Graffiti ABC's

​Walking down the city street I looked up and saw the work of street artists.  The orange spray paint contrasted with the buildings beige stucco. My mind wandered. Who are these unnamed creatives? When did they start? What’s their motivation?

ABC’s of Graffiti:

Aerosol paint - speed, portability, and permanence also make aerosol paint a common graffiti medium

Blockbuster / roller – large piece done in block-shaped style, done to cover a large area with two contrasting colors to block other writers from painting

Cornbread - first modern graffiti writer is widely considered to be Cornbread, a high school student from Philadelphia, who went around tagging the city with, “Cornbread Loves Cynthia”

David Choe – the richest street artist worth $200 million

Ecko (Marc) – an urban clothing designer who’s an advocate for graffiti as an art form

Fab 5 Freedy – along with Lee Quinones was given a gallery opening in Rome by an art dealer spreading graffiti outside of New York

Graffiti – writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched or painted typically illicitly on a wall or other surface within public view

Henry Chalfant – the foremost advocate of modern graffiti and producer of the documentary file Style Wars

Infamy – a 2005 documentary about the graffiti culture

Jean Michel Basquiat – SAMO (same-oh) graffiti artist of short phrases, usually poetic or sarcastic created in the Manhattan area of New York City

Kilroy was here – American pop culture expression of a bald-headed man with a prominent nose peeking over a wall with the fingers of each hand clutching the wall that became popular during WWII

Lady Pink – the “first lady of graffiti” she used her art to empower women

Magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) –known as light art it’s a new way to make street art

New York Times – ran an article titled TAKI 183 Spawns Pen Pals, giving birth to a whole legion of kids who decided to copy him and tag their own names across the city

Offensive graffiti - form of graffiti that’s difficult to identify, as it is removed by the local authority who have adopted strategies to remove graffiti quickly

Pissing – taking a refillable fire-extinguisher and replacing the contents with paint so you can tag as high as 20 feet

Quinones (Lee) – artist who was given a gallery opening in Rome by an art dealer spreading graffiti outside of New York

Rock and roll graffiti – associated with the anti-establishment punk rock movement including bands such as Black Flag and Crass (and their followers) widely stenciled their names and logos, while many punk night clubs, squats, and hangouts

Softies - the popular bubble writing

Tag – most basic writing of an artist’s name

University of Sydney – has a “Graffiti Tunnel” where any student can tag, advertise, poster or create art

Vandalism – action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property

Wildstyle – graffiti involving interlocking letters and connecting points

Xavier Prou – father of stencil graffiti, started by painting stencils of rates on the streets in Paris

Yarnbombing – a recent form of graffiti that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fiber rather than paint or chalk
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Zephyr – graffiti artist whose art was applied on New York City Subways