Some call them vandals, while others consider them the last true non-commercial artists. They themselves prefer to call themselves "writers" - "writers". Although they do not write stories, they regularly get stuck in them when the patrol catches them at the "combat post".
An ordinary person who in the morning finds another graffiti on a nearby fence will certainly ask the question: why? Can't find an answer. It's just that there are people in this world who are haunted by the dull grayness of the metropolis. They try to paint to their taste, if not the whole world, then at least a small piece of it.
The walls themselves are a challenge to humanity. They require filling, stains, decoration. After all, a blank fence or wall is an ideal symbol of indifference, alienation. They were perceived so long before Pink Floyd released their opus, East Berlin dissociated itself from its western half, and even before the Chinese tried to fence themselves off from the northern nomads with an absurdly gigantic structure. Actually, on the day when some ancestor Le Corbusier erected the first house in history, those who had gathered to look at the creation of onlookers instinctively sensed: something was wrong here … Millennia have passed - and in ancient times in Mesopotamia they spared no effort, decorating the fortress walls with tiles …
But another long-standing passion of mankind - to fight - knew no obstacles. Having worried about not only decorating, but generally rebuilding the walls, the inhabitants of the cities preferred the practicality of a thick fortress wall without any artistic excesses to psychological comfort.
But a holy place is never empty: the bare surface immediately revealed another human weakness - the thirst for immortality. Unable to stay in this world for any length of time, a person has long sought to leave at least a name in the memory of descendants. Few are capable of leading legions to conquer the world, even more so to invent a bicycle. But everyone who understands the letter is capable of inscribing his name on the wall.
It is difficult to say what name the first "Vasya" who "was here" bore. But he was accompanied by many. Lord Byron enjoyed himself like this, lounging in the casemates of the Chillon Castle, the Russian emperors - bored in the Winter Palace. And even more powerful figures strove to inscribe something on the wall - if not His Name, then a profound maxim: let us recall the mysterious words “Mene Tekel Fares”, which signified the verdict of the Babylonian ruler Belshazzar.
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Hardly those teenagers who went down in history as the first graffiti authors thought they were continuing a divine tradition. It is now some scholars like to recall an excerpt from the song of Simon and Garfunkel of the late 60s: "And the words of the prophets are written on the walls of the subway." Alas, this gross flattery was not addressed to the legendary founders of graffiti like Taki-183 or Cornbread. The singers were not referring to teenagers striking their nicknames wherever they hit. The song is just about a set of nonsense (like appeals to make "love, not war"), with which hip youth marked the walls.
Graffiti turned out to be associated with a completely different subculture, which, in the absence of MTV at the end of the 60s, vegetated in the backyards of disadvantaged neighborhoods …
Hip-hop by its origin is a gangster subculture. And the first graffiti, by and large, should be considered precisely that the members of youth gangs from disadvantaged neighborhoods. Long before Taki-183, they marked the borders of their territory with aerosol paints. But this is a fact self-styled graffiti historians prefer to ignore. As well as the fact that today about a tenth of American graffiti are all the same gangster tags.
However, graffiti itself is illegal - just like the dope trade or racketeering. Unless the terms for vandalism are given less. And this is not always the case - in England there was a precedent when the court put one “writer” behind bars for five years.
graffiti are not plot drawings, but text, letters. Most street artisans will never call themselves artists. They will designate themselves exactly what as "writer" (writer). Graffiti does not want to break away from its roots: after all, the genre was born from "tags" - stylized autographs. And even now every novice writer comprehends the basics of mastery precisely as a "tag". As Henry Chalfant writes in Subway Art, considered the writers' bible: “The best learning here is repetition. You have to go through the whole history of graffiti art once again. From simple to complex."
There are many styles to choose from, from simple and easy-to-read fonts to a complex jumble of quirky shapes. From masterpieces that would be patted on the back by the creator of the Times typeface, to a nightmare embodied. The highest class is to come up with your own unique handwriting that is unlike anyone else.
To an uninitiated observer, the set of symbols on the wall may seem like sheer gibberish - especially if it is an abbreviation that has become the name of a team of graffiti artists, “cru”. But writers, who are in love with letters like Gogol's Akaky Akakievich, consider plot drawing to be much simpler and more primitive. They look down on their colleagues who prefer drawing to calligraphy. They do not need the picture itself - just one signature, an autograph, a facsimile is enough.
