街头涂鸦艺术研究：留学生作业

涂鸦可以被定义为在某一物体上通过喷漆、涂写或者刮抹留下的文字、图像记号。它通常是一种自我表达的形式，与创造力息息相关。不过这门艺术缺乏社会的认同和支持。街道上看到的大部分涂鸦作品都是用喷雾创作的，这样的形式让它看起来像是故意毁坏的行为。多数涂鸦出现在涂有油漆的墙壁、街道标杆、浴室和厕所的墙壁、汽车和火车的座位、广告牌、人行道、电话亭上。尽管在墙上书写创造的艺术很早就已经出现，涂鸦作为一种文化、运动和生活方式，在30年前才出现。早时期的人们在洞穴石壁上绘画，罗马帝国时期的罗马人在他们征服的城市的墙壁上涂写。据说洛杉矶是美国首个出现这种艺术的城市。大约在1940年，一伙西班牙人用乔洛书法进行了创作。现代涂鸦被认为发源于Combread，一位作家用此表达对欣赏女孩的爱意。最开始他在女孩的衣帽柜上写自己的名字，随后在她等车的公交站写，长此以往，笔耕文化推荐期刊，他的名字遍布费城。从此以后，涂鸦艺术家们将这种艺术形式发展到了不同层级。

Graffiti can be defined as markings in terms of lettering or images that have been painted, scrawled or scratched in a property. It is usually a form of self expression and it involves creativity. This form of art has lacked recognition and approval by the society. Most of the graffiti found in the streets is done using sprays and it is this form that is viewed as vandalism. Most of the graffiti is found in the form of painted walls, street posts, bathroom and toilet walls, bus and train seats, bill boards, side walks and telephone booths (Ernest, 1997: 25). Though the act of writing on walls began along time ago, graffiti became a culture, a movement and a form of lifestyle 30 years ago. The early man drew pictures on the walls of the caves and the Romans during the Roman Empire wrote on the walls of the cities that they conquered. Los Angeles can be said to be the first city in the United States to be painted in this form of art. Around 1940, it was painted with Cholo writings which were Hispanic gang writing. Modern graffiti can be said to originate from Combread, a writer who used it to impress a girl he admired. He started by writing his name on her locker, went on and wrote it at her bus stop and in due course, his name was all over Philadelphia (Davey, 2005). From then the graffiti artists have taken this form of art to various levels. Some well known graffiti artists are Twist and Giant. These two artists from San Francisco have taken graffiti to the streets and from the streets to the galleries. They have become well known in the streets and in the conventional world as artists. The graffiti artists use spray paints, pens, shoe polish, bucket paint, stickers and sand paper to paint. There are different forms of graffiti. The gang graffiti is the form of graffiti that criminal gangs use to mark their territory. There is also the type of graffiti that expresses ones political view point. This is used mostly to show dissatisfaction in the present form of governance or to show contempt to the government of the day. The new trend of graffiti is called artistic graffiti. This is used to express ones personal feelings just like any form of art (Stowers, 1997)

This type of graffiti started in New York City and just the other forms of graffiti, soon spread to other areas. It was at first allowed by the city authorities and the city dwellers and this played a major part in ensuring that it spreads to other areas. But it came to a point of invading even the private property due to reduced space and the competition (Tobin, 1995). This made the property owners to put pressure on the politicians in a way to stop destruction of their private property. The police were told to ensure that the graffiti artists are stopped. If caught, they are usually charged with vandalism. Today most graffiti writings is illegal and the artists do it at night while hooded. The hoods are associated with hip hop culture and as we can see, graffiti and hip hop culture goes hand in hand.

Graffiti is used to express ones true feelings when it is viewed as an art and not as vandalism. But there are some who paint vandalism as a way of vandalism. There are those who paint graffiti as a form of art while others paint it as a form of vandalizing. But for whatever purpose that it is aimed at, graffiti is a form of it due to the level of creativity involved. There are many forms of graffiti and it depends with the artist and his or her intention. Some people may paint graffiti such that it carries a hidden message. Others make it so as to express and let out their feelings. Others make it for fun and humor in a manner aimed at brightening other people’s lives. This is usually colorful, beautifully painted graffiti without disrespect. Gangs make graffiti with an aim of marking and establishing their territories. This form of art is about expressing and presenting yourself as many times as you can and as noticeable as possible (Castllen, 1997: 35). Graffiti can be used as a form of advertisement e.g. the Mural Kings of New York who are paid to advertise using graffiti on the street walls.

