Graffiti As An Art Form

By Melanie Ullman
Graffiti is a term used to describe drawings or writings on a wall or public place. It is commonly seen in subways, alleys, or other forms of public property. Some people consider graffiti as vandalism, while others insist that it’s art.

While it’s true that graffiti is sometimes used as a weapon of subversion, it can actually be an immensely positive form of artistic expression. Crude graffiti sometimes involves cheap barbs at symbols of authority, or even vulgar messages. But sometimes graffiti can be a force for change. For example, shreds of the Berlin wall contain graffiti that expresses the feeling of the post-cold-war generation. Many of these artists have no experience of the wall except through history classes. They have no real concept of the pain, suffering, and sacrifice that the long slab of concrete represented. But they do have feelings about it, and these feelings can be understood by analysing the graffiti on that wall.

Another example of positive graffiti is the concept of reverse graffiti. It ranges from using your finger to write ‘wash me’ on a dirty car to scraping images into a dirt stained wall. The concept was popularised by street artists, and is sometimes called grime writing, dust tagging, or clean advertising. Commercial entities use it for guerrilla advertising. These artists suggested that instead of cleaning the accumulated dirt on public surfaces, they should simply modify it. They did this by using chisels, wire brushes, and other tools to scrape images into the grime. The images were mostly themes from nature like trees, animals, and fish. The clean patches of concrete contrasted the dirty patches to make calm, serene pictures.

Graffiti as we know it began in the 1960s, and mainly consisted of images painted on public walls using spray cans. The art is considered illegal, because permission was not sought. Today, some commercial companies hire graffiti artists to decorate their property. It is used as a form of advertising and sometimes promotes social causes. This form of graffiti is more easily recognized as art because of its legality.

Some argue that placing images on public walls is not necessarily a bad thing. From as far back as the Stone Age, people painted animals and other motifs onto rocks and cave walls. We generally assume that these paintings were done on the cave dwellings of the painters, so that wasn’t necessarily graffiti. The walls were private property and were painted with the permission of the owners.

But others argue that very fact that graffiti is illegal proves it’s an art. Many underground movements have produced some of the greatest art, and this is especially true in the music world. This argument is built up by mentioning the time factor. Many graffiti projects are done at night, because the artists don’t want to get caught by the authorities. Yet despite the time limits and the darkness, they are still able to produce immensely beautiful and intricate images. The ability to create such fine work under so much pressure is the mark of a true artist.

Been a while - back in action!

It's been quite a while since I last updated this blog. The main reason was that I had to put Graffitipix on hold - for a long time.

Much of the issue has been time. I've been caught up in other business ventures which have taken most of my time and energy. However, now that those other businesses are more-or-less stable, I'm able to get back to what I love - great artwork!

I've focused on graffiti art for many years, and have assembled a wonderful collection from Miss Van, Fafi, Banksy, and others. Most of my collection is in the way of 'private' graffiti photographs rather than canvases. I continue to collect photos of great art - and please feel free to continue contacting me if you have any great photo's that you'd like to talk about or sell.

One area that I had gotten into in a big way was Prison Art. In fact, I had started The Prison Art Project (http://www.prisonartproject.org), specifically to collect, show, and sell prison art.

Now that I have the time and opportunity to get back into the whole art thing, this is going to be where a good deal of my focus will be.

If you have any prison art, or correspond with anyone who is locked up and creates art, or has buddies on the inside that do, please contact me.

It's been a long time, and I really look forward to picking up where I left off, and then taking this whole thing way, way further.

I'll be completely revamping the Graffitipix.com website, as well as re-designing and re-launching The Prison Art Project. I still have what is probably one of the largest collections of prison outsider art in existence, at least on this side of the bars.

And so look here for more (and frequent) updates as I kick this whole thing back into gear. In other words, come back and visit soon, and often! If you have any questions, comments, or anything you like to communciate with me about, feel free to leave a comment below.

You can also expect that I will be posting some of the images, both graffiti art and prison art, on this blog. That should be beginning in the next coming weeks.

Thanks to all for your ongoing support!

