History of Graffiti in New York
NYC is loud, chaotic, and noisy, but this is its personality. The bold and vibrant streets inherited this personality because of the colorful symbols plastered on their walls. Graffiti is the symbol of NYC. It is easy to get lost within the bustling streets of New York City where every type of person can be found. Graffiti was what gave people a voice and an identity when everything was decaying. Everyone wants to know if graffiti is art or vandalism, but in reality it's both.
The word "graffiti" originates from the Greek word "graphein", meaning "to write." Graffiti that was first truly recognized in the form that society sees it now was found in Philadelphia in the 1960s ,where artists had a stronger sense of natural human greed to be seen. By the early to mid 1960s, graffiti had spread to New York City and found its crowd. Urban decay within NYC allowed the perfect setting for these illegal but defining acts. Although graffiti is not always appreciated now, in those early stages, graffiti, ironically, was not even noticed by most. This sudden boom in graffiti dragged along African American and Latino youth who continued the growth of this new form of art. In the 1960s groups used tagging, a form of graffiti, as an idea of rebellion upon political or controversial rulings.
As time passed, specific artists grew to become regarded as "Kings." One of the greatest examples of this is Darryl "Cornbread" McCray, whose name could be found in every corner of New York City. He is known for breaking into the zoo in the middle of the night and tagging his name on to an elephant. Cornbread and other Kings, such as Cool Earl or Pink Lady, created competition within the graffiti community. This struggle to be seen more visibly is what essentially created the fonts and coloring that we now associate with wall art. A specific font that was created at the time is known as "throw-up", getting its name because it is easy to quickly put up on a wall and not get caught.
By the 1970s, NYC was the center of the graffiti movement. This transition also correlated with the downward spiral of the city. NYC was facing economic decline which then caused other issues such as social unrest, urban decay, and a rise in criminal action. In the late 1970s, the Netherlands and the UK finally got a taste of wall art but in the form of punk graffiti. This marked the exponential growth of graffiti around the world, apart from New York.
By the mid-1980s, graffiti could be found in every single corner of NYC and it was clear that something had to be done to prevent the city from being nothing but scribbles. Stricter anti-graffiti rules were put in place with harsher penalties while restrictions were placed on the sale of paint to youth. The New York City and State Anti-Graffiti Legislation passed restrictions which banned people from defacing public or private property. Furthermore, they instructed that aerosol spray paint cans should not be carried around in public spaces. The presence of police in the streets increased so that artists would be caught more often than not. Artists who had previously felt like they belonged in the city were now under the impression that it was being taken away from them with these strict regulations. It turned out that these laws did not help the government stop tagging, in fact the amount of graffiti increased in response.
Throughout the years, graffiti and society's view on it changed drastically. People have now come to a realization that graffiti should be considered a form of art. Because of its bold, vibrant colors graffiti always delivers a message that may not be well expressed otherwise. Yes, graffiti definitely has a toll on small business and can often be a sign of poverty however, this does not take away the fact that it is art. When I think of art I think of self-expression. Artists put a part of themselves into the work. This fact makes it impossible for any two pieces of art to be exactly the same, even when it is drawn by the same person because people's feelings, beliefs, and thoughts change. I honestly do not understand how people could say that graffiti isn't art because to me, it is one of the types of art that fit the description the best. Graffiti in its earliest and purest form was people putting themselves out there by signing their names on empty, boring walls. They are literally leaving a piece of themselves on those buildings so how could we not call that art? I don't mean to sound like I am living in the clouds and ignoring the problems society has because of wall art but it simply fits the definition of art so I do not understand how one could argue against this fact.
I think that we, as a society, have to work towards living with graffiti in a way that nobody is hurt from it but artists can still have a way of expression. To this many may say that it is unrealistic because people like the thrill of doing something illegal, I see how that is possible but the thing is that we already know that graffiti is not really going to go away, not with any of the hard restrictions that we have tried to implement. So we need to find a way to give artists freedom while not decreasing the income of small business owners. Truthfully, there is nothing much we can do except for growing as a community as we have been trying to and making sure that nobody is robbing one another's happiness.
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