Graffiti Assignment 2

Despite professing hatred for the internet, I have to confess that I spend a large amount of time browsing various image searches on a semi-daily basis, and ever since acquiring my laptop, these searches have been categorized and chronicled by subject, so when I found it was time to examine graffiti in a certain 'area', I took that area to be the saved pictures folder on my hard drive that features about 2 years of various graffiti pictures I've pulled off the internet for various reasons.

So it was this quote in Graffiti Lives that interested me most because I recognized in it my own interest in graffiti and a way to categorize my accrued collection of images.

"At the bottom of each page of a plain, black, hardbound sketchbook, which writers call a blackbook, I wrote down words that I then asked writers to represent visually in the blank space above the words. The words I chose to include came in a fit of inspiration and were based on my initial interest in the culture, which included my concerns with aesthetics (ART), vandalism (WRECK), and politics (STRUGGLE), but the overall process of choosing words was quite random.”
(pg 13)

My argument is that graffiti by nature is defined by struggle.

“Much of the effort to clamp down on graffiti writers was undergirded by the so-called “broken windows theory” …which argues that petty crime increases the propensity for more serious criminal activity…In this view, graffiti writing is regarded as creating a visible invitation to commit further crime in a given area.” (pgs 5-6)

With graffiti artists forced into the position of serious lawbreaker by police and political figures hoping to curb more serious forms of crime, the very act of creating art became protest. The idea of stylized signatures or tags as protest might seem foolish, but their status is such is created by the combination of the three elements set down by Synder. I will attempt to illustrate how each of these elements functions by itself when manifested in graffiti or street art, thus showing how the stylized signatures or 'tags' are elements of protest.

ARTThe artist responsible for this piece, Banksy, is one of the most popular and well-known graffiti artists today. His pieces have appeared literally worldwide and his real identity is still relatively secret, lending even more street cred to his anti-establishment stencil pieces. While some of his work is merely for aesthetic value, even Banksy's more surreal creations, like the one above, seem to be suggesting the same message as his more overt work. The image clash is jarring, suggesting at once the role that the service class has at keeping up a false image or facade of cleanliness for the upper class and the shaky nature of what or may not be 'reality'. Indeed, for many people passing by a Banksy work before it's painted over, there must exist a moment of pure shock at the image put together before they realize what they're seeing. Banksy's polemics are dressed beautifully, to be sure, but their aesthetics in no way decreases their power.

WRECK




The sheer absurdity of these pieces almost makes one discount the idea that it is serious vandalism, but despite the overall effect being humorous, the message of subversion is still clear and intentional. Although the main visual elements of the sign on the left are still there, they have been completely rearranged and the text of the image altered beyond immediate recognition. The subversion of this act is twofold: first there is the vandalism inherent in simply changing the sign's appearance to the point where it no longer demonstrates the message that it should, and second there is the act of appropriation; the sign has been assimilated as part of a piece of art, it no longer is part of an authority complex but an independent statement, Absurdist though it may be. The sign to the right demonstrates the same message, the juxtaposition of a religious sign with a Satanist-posturing band being not necessarily played for anything beyond laughs but having the same message as the other example nonetheless.

STRUGGLE











These two examples are demonstrative of the power of iconography and plain text as well as the ideas of appropriation as addressed with the last example.

The piece of art on the left is a simple stencil. Remarkably, Banksy's work is done primarily through stencils as well, highlighting the versatility of this format. The iconography of it is simple but eloquent, a tool of the farmer/worker is smashing a symbol of state power and industrialization. This example comes from Russia, where it is interesting to see how so much time spent under the powerful symbols and icons of Communist propaganda has influenced even the street art of the area.
The example on the right, meanwhile, is another demonstration of appropriation, in which the artist has seized the billboard in its 'natural' state, turning the image of a blank canvas into a protest against advertising. The resulting aesthetic is simple and deadpan, deriving much of its power from the contrast against the walls and presumably, the other billboards in the area.

My final example simply demonstrates the universal desires at the heart of graffiti: permanence, reclamation, subversion.
By tagging the wall with anti-government lyrics from a Western rock band, the author is not only defying the cultural bans of the government but asserting his permanence and independence in a situation in which there are almost no means by which to do so. The reclamation of this portion of the wall and the way in which simple personal expression is turned into a piece of anti-government propaganda is exactly the kind of instinct that drove the first New York graffiti
artists.