Graffiti Styles

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There are many styles of graffiti art in the world. The most basic style was random carvings or paintings that are depictions of the artist’s life, ideals, or values. Through out history, from cave paintings to depictions of life in Pompeii, graffiti gives archeologists and sociologists an idea of the mindset of the general population. Even though in modern cultures, graffiti is considered vandalism, it still leaves a clear message of the education, political mindset, and overall vision of the artists.

The first kind and most popular graffiti is called “tagging” or “bombing”. This was created in the early 70’s when the artist would develop a signature and a handle. Tak182 was the first one credited to start the “bombing” movement. Being a foot messenger, he would ride subways and mark the trains he would ride with his signature “Tak182 was here” The popularity of bombing grew and an artist’s reputation was increased with the number of places (and more difficult) they could tag.

Subway cars were the prime canvas for New York graffiti artists until the anti-graffiti movement in the 80’s. People would break into the stations when the subway cars were stationed for the night and have time to do elaborate murals and even decorate a full car.

This was the start of the “Piece” or masterpiece. An artist would use three or more colors to create block or bubble letters for their signature, along with background images and even some characters to represent the artist.

Another form of graffiti is the “throw-up”. This is similar to the “tag” but uses a few more colors to outline and highlight the work. Speed was the key, as the artist usually does not want to get caught.

The last most common form is stencils. The artist usually will create a stencil from cardboard and will hold it up to their “canvas” and spray over it. This from requires no real artistic talent, but it does make up for speed and intricacy of design.

The Graffiti Art of Banksy

Banksy is a protest graffiti artist. He is residing in Bristol, UK and his art features an alterative political view that goes against the mass media perspectives. Banksy has been featured in numerous magazines and galleries. His primary use of stencils has lead to groundbreaking artwork that many have tried to emulate and use as inspiration for their work.

Banksy is known for his paid works as well. He has been hired by numerous charitable organizations like Greenpeace to do work for their causes. His canvas works have been sold for up to 25,000 pounds. Banksy is knows for his reclusiveness and no one really knows who he is or his real history.

Banksy is a self published artist, he currently as of 2008 has 4 books out. His first is in black and white called “Banging your head against a brick wall” This was followed by his first full color book, “Existentialism”. Later in 2004, he published his first book called “Cut it out”. His latest book “Wall and piece” came out in 2006

Banksy’s art is unique. His pictures are all painted from odd perspectives and no one really knows much about him and how he does his work. He does comment and talk about his craft on his website. It’s speculated that he was either too slow for freehand graffiti and would get caught, or he just was not good at freehand.

His work has been seen around the world. His work has shown up after hurricane Katrina on derelict houses. Banksy has been known for his outrageous demonstrations. At the Glastonbury festival, Banksy arranged the portable toilets into a Stonehenge formation. At the art museum that housed the Mona Lisa, Banksy went and put up a replica picture in the men’s room with Lisa having a yellow smile on her face
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Banksy prefers his identity hidden, he has refused receiving many awards to keep up his mystery. All we can do is sit back and enjoy his work, and see what new feats he will come up with.

GraffitiPix and Prison Art Project Scheduled For Major Update

Graffitipix, the premier website for exhibition grade museum-quality graffiti prints from artists like Miss Van and FAFI is about to get a major overhaul and improvement.

The entire web site will be upgraded with additional new pictures from FAFI and Miss Van, as well as many other graffiti artists.

The long-awaited release of The Prison Art Project website is coming as well. This site, www.prisonartproject.org will be coming online in mid-October. Prisonartproject.org will be featuring hundreds of extraordinary original pieces by inmate artists incarcerated throughout the United States and the rest of the world.

There will be numerous prison art pieces featuring pen & ink, colored pencil, pen, graphite, Magic Marker, and more.

These "Outsider Art" originals range from smaller pieces, to many 8.5"x11" pieces created on notebook paper, to larger works created on linen from prison bed sheets.

You can see some new pieces posted on Graffitipix.com already, with many more to come.

Look for the updates to Graffitipix at around the same time as Prisonartproject.org. There will also be an emphasis on women graffiti artists, as well as some up & coming new taggers.

We welcome your suggestions about new artists to feature on the premier Graffiti art website.

Graffitipix also welcomes and solicits your original photographs of graffiti art from around the world. Please feel free to leave a comment with contact information for us!

Looking For Graffiti Artist Suggestions

In my ongoing efforts to improve Graffitipix.com (http://www.graffitipix.com), I would like to ask for some help - from you!

