The Art of Graffiti Part 2: The History of Graffiti (1960-2000)

Though graffiti has existed since ancient times, the late 1960's proved to be a pioneering era when graffiti underwent a major change in style and popularity. The hostility of the youth culture towards the political climate of the time manifested itself in anti-Nixon graffiti. A few years later the anti-establishment punk rock movement began, driven by bands like Black Flag who stenciled their band name and logo on the walls of punk night clubs that would eventually become known for their graffiti. There was a new wave of creativity spreading through the cities and modern graffiti was born.

Towards the end of the 60's the signatures- or tags- of some of the better known graffiti artists (Top Cat, Cool Earl, and Cornbread) began appearing in the streets of Philadelphia, but by 1970, the center of graffiti culture had shifted to New York City. In 1971 the New York Times published an article featuring a young Greek foot messenger from Washington Heights who had begun writing his tag in the streets en route to his deliveries. His tag, TAKI 183, was a combination of his name (Demetraki) and his address (183rd Street). The New York Times article, "TAKI 183 Spawns Pen Pals", spurred competition between writers in NYC as TAKI 183's tagging style was being mimicked by hundreds of youths across the five boroughs.

Graffiti was now moving from outside in the streets, to inside on the subway. Following in the wake of TAKI 183 and some of his contemporaries (Tracy186 and Julio204), writers would add their street number to their nickname and "bomb" the commuter trains with their work, then let the subway take it (and their fame if their work was impressive or pervasive enough) "all city".

"Not many things that can compare to getting on the train daily and seeing your name up on every train you ride," says writer Chino. "There definitely is a certain high to it." As graffiti continued to expand as an art, it began to transform and take on its signature calligraphic appearance as the number of writers in NYC grew and each writer searched for ways to distinguish themselves as individual artists. Bubble Lettering had become common in the early 1970's but it would be Tracy168's "wildstyle" that would come to define modern graffiti. Tags were growing in complexity and creativity, as well as in size and scale, giving birth to the "masterpiece" or "piece" in 1972.

The goal however was mainly to "get up", which meant having as many tags and "bombs" in as many places as possible. Graffiti artists began breaking into rail yards in order to paint a larger number of trains with less public visibility. Lower risk also gave artists more time to create more elaborate pieces on the sides of trains.

The mid-1970's was the heaviest period of bombing in graffiti history and NYC did not have the resources to keep up with paint removal. "Pieces" expanded to become "top-to-bottoms" that took up entire subway cars. Designs such as polka dots, crosshatches, and checkers were becoming increasingly popular and 1974 saw the addition of cartoons and scenery in many works. Spray paint use was increasing dramatically as pieces became larger and more intricate. The "throw-up" also appeared in the mid 70's- art that was more complex than a tag but not nearly as complex as a "piece". Throw-ups led to races to see which writers could do the largest amount of throw-ups in the least amount of time.

Graffiti was becoming competitive with artists striving to go "all city"- which meant being visible in all five NYC boroughs. The influence of graffiti was growing beyond the Bronx with the help of Fab 5 Freddy who is credited with spreading the influence of graffiti and rap music beyond its roots in the Bronx. However, the late 70's into early 80's would prove to be the last wave of bombing as the Metro Transit Authority began to make greater efforts to crack down on "vandalism". Rail yard fences were repaired regularly and trains were buffed clean of art on a daily basis.

1985 was the start of the "die-hard" era- a last ditch effort to bomb, as painted cars were slowly being removed from service and sent to scrap yards. Groups of undercover agents called the "Vandal Squad" tried to infiltrate crews of graffiti artists in an effort to arrest them from the inside. The squads were well versed in the history of graffiti and they had lists of the top writers and spots that were hit most often.

Finally it became a race against time to paint the last trains before they were replaced with stainless steel cars. Graffiti artists would be forced to move on from the subways and find new ways to express themselves, but just as the influence of graffiti was spreading throughout the U.S. and overseas, the epicenter of NYC was dying.

"I mean, they won the war...on the subways," says COPE2, graffiti artist and key player of the early 90's, during an interview for the documentary "Getting Up". "...but we won the war in general, in the longterm because now graffiti is worldwide...it's art now."

The NYC "Clean Train Movement" was forcing writers to find new venues, and many of them chose to display their work in galleries or open their own studios. Others decided to take their work higher- to rooftops, highway overpasses, and bridges- to "Heaven Spots". The streets themselves were becoming more dangerous as the crack epidemic of the 80's spread througout the cities. Legislation was getting tighter and the scene was turning violent. Artists who chose to go out alone ran the risk of being jumped and robbed of their supplies. Common tagging spots were now being patrolled and crews were battling each other to gain rights to the few spots that were left available. NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani launched an anti-graffiti task force as part of his "broken window theory" which assumed that acts of vadalism that were allowed to remain simply spawned more acts of vandalism. Therefore graffiti needed to be removed city wide in order to improve the quality of life in New York City.

At the same time, the late 80's and early 90's saw a wider spread acceptance of graffiti as an art form. Galleries began featuring the work of graffiti artists, selling some pieces at auction for thousands of dollars. Graffiti was even mentioned for the first time in newer versions of some art history textbooks and pieces were showing up in movies and music videos. Graffiti was finally coming into its own.