The art of public offense.

Strolling through the streets of any city around the world, you might be lucky enough to find graphics embodied in walls. The most important feature, and why these graphics become important, is that they were not supposed to be there originally. The claim that everyone at some point in their life has seen at least one piece of graffiti may sound far-fetched. However, it may not be as imprecise as it appears. From abandoned buildings to political posters, the canvases on which each street artists choose to express themselves are as variable as the content of the message itself. Both stylized typefaces and complex murals are examples of graffiti that can be found anywhere in the world, creating as much or more controversy as any other art form. The nature of this art form highlights some of the fundamental questions of art: What is and what is not considered art? Who decides if something is art? Is art in the eyes of the artist or the viewer? It would be too ambitious a task to try to answer even one of these questions. Something more realistic would be to answer instead Why is graffiti a topic worth discussing on this blog?

Painting walls is not an activity that has been discovered by modern man and yet it is something we associate with urban life. The word graffiti comes from the plural of graffito, which in turn comes from the Italian graffio, which is used to describe a mark or scratch. Two great examples of this are those presented in figure 1, found at Ephesus and Rome, which show graphs made from stone markings. These graphics have very different content, despite going back to the same time period. The first, is believed to have been placed to show the way to the largest brothel in the city. The second for its part shows the image of a crucified Jesus with the head of an animal (horse or donkey). These two examples show the use of "vandalism" to convey a message. This mockery of the Catholic religion expressed by the second example shows a key message in a time when Catholicism was not popular in the Roman Empire. However, the image remained present to witness the rise in popularity of the Catholic religion and thereby become an even more controversial and offensive icon. This brings us to the first reason to talk about graffiti on this blog: history.

Figure 2: Hommage "Kilroy was here".

The graffiti movement has undergone radical changes since those first scratches on a wall were recorded. To transform itself into what it is today, the art of painting public spaces had to undergo various transformations. Starting with the hobo language (early 20th century), where people without a fixed address created a pictorial language to communicate with each other. They used graphic elements to warn of highly regulated areas or safe places where you could camp. Eventually, this same idea would carry over to WWII with the birth of the character Kilroy. This character would appear wherever the US military was. Later, the use of spray paint to "scratch" names or signatures by artists would become popular. An icon of this movement was "Taki 183," written by a New Yorker who worked as a courier in the 1960s. Dementraki used to write that throughout his travels around the city, so it would appear in alleys, walls, and subway cars. This action would become popular, which would exponentially increase the amount of graffiti in the city. The artists began to take the city in their hands with increasingly complex figures and more and more detailed graphics.

 

Figure 3: Mural with three women (Paris).

When we speak of graffiti, it is important to contemplate the vast diversity in styles, content, techniques and themes that this word encompasses. As an example of this, we can study figure 2, where a small collage of street art is presented. With great ease we can see the different examples and graphics that are mixed between them to decorate any black wall. We can separate the image into two sections: the commercial part on the right and the public side on the left. The commercial side consists of a vinyl printed and placed on the window of the “Vans” store, a brand known for its involvement with urban culture. Despite being artistic in itself, the most interesting side is the public side. Probably the most immersive component of the wall is the image of three blue women, however there is much more going on on this wall than just this. Other classic styles of street art can be seen present around the three women such as some stickers, printed posters, something that looks like random doodles, stylized names, etc. These components that surround the three women, far from diminishing the attractiveness, enrich the wall to become a kind of collage. The imperfect mix of these pieces, from different authors, creates a unique piece that becomes a great representation of what a piece of urban art is and the diversity that this entails. It is a good reflection of large modern cities as large centers where people from all backgrounds and origins come together to celebrate their diversity. In a certain way, Graffiti has turned cities into large open access museums, it has achieved the popularization of art, something that otherwise seems unattainable. This brings us to the second reason writing about graffiti is reasonable: diversity.

 Figure 4: Abandoned space with different expressions of Graffit (Paris).

Unlike the wall in figure 3, figure 4 shows a completely different scenario. In this case a vacant lot produced the perfect space for multiple artists to express themselves. Under a quick glance, many people would dismiss it as simple vandalism and discredit its artistic value. This enhances the aura surrounding the word graffiti and stains it with controversy. This example challenges the traditional rules of art and its aesthetics, and demonstrates the underlying subjectivity in this discipline. For some people this is reason enough to call the police, while for others this has as much artistic value as any work seen in a museum. Despite containing an overwhelming amount of messages loaded with political and social tones, such as the phrase “We are all imigrants” or “regarder c'est inventer ”, the illegality of the act and its lack of traditional aesthetics punish it in its classification as art. On the other hand, it is possible that the intention of this work was precisely to create confusion and controversy due to disorder and disorganization, which has been the intention of other artistic works in the past. Additionally, you can see the signature of one of the possible authors, Jack le Black, as if it were an ordinary piece in a renowned museum. Then? Can it be classified as a work of art? This brings us to the third point to talk about graffiti: the controversy.

 

Figure 5: Mural found at Bratislava.

Throughout this short post, we've discussed three of the reasons we find graffiti worth talking about. It is a powerful medium of expression, which has created its own history and has turned cities into great open-air museums for diverse expression. Finally, graffiti has a lot to say, generating controversy and has kept us talking about it for a long time. Graffiti is an incredibly vast subject and this article doesn't cover the slightest bit, but we hope it has at least caused you some curiosity.