Right now, most of the interest we get is for Miss Van and FAFI. There is still a lot of interest in many of the other graffiti artists, but I would like to ask for suggestions.

Who should we be looking at, contacting, supporting?

It doesn't necessarily need to be new graffiti artists or taggers, anyone tagging, bombing, painting, or otherwise creating beautiful graffiti art is of interest.

Are there women graffiti artists we should be looking at? Graffiti art that has somehow escaped our attention?

You are our eyes and ears. Please post a comment and let me know what new (or old) graffiti art has been catching your attention, which graffiti artists you would like to see more of.

Thanks! And don't forget to stop by and visit Graffitipix.com, the premier graffiti pictures web site!

Big Changes Coming to Graffitipix!

We have BIG changes coming to Graffitipix.com this summer!

We will be adding some TERRIFIC new photos of Miss Van, FAFI, and some other graffiti artists "to be named later" - you can check the site beginning mid-July.

We will also be adding to the Pop-Art, and Pulp Covers categories, as well as adding some new categories.

Also, there will be additions of some incredibly cool and beautiful "anonymous" graffiti art - some from taggers we don't think we have ever seen before.

I'd also like to mention that The Prison Art Project is coming along very nicely!

Lastly, we've had so much fun with our Graffiti Pictures, that we are creating new websites in some entirely new (well, new for us) art categories:

Native American art;
Religious art;
Vintage and Classic Automobiles;

as well as a few others, also "to be named later".

Check back here often!

Been a while, but I'm back!

It's been quite a while since I last posted, but I'm back! We have quite a few plans in the works for Graffitipix, including many new pics that will be offered, as well as some exciting new categories.

Lots of very cool Miss Van and Fafi pics coming!

The biggest "addition" will be an entire gallery of Prison Art for sale! These will be individual artworks. We've been working with about 20 inmate artists, and now have over 300 pieces of amazing artwork that we will be offering!

One reason for my absence is that I've been helping out an Internet Marketing group - you can see their blog at Improve Your Internet Marketing - these guys really know their stuff, and I've learned a lot about marketing on the internet.

Look for the Prison Art and other very cool additions coming in the next few weeks!

Bullied by Gallery Owner

As you know, I run graffitipix.com, a site that sells pictures of graffiti street art. I recently received a disturbing email from a French gallery owner claiming to speak for all these graffiti artists - who shall remain nameless for the time being - threatening all sorts of actions; going to far as to suggest even "bigger" consequences than legal actions! I dunno, maybe they plan to come to my apartment and beat me up...

This comes from some misleading (intentional?) notion that a gallery owner showing some pictures from an artist somehow 'owns' the rights to anything and everything that artist might have done!

Now let me say, I respect intellectual property. And an artists rights. But we're talking graffiti here! Art intentionally put into the public domain! First, unless you are the photographer, you can no more claim copyright to a picture of the side of a building than you can to a picture of the statue of liberty! Does Michael Jackson write to People Magazine when they publish a Paparazzi's picture on their cover??

Second, what copyright? - graffiti is illegal in most places.

Now in fairness, we inadvertantly posted pictures of some works that were not public access public space pictures. We apologized, and they are all in the process of being removed. But to knowlingly try and bully us away from something we have every right to do, suggesting some dangerous "big" consequences, flies right in the face of what graffiti is all about! Graffiti is about free expression, about transcending boundries, and yes, thumbing their nose at the establishment.

Now that the establishment is making a buck from it, all of a sudden greed kicks in - and worse yet, under the guise of "what the artist wants"! What the artist wanted, at least before the gallery owners got there, was free creative expression. What happened?

Molly

Miss Van and Fafi - different, yet...

Doing one of my frequent Google searches on Miss Van, I came across a blog that had comments on her work going a few years back.

Now, I have a *lot* of photo's of Miss Van's work, pictures that I've taken or acquired, and some of them are available for sale on graffitipix.com. Needless to say, I'm a true fan of Miss Van. I think her characters are sexy, sophisticated, and her work has evolved pleasingly.

I can say exactly the same for Fafi. And having looked at *so many* Miss Van and Fafi images, though similar in that they both paint girls and cute creatures, everyone is strikingly different.

