graﬃti’ · professor sandra jeppesen 13-10-03 6 . piecebook’orblackbook’=’craola’...

Graffiti Is it crime-‐-‐or is it art?

13-10-03 Professor Sandra Jeppesen

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The Graffiti Scene Develops


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graffi0 writers

definition of graffiti

  Graffi0 is defined as the street produc0on of art by graffi0 ‘writers’ who make up an underground ar0st subculture

  Developed in hip-‐hop street-‐based subcultures

  Graffi0 is dis0nguished from gang tags, neo-‐Nazi symbols, and other forms of tagging, which are not considered graffi0 art


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Tags that are not considered graffiti


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Graffiti creation

  Graffi0 is made from a minimal number of items – no canvas is required, no elaborate art studio or materials

  Graffi0 consists of leEering, characters, and backgrounds

  Graffi0 ar0sts use spray paint with precision nozzles, and some0mes also felt-‐0pped markers

  Graffi0 ‘pieces’ are oGen collabora0vely designed and produced by ‘crews’

  Crews are groups of graffi0 writers e.g. The Nasty Boys (TNB)

  Graffi0 skills are taught “kid to kid” (skill sharing)

  Addi0onal roles include “filling in” and “lookout”


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Graffiti scene or subculture

  Graffi0 writers have knowledge specific to graffi0 scene:   having a crew or crews   tagging, talking about tagging, familiarity with other people’s

tags   knowing about and buying/acquiring materials for producing

graffi0   having their own aesthe0c style   having an an0-‐authoritarian poli0cs   apprecia0on of the illegali0es of graffi0   using slang, dressing a certain way, drinking malt liquor,

smoking pot, etc.   having a piecebook or blackbook   par0cipa0ng in other aspects of hip-‐hop culture (e.g. beat-‐

boxing, DJing, breakdancing, freestyling, scratching, etc.) or other underground subcultures (punk or industrial music, freight-‐hopping crusty punk travellers, etc.)


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Piecebook or Blackbook -‐ craola


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Piecebook or Blackbook -‐ Del CBS


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Elements of graffiti

SCAM and SPECS


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fester -‐ Vancouver


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Graffiti Locations

  Graffi0 occupies public space in urban landscapes

  Graffi0 appears on alley walls, subway cars, trains, subway sta0on walls, etc.

  Writers have done “wholecar” pain0ngs on subway cars that would travel through the NYC landscape being seen by thousands of people

  Graffi0 also appears in hidden or underground spaces

  Graffi0 writers know or discover these places, and check them oGen, as part of an on-‐going dialogue

  Reclaims public space from corporate logos, ads, etc.


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Stenciling by Banksy (UK)

  “The greatest crimes in the world are not commiEed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules.

  It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages”


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Graffiti Styles

  Style is an important aspect of graffi0, which creates its own vocabulary of street imagery and visual style

  Graffi0 becomes a kind of underground city art scape, producing a map of the subculture

  Knowing things about this map, knowing how to read it, or adding to it, might be one thing that allows entry into the subculture


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mew3Jpbwtrain


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Graffiti masterpiece


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Graffiti slang

  tagging is the process of crea0ng graffi0 aka ‘wri0ng’

  big tags or complex murals are known as pieces, short for masterpieces

  kings are expert or well-‐known graffi0 ar0sts/writers

  toyz are inexperienced or new (or bad) taggers

  a wall of fame is a large graffi0 wall with many pieces

  ar0st sketchbooks are known as piecebooks or blackbooks


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Effects of graffiti slang

  Slang serves to create the subculture or scene

  Creates complex meanings within subculture

  Resignifica0on e.g. ‘masterpiece’   the term ‘masterpiece’ typically applies to the world of

‘high art’   resignifica0on reclaims signifier of the ‘high art’ world for

the graffi0 scene, challenging the domina0on of high art, and giving importance to graffi0 as art


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2-‐minute pair discussion

  what is the effect of slang in a subculture or scene such as the graffi0 scene?


