteThis divide between civic establishmentarianism and expression of popular culture in early-seventies New York is a perfect example of the art vs. vandalism argument. It’s astonishing how much of a statement that a few pieces of art on public property can make about issues of power and privilege. This issue is even more exemplified in the fact that the city of New York spent exponentially more money on civic restoration of grafitti’d public space than it ever did on art programs in schools. Furthermore, the issues of youth expressing themselves in creative, improvisational and artistic ways versus the way the city sees them as vandals and delinquents speaks more on the differences in power and privilege than any number or figure ever will.
Graffiti is a mainstay in the hip-hop culture. There are many different types of graffiti and many different places that graffiti is put up. The graffiti culture definitely has its own uniqueness, but there are also a lot of similarities between it and “art”. The similarities range from: different surfaces to different utensils for doing the painting, from different styles to it being a mix of people trying to accomplish just one piece. That is a wide range of similarities that are starting to be seen by the general public. Now people are allowing for graffiti artist to make money by selling their work. Graffiti has been used for many years in the hip-hop scene, either for crew recognition or just to have some fun. But now people are starting to realize that graffiti can be used in advertisements, commercials, and even CD covers. There are two different styles of writing the graffiti letters. The first one is bubble letters, which is easily thought of. The second is called wildstyle. This is more of a elaborate, hard to read type of letters. You have to step back and just let the letters come to you when you are looking at wildstyle graffiti.
ReplyDeleteInterest in graffiti started with the New York Times getting to the bottom of who was spray painting "Taki 183" around the city. In the interview that the Times had with Taki 183 he was portrayed as an "engaging character with a unique and fascinating hobby" (Castleman 21), but once this article came out more people started to graffiti the city. A later article from the New York Times called graffiti “day-glo bright and multicolored, sometimes obscene, always offensive” (Castleman 23). What once was an interesting display turned into a nuisance for the city of New York.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti makes a statement about the lack of opportunity that the youth of the inner city. These graffiti artists had little to no access to art programs in schools, so tagging on a wall was their way of expressing themselves. The same way that the city government excluded this inner city kids by not giving them access to the same things as upper class neighborhoods, graffiti artists had a coded language which excluded everyone that was not apart of the community. Letter writer P.R Patterson stated that he “hailed youths who paint graffiti for ‘cheering up the depressing environment in the poorer areas of the city’ “and he accused most people of being “guilty of subduing the desire to mark up subways as a protest against the indignities of the city bureaucracy” (Castleman 24).
In regard to public space graffiti did cost the city “more than $300,000” (Castleman 21) to clean the graffiti and the graffiti prevention project that was proposed by the city would have cost $24 million to establish, but on the other hand it could cost less if the city gave these graffiti artists a controlled space to do their work. I think that if these graffiti artists had a place that they felt like they could do their work without the fear of being arrested or hurt then the amount of graffiti on trains and in public area would diminish.
While graffiti is viewed as a form of vandalism by public officials, it can also be described as a creative form of art and expression. In the movie “Wild Style,” the main character, Zoro, uses graffiti to express himself visually to compliment the verbal and physical ways that hip-hop artists can also express themselves through MCing, DJing, and breaking. Graffiti can be as simple as a tag, someone’s name or persona written on public spaces, or it can be as complex as protest of power or expression of patriotism. The interesting aspect of graffiti is that in contrast to classic artists, they work at night with little light and with a short amount of time. The time constraint lies in the fact that public officials deem graffiti to be illegal because they are writing on “public space.” The fact that graffiti artists paint on public space causes an issue for them. They believe that such public spaces should be available to everyone and they may do with it what they wish. While graffiti has come to hold a negative connotation involved with the urban ghetto, it is simply a unique form of art that deserves more respect than it receives.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti is one of the four elements of hip-hop. In lecture, graffiti is known as the using of aerosol paint to design and create a piece of artwork. These pieces are artwork are usually found in public places created with and without premission. Public space may include sides of buildings, subways, trains, and under bridges. According to Craig Castleman, subway graffiti became a political issue in NYC in 1972. By 1971, a message saying "Taki 183" was scattered throughout the city of New York. Taki was a 17 year old who simply just 'tagged' his name all over the city. A Times article said that Taki was an engagiing character with a unique and fascinating hobby. As a result, Taki was like a folk hero and graffiti writers increased enormously. The main issues graffiti imposes is that it is an unwanted form of vandalism in which cities have to spend millions of dollars to clean up. However, I do not look at graffiti as a negative thing. Graffiti allows artists to express their emotions and portray everyday issues and events.