There are some people whose main purpose of painting graffiti is for vandalism. This is more so when it is done on the private property. The graffiti artists think that what they do is a way of life and a lifestyle but the majority of the societies tend to think otherwise. The graffiti used by gangs to mark their territory made graffiti to be associated with crime and to be considered as vandalism. In true sense, only a small part of graffiti is gang related. Even though there are those who claim that the element of criminality in graffiti is what makes it attractive and appealing and that legal graffiti is not interesting at all. Many graffiti paintings and art are found in places that are most unsafe e.g. in dark alleys and in abandoned areas. This fact makes graffiti to be viewed as vandalism and as an act of crime. When graffiti first emerged in the city of New York, Lindsey, the mayor of the city at the time was quoted saying that the graffiti madness is related to mental problems. (Cooper, 1984:2l). Though considered as vandalism, it is not commonly reported to the police. Most of the tags and graffiti paintings are usually painted over immediately they appear in most cities. But this is not a solution because doing this providesa very good canvas or painting platform for the next artist.

The major concern about graffiti arose from the painting of the same in trains and subways. By doing this, the expression and concern that arose was the overall sense of insecurity and danger in the subways. The groups formed by the artists i.e. the crews were seen as criminal groups. Many city dwellers were not happy when their city was sprayed with graffiti paintings. Though the city belongs to no one in particular, most of the city dwellers were not happy with the defacing. This is because there is always a sense of attachment to the city that one lives. It became a major concern among business men. The local business men were concerned due to the fear of gangs especially when the graffiti is in their place of operation or in their neighbor hood. Because many businessmen view graffiti as gang related, there was the possibility of them avoiding these areas that were flashed with graffiti. This led to reduced sales on the part of the business men. There was also decline in the value of property which was splashed with graffiti. Apart from increasing the fear of the residents in the neighbor hood, graffiti also decreases the value of properties. Its presence also leads to attraction of more graffiti artists.

Though considered illegal, incoherent and of low standard presentation, its aesthetic criteria makes it an art form. Graffiti as compared to those works found in galleries and museums has not been formally recognized and accepted as a form of art. This is not because it lacks in any kind of form or because it lacks some important aesthetic elements, but the main reason why graffiti has not been fully accepted is due to its location, its open and bold presentation and its mode of unconventional presentation. Its illegal location is not a reason of dismissing graffiti as a form of art. The popularity of graffiti rose with the rise of hip hop. Graffiti started in New York City and so did hip hop. Therefore graffiti is an important part of the hip hop culture (Dickie, 1989:25)

Graffiti has grown into an art due to the formation of crews. This is a group of writers who have a passion of art and they come together to fulfill their ambitions. Most crew members are usually friends. This crew is usually not a gang though they sometimes look like a gang. This took the art of graffiti from one individual to a group of individuals and this uplifted it to higher level. Beef, which is rivalry between crew members, is what keeps the politics of graffiti moving. Graffiti as a form of art has inspired many young artist who use it to express their feelings and through this make very beautiful forms of art. From the streets graffiti moved to the subways and it s here that it became very competitive. The graffiti artists are competing for space. This is because there are no more spaces in the streets to paint the graffiti. This competition and lack of space has led to conflict between the graffiti artists and property owners (Ernest, 1997:28)

The city setting is what influences, inspires and provokes the graffiti artists. Most graffiti artists will look for areas in the city that have been abandoned or are dangerous to leave their mark. There are very few graffiti paintings if any in the rural areas. So the place for graffiti is in the city. The spaces left in the city are very few. This has made some graffiti artists to invade the private property and leave their mark their. This in reference is what involves vandalism. The critics of graffiti as a form of vandalism refer to the graffiti found in the private property to criticize it. Very few is said about the beautiful and attractive art form that is found in the streets. Many graffiti writers will rarely write on personal cars. Space is very important to a graffiti writer in that most of them write in places where their graffiti will be seen by other graffiti writers. With the decreasing space, most artists have transformed into writing tags which do not take a lot of space and are easy to write. Also the diminishing space has led into shift of graffiti into the internet and into clothing. Since most graffiti is associated with hip hop culture, most of the hip hop artists dressing is furnished with beautiful graffiti art form (Shapiro, 2007; 18).

Most of the graffiti painting is usually done by young people who find it as a way of expressing themselves. Graffiti is an important part of culture and can be said to be a historical movement that should not be suppressed. However it should be regulated and used correctly because by doing this it can greatly beautify the city. Through regulating it, the city can help the citizens to embrace and accept its beauty while at the same time removing the negative connotations that are associated with it. But again regulating it may make it less appealing as this will mean limiting the extent that one can express him or her self. Graffiti artists should be seen as talented artists rather than as criminals. The main question we should ask ourselves is whether if Picasso’s paintings would be regarded as vandalism. In doing this we ought to realize the potential that is in these artists and help them realize their potentials. It has become easier for the police to hunt down the graffiti artists as compared to the drug gangs and other criminal gangs. This is because the other criminal gangs are usually well armed and they have well established systems unlike the graffiti gangs.