"The streets are my canvas, I don't have the dough to push out and buy paint;
I rack [steal] it. When you're broke and you wanna draw, graffiti is what you do--bottom line it's poor folk's art" - EnocRock
The first appearance of modern graffiti was in Philadelphia's working class communities in the early 60s as a tool for political organizations to push slogans. The form of graffiti that we now see every day did not begin to develop until the late 1960s. Philadelphia graffiti artists began "bombing" [writing on the streets] all over the city and soon this art form made its way to other East Coast cities, eventually spreading to the West Coast.
The first graffiti artists that began catching attention from outside the graffiti community were the artists known as Cornbread and CoolEarl. The artists received a lot of attention from Philly press, prompting more graffiti artists to search for fame. Wanting to see their names in the press, they started to bomb wherever they could.
By the early 1970s graffiti found its way to New York City. The first graffiti artists emerged from the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, a mostly Latino and African American working class community. The famous Taki 183, A Washington Heights native, was one of the founders of graffiti on the NYC scene.
Like any form of art, graffiti has many coexisting styles, from young people crudely scrawling their name, to beautifully complex murals that cover entire walls. Soon, the graffiti community became so large that artists needed new ways to stand out and grab attention.
In the race for more fame, many script and calligraphic styles were created. Artists enhanced their styles with flourishes, stars and other designs. Some designs were strictly for visual appeal while others had other meanings. For example, a crown usually represented a writer who claimed to be a "king", someone in graffiti that has gained lots of fame and respect due to their individual style and creativity. The use of designs in addition to putting up your name is known as the development of the "tag style." This consists of tag, which is the writer's graffiti name, and style, which represents the artistic direction of the writer. Later graffiti had to redefine itself to come up with new techniques, new forms of "getting up" (the term originally referring to the actual act of crawling up steep heights to paint) continued to emerge.
From 1977 to 1979 there was a huge explosion of graffiti activity in New York City. The city lacked funding and was not able to combat the onslaught of graffiti activity, which was especially focused on the city's, trains, and subway tunnels. During this period you could find the most active graffiti artists, with the broadest range of style and technique. With such expression from the hearts of the young inner city kids involved, this subculture was at its peak, and many masterpieces emerged on the walls of the subway cars. ESKAE a Bronx born writer explained the feelings of these writers to Dynamic, saying "People with money can put up signs; if you don't have money you are marginalized, you're not allowed to express yourself or to put up words or messages that you think other people should see. Camel Cigarettes, they're up all over the country and look at the messages Camel sends. They're just keeping the masses paralyzed so they can go about their business with little resistance"
There is no doubt that graffiti found its beginning in working class communities. Children of the ghetto had an artistic voice that had to be made public. However, many new artists are emerging from middle class neighborhoods and surburbs. This shows a new stream of graffiti development. Artists began to buy walls. Graffiti that used to be found on the street covering storefronts in Brooklyn can now be found in trendy galleries.
Within the graffiti community there is some resistance to this change. One anonymous writer said, "It is difficult to accept it on white gallery walls. Then it becomes part of the commodity market. The social context is what gives it meaning and this is what is being ripped from it. Graffiti needs criminality to maintain its ethical quality, its note of authenticity,"
"Graffiti is the voice, the expression of the people." Says Yoda 5, a West Coast Artist, "It goes against everything those museums and galleries represent. Some can't get in--those places are not for everyone, for the people. That's why graffiti started in the streets. You'll never see me getting up in some institution."
Through all of its development and problems, graffiti found its creation in the hands of those who have no voice, and it has been a source of expression and artistic skill that have gotten urban youth into some of the most respected art schools. "It's difficult to call graffiti art, because it was born to operate outside the system, and art has a system. So when you put graffiti in a gallery, you are taking an outsider inside. It's like putting an animal in a cage." Says another writer, RizeTwo.
Nevertheless, graffiti continues to offer opportunity to many young people. Artists are being hired to do ads for companies, creating their own businesses, and their own underground schools that teach other artists to develop their style. Artists are getting into recognized art instructions and developing these skills even more. This is the future of graffiti: the creation of institutions that give a place to working class people and youth that have talent. Here they have an opportunity to develop their skills on a free, community basis.
The laws against graffiti are getting harsher by the day. Many working class youth fall victim to these laws, so the creation of community-based institutions that help working class youth develop their skills are a necessity. More institutions like this are needed, so there will always be a place for youth with talent to find more opportunities.
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