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ReplyDeleteGraffiti is another element of hip-hop and another way for artists to express a social statement on the lack of opportunity they have in the community. Artists pick out public places such as subways, which Craig Castleman mentions in Politics of Graffiti. Most public citizens believe that graffiti is damaging the buildings or walls, and never understand the message that these artists are saying. With all the lack of opportunity these artists have, graffiti is the only way they can speak to the public besides other elements of hip-hop(music, body, words). Subway graffiti was also shown in the film “Wild Style”, which did an excellent job of demonstrating how the elements of hip-hop work together to get a message across to the public. Artists “tag” every image that is drawn in an effort to get the public citizens to possibly recognize their “tag” when they see it throughout the city. This is the artists’ effort to get their name out there without anyone actually ever knowing who they are. Although graffiti is illegal, artists’ will do whatever it takes to get their opportunity in their community and to get their message about their life and hardships across to the public.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti and public space go hand in hand when considering art and expression in Hip Hop. As an art form, graffiti has seen a large rise in popularity over the past twenty years. When it began, the act of tagging, or putting one’s name in their artwork, was very important. It involved making a symbol or sign including their name to make the artist known in the community as a prominent artist. As well, this developed the concept of expression in graffiti as artists became more creative in their ways. Public space, where graffiti was painted, became a symbol in this form of art. It was crucial to find a space for the graf artist to do their work. However as time has progressed, graffiti has been considered vandalism of property because of this idea of public space. Boxcars of subways are owned by the city, and officials began to see graffiti as destruction of their property. However, graf artists have not let this stop them as they see public space as a place for their creativity to be expressed.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti, also known as the art of “Bombing” as mentioned in lecture, began to boom in 1971 after the New York Times ran an article about Taki 183. Graffiti is all about getting up and the more an artist gets up the more “Fame” they can receive. Bombing doesn’t give you the same kind of fame as say, dissing somebody in an album or on stage, but in the way that people recognize your tag, your artwork, but in reality have no clue who the artist really is. The most common place for a graffiti artist to strike are public places, sometimes trying to out-do each other, as subways cars were huge targets for “Burners”. In “The Politics of Graffiti” graffiti had been referred to as “a vermin of catastrophe that these writings had sprouted like weeds” as New York City found itself in the middle of “an all-out war on graffiti”. Although most people didn’t feel the same way, some people thought that graffiti livened up the boring grey subway lines.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti is very important to public space in the sense that it shows an expression through art instead of violence. This may be a source of vandalism but I agree the graffiti can light up the side of a broken down building. The public space that is targeted for tagging is usually space that is mostly seen by eyes that can relate and appreciate the beauty of the murals. Others out side of this region might not understand and interpret it in the wrong way. On the destructive side, Graffiti can be very territorial which could lead to a negative effect (stealing pants, fighting, and so on). On a personal note, when I think of Graffiti I see the huge murals, filled in bubble letters and art that takes some time and thought. “Tagging” on the other hand is more like a scribble and a mess, makes places looked run down. For example bathroom walls are usually very vulgar and can be degrading. Graffiti on canvas is great but does not have the story behind it. The adrenaline rush from creating art illegally makes it more of a message or something special. Anyone can post their artwork on Google but having a masterpiece on a side of a public train is a guarantee that the artwork will be seen and lives on. It almost has a call and response to other graffiti artists. A train is like a museum on wheels. What I really respect is that graffiti artists are not calling for fame or recognition. They are on a side of a train just presenting their gift to the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteTo me graffiti has always been a form of art. When I was young I attended a summer camp in northern Michigan through the Evanston, IL YMCA and my first counselor was a graffiti artist.
