Graffiti Tagging Styles

Graffiti - Graffiti Tagging Styles

It doesn't matter where you live in the world, chances are you've seen graffiti somewhere around your local community. It seems to spring up in every culture, although it tends to be more prevalent in big cities.

But is it vandalism? Or is it art? That's a difficult question to answer, mainly because there are so many different types and styles of graffiti. The most basic form of graffiti is "tagging" - which is usually a simple graphic, usually letters, perhaps a play on the creator's initials or nicknames. Often small and monochrome, it's probably one of the most annoying and frustrating types of graffiti, because it is small enough to deface almost any surface, and is almost universally condemned as having no artistic merit.

Graffiti, however, isn't restricted to tagging. On larger surfaces, many graffiti artists employ multiple colors and intricate designs to create their pictures. This is the type of graffiti that starts to cross the line into being artistic. It's this type of graffiti art that is now being showcased in a number of art galleries, both in the USA and around the world.

The other problem with graffiti as art is that the issue is clouded by the location of the art. If some of these stunning designs were created on a canvas, or a wall specially set aside for the purpose, then it would be easier to recognize them as art. Unfortunately most graffiti is placed on private property, without the owner's consent, and so is less likely to be viewed as a welcome addition.

Around the world, communities and governments have become more vigilant in their attempts to reduce the amount of graffiti. In many places there are community groups or government funded teams who guarantee to clean up graffiti in 24 hours after it's reported. Trains in New York were given new coatings that allowed paint to just be "dissolved" off their surfaces.

In my own local area, the sale of spray paint to persons under 18 is illegal, and all spray paints are kept in locked display cupboards. Another area has a team of painters who regularly go around and repaint any fences that have been covered in graffiti. One homeowner I know has had his fence repainted 7 times so far! Over time, however, the amount of graffiti reappearing is reducing, which is a victory for the opponents of graffiti.

Still, simply removing the problem may in fact be a loss to the artistic community in general. If graffiti is considered in its most highly refined form, then are we in fact stopping artistic development in its tracks by making it impossible for budding graffiti artists to practice their craft?

When you illegally deface someone else's property, no matter how beautiful the art you create, you have still committed a crime. Maybe what we need to do is find ways that graffiti artists can learn and practice their craft, without needing to deface hundreds of properties in the process. Some communities now provide blank spaces and invite local graffiti artists to paint them. Others have graffiti walls, where anyone can paint whatever they want.

Maybe there needs to be a shift in the thinking of graffiti artists, so they can discover the value of painting on paper, rather than walls. Would the great painters of the past still be as famous today if they had painted on walls, rather than on canvas? The problem is complex, so finding a solution that makes everyone happy is unlikely to be simple.

1. Graffiti 101
... writers are remembered for creating specific styles. For example, Blade and Comet created ... ... piece. TO PIECE To paint graffiti, creating a piece, not just go out tagging. PIECEBOOK A writer's ...
http://sites.unc.edu/dani ...marc/Graffiti 101.htm

2. Rase One font family : MyFonts
... is a Highground Industries font family with 6 styles priced from $34.99. Click a Purchase Options ... ... burner, decorative, gangster, graffiti, hiphop, spray, tag, tagging, urban, wildstyle [suggest] Not ...
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/highground/rase-one/

3. connecting*the*dots
... goods and the lure of its life-styles, conveyed to every part of ... that are becoming hooked on tagging, hooked on participation ... On, Syd Sunday Bloody Sunday Graffiti Friday: Corporate Love the ...
http://www.seancoon.org/index.php?tag=humanity

4. paco rosic sistine chapel aerosal artist spray paint graffiti
... and works on community projects including tagging garbage trucks, and walls of abandoned ... ... their Metro sections. While the traditional graffiti styles were fun to work with and the projects too ...
http://www.paco-rosic.com/bio.html

5. Wireless Wonders: 2005-02-06 - Blog of Paul Golding, Wireless Veteran, 3G, M...
... me were some of the graffiti styles and concepts that seemed to ... to spray their virtual graffiti and it gets used as a kind ... of near-field communication tagging to interact with the wall ...
http://wirelesswonders.bl ...swonders_archive.html

6. alphabet in graffiti tag letters rare sites
... West Of Lithuania. Bombing, tagging, legal walls, sketches http ... en AmÈrique du Nord. / Graffiti Signs is http://www ... HIP HOP DANCE HISTORY IN THE STYLES OF POPPIN, LOCKIN, BREAKDANCE ...
http://www.graffiteeze.com/

7. if:book: May 2005 Archives
... make a significant difference in student performance by accommodating diverse learning and life styles. Students today want the option to be untethered from traditional modes of learning. This ...
http://www.futureoftheboo ...og/2005/05/index.html

8. Zulu Nation Japan
http://www.zulunationjapan.com/about.php?i=14

9. Clothing - Clothing Label
... fine art, street art, comic, graffiti, stencil www.antipodawear ... & Tag High quality Clothing Tagging Guns at the lowest price ... & Window Decals - Features & Styles Choose Between 3 Styles of ...
http://www.clothingmax.com/clothinglabel/

10. STE7130 - Steffen Siegrists Weblog aus Mºhlacker
... Radloff Suchen Newsletter Tagging photoblog Design inspiration ... porn logo Apple graffiti Consum ajax werbung Webtipp ... GUIStyles | Gui, Styles, Themes, Skins, Customize ...
http://ste.ag/

11. Graffiti biography .ms
... be local or regional in nature, such as wall tagging in Southern California by gangs such as the ... ... been coined to describe different styles and aspects of graffiti. A tag is a stylized signature ...
http://graffiti.biography.ms/

12. ANARCHISM.net / forum - Stunned
... are personilificize other styles. You exally counter yourself ... both be happy, without any graffiti, only you will. Pluralism ... that stops those kids from tagging those fences. Law doesn't ...
http://www.anarchism.net/ ...ard_entry.php?id=6455

13. Collections » Arts
... s some distinction between tagging and street art, and its ... to the word. Guerilla graffiti artist, Spray can ... steel. Although both of their styles are quite different, I would ...
http://collections.lopoli ...chives/category/arts/

14. Stencil Tutorial, Stencil Design, Stencil Information, Mark Stencil, Stencil...
... combinations. Four more styles--Light, Regular, Stencil, and ... Stencil Pirates places street graffiti within the larger pantheon ... and purely aesthetic ñ from tagging to public announcements ...
http://www.stencillist.com/

15. picturephoning.com: Using MMS To Report Anti-Social Behaviour
... to snap photos of graffiti and tagging using their camera phones and ... Officers can now photograph graffiti and identify individuals ... at distinctive signatures and styles. ìThe pictures can be emailed ...
http://www.textually.org/ ...es/2005/08/009347.htm