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Graffiti Becomes a Crime


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graffi0 as crime

graffi0 writers

Graffiti is Criminalized

  graffi0 is iden0fied as a problem by the authori0es, including police, city counsellors, business owners, and residents associa0ons

  graffi0 is constructed as a social problem and then criminalized


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Authoritarian approaches

  graffi0 is discussed in authoritarian terms: policy, control, preven0on, vandalism, ordinances, by-‐laws, etc.

  graffi0 becomes ins0tu0onalized without any of its own signifiers (tags, pieces, etc.) or par0cipants (writers) in the dialogue

  interplay of cultural innova0on (graffi0 ar0sts) and ins0tu0onalized intolerance (an0-‐graffi0 policing)


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Graffiti writers vs. moral entrepreneurs

  two groups are related through their different interpreta0ons of the aesthe0cs of graffi0

  aesthe+cs: set of principles rela0ng to the nature and apprecia0on of beauty

  vast inequali0es of wealth and power between the moral entrepreneurs of the an0-‐graffi0 network and the street-‐based graffi0 writer subculture

  graffi0 wri0ng shiGs as the an0-‐graffi0 movement gains momentum, sending graffi0 writers further underground


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The authoritarian aesthetic

  authori0es claim graffi0 is ugly, that it creates a public sense of chaos

  two arguments given against graffi0: 1.  property ownership:

  “It’s my wall and I have control over how it looks” 2.  aesthe0c norms:

  the colours don’t match   the style clashes with the rest of the neighbourhood   it is not neat and 0dy

  these arguments connect aesthe0cs with authority, i.e. with the carefully coordinated control of urban image and design, in the smoothed-‐out textures of clean environments

  aesthe0c sensibility is no longer about beauty, but solely about control   this is called the authoritarian aesthe+c


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The anti-‐authoritarian aesthetic

  pu_ng up ‘pieces’ requires a shared set of aesthe0c resources

  graffi0 is a form of an0-‐authoritarian direct-‐ac0on cultural resistance to middle-‐class aesthe0c values, rou0nes, manners, and lifestyles

  it appears in a sudden and mysterious manner, as it is done in the middle of the night   graffi0 writers are posi0oned outside the rou0ne of daily work   graffi0 is a threat to those who par0cipate in the daily work world

  undisciplined: similar to guerrilla warfare and popular insurgencies in its strategic lack of overt recognizable discipline

  graffi0 breaks the hold of corporate and government-‐approved styles over the urban environment and the rou0niza0on of daily 9to5 work life

  aesthe0cs of graffi0 art derive from a daily, lifestyle challenge to authori0es this is known as the an+-‐authoritarian aesthe+c


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competing aesthetic views

authoritarian aesthe0c   “No maEer how good it

looks, graffi0 is ugly” – Denver mayor

an0-‐authoritarian aesthe0c   “People say graffi0 is ugly,

irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly.” -‐ Banksy


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2 minute pair discussion

  how are aesthe0cs and poli0cs mixed in the authoritarian vs. an0-‐authoritarian views?


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Graffiti Moves Into Art Galleries


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graffi0 as crime

graffi0 as art

graffi0 writers

Graffiti in art galleries

  Graffi0 quickly became the predominant visual style of urban culture

  Graffi0 was quickly picked up as a hot commodity, and brought in to art galleries

  Many graffi0 ar0sts par0cipated in the mainstream art scene:   some were art school students while doing graffi0   some dropped out of art college to do graffi0   some would go on to art college aGer being graffi0

ar0sts


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Graffiti Art Success show (1980)

  “people responded to the freedom of it. It was from the street, we were all self-‐taught, and there was something to it that was not fake. It was genuine.”

-‐ CRASH, curator of Graffi0 Art Success, age 21


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The National Portrait Gallery RECOGNIZE! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture


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BANKSY

  “the people who run our ci0es don’t understand graffi0 because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit...

  the people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff....

  any adver0sement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours, it belongs to you, its yours to take, rearrange and re-‐use…

  asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head”


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BANKSY

  “Remember crime against property is not real crime. People look at an oil pain0ng and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffi0 pain0ng and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access.”


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tensions between galleries & writers

  Tensions existed between graffi0 ar0sts and gallery owners

  They were oGen part of the same scene

  Social lass division between the ‘street scene’ of graffi0 ar0sts (oGen lower socioeconomic class) and the ‘art scene’ of galleries (bourgeois or middle class)

  Graffi0 writers wanted to retain some of the purity and freedom of the scene

  Galleries imposed rules, deadlines, structure (e.g. no drinking, no pot smoking, day0me hours, etc.)

  Some writers saw galleries as a sell-‐out


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Graffiti: is it crime or is it art?


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graffi0 as crime

graffi0 as art

graffi0 writers

Small group discussion

  What is the role of rebellious art in society?

  Is it ART: a vehicle for social change, an important mode of self-‐expression and self-‐empowerment?

  Or is it CRIME: an ill-‐advised violent aEack on society by unruly individuals with nothing to say?

  write responses

  put your names on it

  email it to me and cc your group members

  [email protected]


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graﬃti’ · professor sandra jeppesen 13-10-03 6 . piecebook’orblackbook’=’craola’...

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