ReplyDeleteHis passion for his art form shaped my views on the subject from early on. His view mirrored the quote from Taki 183 in Craig Castlemans article "The politics of graffiti". In that article Taki says" you don’t do it for the girls. They don’t seem to care. You do it for yourself". This is the same sentiment that my counselor Brendan expressed. He had spent a very short time in jail for his work but when I asked him why he continued to after being arrested he said he just loved to do it as a form of art. He showed me his piece book of all his sketches and then photos of the actual art and places he tagged and it was very impressive. They weren’t his name or anything derogatory or offensive they were actually beautiful works of art. I like the way Claus Oldenberg describes the graffiti in New York and share his views. Oldenberg writes, "you're standing there in the train, everything is gray and gloomy, and all of a sudden one of those graffiti trains slides in and brightens up the place like a bouquet from Latin America
Tosin Morohunfola: Grafitti is usually “spraying aerosol paintings on public spaces.” (Hodges Persely, Lecture). But like most things Hop-Hop related, the terms have much more ambiguous meanings. Even chalking on campus is a form of graffiti.
ReplyDeleteIn a letter to R. H. Robinson, a fan of the aesthetics of Graffiti hails “youths who paint graffiti for cheering up the depressing environment in the poorer areas of the city.” (Forman & Neal, 24) This seems honest but it also makes the graffiti sound desired. Referring back to graffiti’s definition, “Graffiti is only graffiti when it is unsolicited. If it’s solicited then it’s a mural.” (Hodges Persely, Lecture) This makes us question whether accepted graffiti is still graffiti. Must it be done illegally? Must it piss everyone off to be graffiti?
The term Public Space is inextricably connected to graffiti because it is the existence of public space that verifies the legitimacy of graffiti. If we take KRS-One’s lyrics in “Out for Fame” seriously, then Egyptian Hieroglyphic wall-writers were the first graffiti writers. Those Egyptians were saving records of history, their writings were a service to all. But that would still be considered a gross crime because it is in a public space. Really, the problem with the notion of public space is the lack of specificity. It has absolutely no limitations. The range can vary from the exterior of an office building to my very own bedroom, which I share with another person.
One element that truly shows hip-hops artistic side is graffiti. As described in class, graffiti is the “use of aerosol paint to design and create a piece of artwork”. Graffitists use artistic devices when bombing to claim public space while creating a piece of art. Most graffiti art is done in the dark, late at night where the artist cannot be seen or identified. This sort of identity protection is especially important to the artist. Graffitists want their work to be identifiable but not themselves. Although graffiti is often frowned upon because of its nature (damages, sometimes explicit on public property) there are many ideas that go behind it all. Artists either tag just their name, or create murals to convey messages. These messages often have underlying political meanings. Subway cars and certain areas of the city are commonly used as canvases for graffitists because of their location within inner-cities. Castleman explains in his article how cities created anti-graffiti acts and spent thousands of dollars to clean up the graffiti. Not much can be done however to stop these artists from their work. Graffiti won’t go away because it has such an influence on the artistic style of hip-hop.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti in public spaces in urban communities is inescapable. However, the message and meaning behind the art is often lost in the eyes of the general public. As discussed in class, there is a lot of codification and metaphor, just like in all other aspects of hip-hop culture, which prevents those individuals outside of the culture from fully understanding. What is not recognized, however, is the art behind graffiti in public spaces. Urban youths use what they have, what few resources that is, to express themselves. I think Oldernberg said it best when he announced that, “the city is like a newspaper anyway, so it’s natural to see writing all over the place” (Forman and Neal 25). Like any other art form, be it writing or something more abstract, graffiti is meant to send a message and provoke emotion in the minds of its viewers; graffiti is the history and day-to-day happenings of the urban culture. The urban youth does not have their voices heard in the newspapers and magazines of the city so they use the only public media they have access to, public spaces. While graffiti may not be seen as art in the eyes of some of those outside the hip-hop culture, who are they to say it is not art at all?
