People have been drawing on walls since ancient times. These famous cave painting's at Lascaux, France are a prime example. They are 17,300 years old.
Kilroy was here (American) or Mr. Chad (U.K.) was possibly one of the first examples of graffiti emerging as a platform to speak out. These were seem everywhere during WW2.
PARIS May 68' during the student riots was an important time for the art form. People used it as a voice against the government. A statement that can be seen by any man or woman. It was a way of skipping the middle man of advertising or media and going directly to the source.
NEW YORK 1970's. Another important era for Graffiti. We see the emergence of the spray can as a fast and accessible medium. It evolved alongside Hip-Hop culture and was meant to make the language of the streets visible to all.
Jon Naar, Photographer, (1973). Documented the scene and culture.
Jean-Michel Basquit. Created a character called 'SAMO'. Started as a private joke and grew.
John Feckner, Broken Promises (1980). People started to experiment with surroundings as canvases.
The Berlin Wall became a world must for graffiti.
It then started to be adapted by the mainstream as popularity for it grew. Even by coca cola. TATS CRU (1997)
It even appeared in video games. It had broken into the mass market.
More recently the term 'Street Art' has been created as it shifts into a more conceptual nature.
The french artist Space Invader using mosaics spread around the world to give a more permanent message, however light hearted that may be.
It also begins to re-emerge into galleries with work from Banksy and Shepard Fairey.
People also practice environmentally sound methods such as reverse graffiti which works by removing dirt from a wall in order to create an image.
Paul Curtis (Moose), Reverse Graffiti.
Leave your comment