Derived from the italian sgraffio, meaning "scratch" graffiti has been around since the beginning of mankind. Pictures, such as those at the Lascaux Caves in France, were mostly carved into the cave walls with bones or stones, but early man also anticipated the stencil and spray technique, blowing coloured power through hollow bones around his hands to make on wich notes had been carved, while excavations in Pompeil brought to ligh a wealth of graffiti, including election slogans, drawings and obscenities.
In 1904, the first magazine to focus on toilet graffiti was launched : Anthropophyteia. Later on, during the Second World War, the Nazis used writing on walls for ttheir propaganda machines to stir up hatred towards Jews and dissidents. However, graffiti was also important for resistant movements as a way of publicizing their protests to the general public. One example is " The White Rose", a group of German nonconformists who spoke out against Hitler and his regime in 1942 through leaflets and painted slogans, until their capture in 1943. Durin the student revolts in the 1960s and 1970s, protesters made their views public with poster and painted words. French students often turned to the pochoir ( the French word for stencil graffiti) technique, the precursor of the present -day stencil movement.
Today's graffiti developed towards the end of the 1970s in New York and Philadelphia, where artists such as Taki 183, Julio 204, Cat 161 and Cornbread painted their names on walls or in subway stations around Manhattan. The unique make- up of New York City -in wich the Harlem slums and glamorous world of Broadway stand side by side- seems to have beeb breading- ground for the first graffiti artists, bringing together many different cultures and class issues inone single place. This enviroment fuelled an artistic battle against the power brokers in society, and a breakaway from poverty and the ghetto. Cornbread, for example, became notorious by spray- painting his "tag" ( the stiking signature of a graffiti artist) on an elephant in a zoo. Through these pioneers, American graffiti was born, sweeping through the world and drawing thousands of youngsters under its spell.
Taki 183
Referencias:
- Ganz, Nicholas. (2004). Graffiti World Street Art From Five Continents.New York. Editorial. Abrahms.
- Taki 183. Vandalog.Recuperado el 21 de julio de 2011, de http://blog.vandalog.com/2010/02/taki-183-goes-to-auction/.
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