ReplyDeleteGraffiti is a way of expressing yourself and having your voice heard. Graffiti is putting your tag or artwork up on public space without permission from the owner. Public Space is anywhere that is not privately owned. Graffiti artists like to tag on buildings and on mass transit and by freeway entrance and exit ramps because these sites are put in urban areas away from the people with more money and graffiti artists like to show that their voice is just as loud as the voice of the rich. Graffiti is also a way to get your work out their and get recognition in the community.
ReplyDeleteGraffiti is the art of using aerosol paint to design and create a piece of artwork. It is usually found in public spaces without permission. The art of graffiti with permission becomes a mural or art instead of “rude” depictions on public property. Graffiti is an art form that really showed social statements about the lack of access and opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting how trains became a graffiti artist’s canvas. Transportation over the urban space impacted the quality of life for the poor. In Changs book, Jeff asked Sacha name one or two of the best pieces of hip hop design, and he replied “ For me, it’s always gonna be the stuff I saw on trains, whether it was good or bad.” (Chang 132). The risks that the artists took just to paint on the trains or a side of a building really showed how dedicated they were to showing self expression. Artists faced jail, fines, and even death just to display their artwork. Pack FM “Click Clack Spray” talks about painting on train stations and how you have to be smart about your surroundings because undercover cops are in the train station just to catch artists.
Out for Fame by KRS-ONE is a song really talking about the art of graffiti, and to me when he began discussing how the Egyptians wrote calligraphy on their walls, I really began to see the parallel between hip hop culture and how it incorporates other cultures.
When the term graffiti first came about it was looked at very negatively because it was illegal and was vandalism of property. However, now the term graffiti is known as explicit art. Now instead of defacing and vandalizing property graffiti is now more than ever, it’s a form of art. It is a powerful form of art one that gives these artist an infinite space to express themselves. Whether it is legal or not graffiti artists are trying to portray to the public their desire to express their art.
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ReplyDeleteMost of the elements of the Hip-Hop culture are misunderstood, so is graffiti. To many the colorful murals that decorate walls and streets of the ghetto are considered a form of defacing public property. Graffiti has been looked down upon by the people outside of the Hip-Hop culture since it was first created more than three decades ago. Things have begun to change for this form of art work though, instead of being frowned upon it has actually gained credibility in the artistic world. There are now many talented and popular graffiti artists in today’s art museums. Graffiti is so interesting because of many things, the colors and abstract pictures make it mesmerizing. The art work also tells many stories, most of which are from the world of Hip-Hop. In the readings about graffiti’s many describe it as brightening up a gloomy world, bringing cheer to the poverty stricken parts of cities. Graffiti is a beautiful form of expression; it allows a visual element to the different sounds and movements of the Hip-Hop world. The art is so liquid that it is able to be harsh and violent but also soft and joyful.
The art of graffiti is the ability of using aerosol spray cans to create a design or tag of some kind. Graffiti began as Hip-Hop’s original visual art form displayed in public spaces such as trains, buildings, and amphitheatres as shown in the movie “Wild Style”. However, today Hip-Hop design has branched into various fields for example: magazines, album covers, clothing, and cars. In the article “Words and Images: A Roundtable on Hip-Hop Design,” former graffiti artist Sacha Jenkins pointed out that all modern Hip-Hop designs contain aesthetic elements that are lineages traced back to graffiti art in New York City. During the 1980’s, graffiti artists such as Brent Rollins and Cey Adams were able to combine words and images into a truly authentic Hip-Hop art piece. The graffiti became an outlet for many artists to represent themselves by advertising their work in public spaces. Many of the graffiti pieces were intended for people of power and privilege to demonstrate political and social issues occurring. These visuals can be seen as outcries for the real problems that needed to be faced in the inner city communities. However the government spends its money on cleaning up graffiti instead of financing art classes for schools. (Professor Hodges Persley) So morally speaking, who are the real vandals in the end?