Of course, not everyone feels the same way. I know this. Still, it was interesting to read some of the comments:

• "Her stuff looks like Fafi’s artwork. And thats not good to begin with."
• "I can see a similar inspiration in both Miss Van, and Fafi’s works, but one can see that Miss Van has a far better feel for the paint and her mark making…not to mention color. I wouldn’t even compare the two."
• "I knew of Miss Van before Fafi…I think it’s a case of great minds thinking alike."
• "i like em both, but yeah.. they get balled into the same person quite a bit."
• "Indeed Miss Van has been painting a bit longer than Fafi, and it shows. Miss Van’s linework has more of a sophistication to it, with a greater handling of the stylized characters and colors than Fafi."

'Course when you really consider...

• "Interestingly enough, both are from the same area of Paris, in Toulouse, so I’m sure that they know each other."

Opinions, they're like &%$#% - everyone's got one. Anyway you look at it though, no one can argue, that they both produce Serious Art!

Molly

Track tragedy ruled accidental

Just passing it along - sad!

Islington Tribune [London] - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 23 February 2007
Graffiti artist died on tracks

A graphic designer was electrocuted when he slipped on train tracks after drunkenly reverting to the graffiti lifestyle he had abandoned since the birth of his child, an inquest heard yesterday (Thursday). George Andrew King, 22, was hit by 750 volts of electricity when he fell on the live rail near Caledonian Road and Barnsbury railway station during a graffiti spree in the early hours of Saturday September 16 last year.

After a night at a media party, he had gone on to the rails with friend and fellow spray-canner Jason Edwards, who ended up trying to prise his convulsing body from the line with a plank of wood before calling for an ambulance.

Mr Edwards said he had been walking ahead of Mr King as they returned to the station after tagging a bridge.

He said: "I just turned round and he was lying on the rail. I know from before - it's instant death on that track."

Though they risked their lives and broke their own safety protocols by rushing to the still-live line, the paramedics could see instantly that Mr King was dead, Coroner Dr Andrew Reid was told. Katherine Ketchaev, Mr King's partner and the mother of his young son, said he had given up graffiti on the railways since she had become concerned for his safety - but had given in to temptation after a few drinks while she slept.

Police experts said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

Verdict: accidental death.

"Non-standard" graffiti

"Non-standard" graffiti - now there's a contradiction! After all, the heart of graffiti is to be creative outside the norm, to go beyond (or around, over, underneath...) the traditional formats. Graffiti artists are the non-conformists of the art world! So what in the world do I mean by "non-standard" graffiti?

Most graffiti consists of spray-can art: pictures, tags, etc. We'll call that "standard" graffiti. Then there are "variations" on the theme: tagging with markers, painting with acrylics, even using stencils. And there are the targets: walls are pretty "standard". But some of the best graffiti consists of drawing on other surfaces and objects i.e. lamp-posts, billboards, etc. Some terrific graffiti is created by marking up statues and the like!

I find myself increasingly drawn to "non-standard" graffiti. I've recently seen entire books of the stuff!

One of the more interesting concepts is what I call "collage" graffiti. The idea is to use 'stuff' in place of 'paint'. The image up top is a great example. Created by Swoon, (and of course available at www.graffitipix.com) it basically consists of a paper illustration pasted onto a wall. It is simple, creative, and captivating, hallmarks of all good graffiti.

It also amazing how much of the stuff is out there. Once you start thinking about, you begin to see it everywhere!

So, seen any neat "non-standard" graffiti? Taken pictures of any?? Send 'em in, and I'll post them on the site!

Molly

The very first graffitipix post!

Hello! My name is Molly and I run a new website, http://www.graffitipix.com. The site, graffitipix.com as it is known, offers museum-quality prints featuring graffiti from Miss Van, FAFI, Camille, Banksy, DAZ, and others. The purpose of the site is to offer graffiti as ''serious art"!

The prints we produce are truly museum-quality, and are made on photo paper and canvas. Currently, most prints are either 19"x13" unframed prints, or 8"x10" framed prints.

I plan to use this blog to talk about some of the artists I like the most, background on the graffiti scene, and post some pictures. I invite you to post anything related to graffiti. If you have a graffiti site, I'd like to add your link, and maybe you can link to this blog, and to graffitipix.com also!

Molly