The maximum that a writer can agree to is to create “pieces” (from the English masterpiece). But it turns out to be a comic strip turned inside out, in which text, letters are more important than the character. Perhaps this is a kind of defensive reaction, a desire not to lose its uniqueness, unlike other genres.
And what, then, are the famous Banksy and his other colleagues doing, creating pictures on the city walls? From the point of view of the writer, their work is "kerex" (from the English character). Or street art if you like. But - not graffiti.
For most of the history of graffiti, its adherents had to organize raids on the underground depot or secretly spray walls at night with cans of aerosols. City authorities in any country are fighting an implacable fight against street artists.
And then there is no way without help: while some spend the paint, others make sure that the guards do not appear. And even competitors hoping to indulge in creativity in the same place.
Moreover, since the 1970s, a uniform “style war” has flared up among graffiti artists. The method of warfare was straightforward: a personal picture or inscription was applied over a competitor's work. "Cross out" has been fashionable entertainment for a couple of decades.
Of course, the victims did not want to put up with such rudeness, and in the literal sense of the word fought for their labors. And no matter what groups of young people fought for - for the right to look after young ladies in a certain territory, for their favorite football team or for their drawings - they will certainly acquire the features of a gang (If graffiti was born not in America, but in Russia, its adherents would have to be the audience of “Russian chanson.” However, precisely because the domestic criminal subculture is what it is, graffiti was born far away - and rather slowly took root on our soil.)
Cross out is now considered unacceptable for true masters. In general, the ethics of graffiti has become much stricter than in the past dashing years. Older comrades now tend to lecture young people: “Do not paint houses of cultural value, and in general, do not paint on residential buildings - do not impose your worldview on people, do not write on the works of other writers, on tombstones: painting memorial walls and cars is death !"
In many western metropolitan areas, writers are now assigned so-called "legal" walls and courtyards (it came to the authorities at some point that it was impossible to extinguish the creative impulses of young people, it would be easier to meet them halfway in some way). But there are not enough walls for legal graffiti for everyone. As you know, it has been possible to feed several thousand hungry people with five loaves of bread only once in history.
Back in the 70s, the American sociologist Hugo Martinez decided that research on the graffiti subculture did not bring in as much money as trade in works. He founded the United Graffiti Artists organization, where he recruited the most talented - from his point of view - young people who painted subway cars. Martinez brought them out of the underground: the gallery "Razor" he opened was a very successful venture. Soon an epidemic of the creation of similar galleries, or even just salons, where potential customers and artists with samples of their work can turn, swept across the world. Now it has become even easier for citizens wishing to decorate the wall of their garage or the interior of a store to find a performer: every self-respecting team has a website.
Surely the majority of Martinez's writers were satisfied. However, the very fact of the appearance of graffiti in galleries became the beginning of the end …
The desire to turn a hobby into a profession is quite natural. And the fact that more and more writers are doing this means that someday - and pretty soon - the subculture will turn into another kind of legal craft.
However, not all graffiti artists still prefer to sell inspiration. They make a living by doing "related" work in advertising, computer design, which does not prevent them from time to time to go to spray intricate words on the wall.
It is clear that fighting for the purity of the genre, for its non-commercial focus, is pointless. And most likely, the time of writers who despise "kerex" will inevitably pass. The customer is not worried about the search for the holy grail of self-improvement - he is more interested in drawings than typographic delights. There are not many maniacs who are ready to fork out to decorate the wall of their cottage with a giant autograph of a street artist. The picture is a completely different matter. Actually, the success of street artists, quite convertible into money, is a clear proof of this.
And by the way, so far only two cases of legalization of “graffiti” drawn without the permission of the authorities have been recorded in history (yes, it seems to be pointless to fight for accuracy in terminology). Both cases are on the conscience of the iconic British artist Banksy. His work on the Wall of a Sexual Health Clinic for Young People was made possible by Bristol City Council and the townspeople. 97% of the Bristolans surveyed thought that the funny drawing was in place (the picture showed a naked lover hanging out outside the window, from which the husband who had returned home inappropriately looked out). The second picture - a maid sweeping garbage under the carpet - adorns the landscape of the London suburb of Camdon …