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Topeka, KS I very rarely saw graffiti in the form of art. I saw many tags but was unable to read and understand them. Anytime I went out of town to a major city I enjoyed looking at the graffiti on the side of subway trains and buildings but did not quit understand the background and history of this art. I was unable to comprehend the amount of risk involved behind graffiti art as well as the political stance it may also hold. In the article “The Politics of Graffiti” by Craig Castleman, it was interesting to read how graffiti artists did not do it for the girls, they risked doing graffiti for themselves. Graffiti is a form of expression, which is related to the hip hop culture and is seen on public spaces such as train cars, buildings, subways, ect. But why is this illegal to express your opinion on public spaces? Castleman’s article continues to explain to us how “Mayor Lindsay announced his own antigraffiti program,” which seemed to deface graffiti art seen in more of an upper-class community. (Foreman 22) This leaves us to find most graffiti art seen in lower-class communities, unless someone in political power gives permission to display art on a public space it would then be deemed as a mural. Graffiti art was looked down upon until businesses found a way to make it a commodity. Although the same risk is still taken today in the form of graffiti art on public spaces.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Hodges Persley defined graffiti in class as using aerosol spray paint to create artwork. This definition is somewhat broad, since (as discussed in class) many people consider designs spray painted on public space to be graffiti, but yet when the same design is painted with permission it becomes a mural. The article Words and Images repeatedly references graffiti as being “hip-hop’s indigenous visual art form.” The article discusses creating this graffiti artwork and how it has become hip-hop’s art form, but Castleman’s article The Politics of Graffiti discusses the relationships between power, privilege, poverty, and graffiti. The Politics of Graffiti describes graffiti in several different lights, offering a couple different definitions. It references graffiti as being the “wanton use of spray paint to deface subways,” and then alternatively as “cheering up the depressing environment in the poorer areas of the city.” These opposing meanings illustrate the viewpoints of those with power and privilege (viewing graffiti as a public nuisance), and those who live in these impoverished areas, who may view graffiti as a way to express themselves when they lack other resources and opportunities.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think of graffiti as destructive and defacing of personal and private property. After watching Wildstyle, I understand its significance in hip-hop, why it was seen as necessary, but I still don’t see the grand point of it. As an art form it is a nice way to display skill and various techniques, sort of the same ways tattoos are viewed and liked by those who have them and appreciate them. However I am not one of those. I prefer art to be on a canvas or on some sort of medium that isn’t degenerative to its context or space. Graffiti is an invasion and sometimes can be a destruction of personal spaces. As an art form, I do appreciate it when it isn’t defacing property. Graffiti is amazing that they are able to paint some of the pictures and graphics that they do in some of the places and spaces that they do. When I look at graffiti I think more about how it got there, who did it and why compared to the actual images. I see it as introspective type of artwork and like that it makes me wonder.
ReplyDeleteIn that graffiti is essentially a type of performance art, it is important to consider its influence as a deliberate act. Its artists were not simply creating vandalism because they didn't know any better; their work is a direct reference to their environment. Cuts in funding for urban education removed all artistic outlets from the curricula, forcing inspired youth to resort to illicit means of expression. They relied on their own genius to beautify the same structures/spaces which were devoid of officially sanctioned art. In "Wild Style", both Zoro and his "girl" take these positions when questioned about their motives: he considers graffiti artists who don't take risks invalid, and she states that her crew is attempting to improve the scenery with their work. The film also reveals the aristocracy's callous reception of graffiti. When he attends a party with established art figures, they can only focus on the cost of removing his so-called vandalism, refusing even to consider more productive uses for federal funding. Ironically, the relentless efforts by officials to remove graffiti ultimately served to reinforce the artists' message: its repression gave it more authenticity, and its mobility (on subway cars) forced citizens to confront the issue of stifled art on a daily basis.
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