Graffiti, as a kind of street art, is one of the four important elements of street culture (HipHop) along with hip-hop, rap, and DJ. Its English "Graffiti" comes from the Greek "Graphein", and the dictionary explanation is: Drawings or writing on public walls, usehumorous, obscene or political (pictures or text scrawled on public walls, usually containing humorous, obscene or political content). According to data, the earliest graffiti appeared in the United States in the mid-to-late 1960s. Some people painted inside and outside subway cars, using the subway to spread their voices and ideas. In 1971, the New York Times published a special article introducing graffiti and a young man who left the "TAKI183" sign. Since then, the graffiti movement in New York City has spread wildly, and groups of graffitiists have emerged, mostly young people from the lower class. , Hispanic or black. They vented their anger by spray-painting, causing serious damage to the New York subway. However, graffiti has become a part of the history of the New York subway. It was not until 1972, when a group of graffiti artists established the Graffiti Artists Alliance "UGA" and invited graffiti masters from various districts to paint on a wall covered with paper at the university, that graffiti truly began to be regarded as a legitimate art for the first time.

Most people around the world are opposed to graffiti, believing that it will destroy urban landscapes. But on the other hand, they have to take some peaceful measures. For example, the German government departments will cooperate with some graffiti organizations to open up Certain venues and licenses are issued to enthusiasts to create. At the same time, a "graffiti competition" is held every year to evaluate graffiti from the aspects of ideas, fun, art, etc., to improve the artistry of graffiti. For other graffiti offenders, in addition to requiring them to spend money to clean it up, they are also fined to perform community service. Graffiti enthusiasts believe: "As long as you plan and choose suitable venues and items, graffiti will not be a kind of pollution!"

Graffiti enthusiasts generally divide their works into two types: bombs and pieces. In the past few years, "bombs" were mainly used, which means graffiti painted in public places such as subway passages and building exterior walls. They were divided into groups of four or five people, some of whom were responsible for watching and others who painted graffiti. In just a few days, Complete the graffiti within minutes or even tens of seconds, quickly put away the tools and flee the scene. Because the painting time is short, the graffiti artists generally just draw the team logo, with large and simple patterns, with the mentality of "having fun". Since this kind of graffiti is illegal and hinders the appearance of the city, the paintings will be washed away quickly. At that time, "Mig", "FBL" and other freely formed small groups were quite influential among the "street boys". Nowadays, graffiti art is gradually becoming known. Some businesses or schools will hold graffiti competitions or use graffiti as promotional posters in stores. Since the organizer provided a large enough wall space, graffiti paintings were mainly in the form of pieces (entire walls), and graffiti enthusiasts came out of the ground cheering.

Three new ways to play graffiti:

1 Simulate "wall"

Graffiti is mostly done on walls and shutters, but without approval, the relevant departments will not Graffiti is allowed in public places, so graffiti artists use wooden boards, canvases, wallpapers, etc. as alternatives. Because these media have different water absorption properties, such as canvas, which absorbs water and paint, and has a soft base; wooden boards are easy to adhere to dust. In order to achieve simulation, it is best to apply a layer of latex paint one day in advance and let it dry. The simplest method is to cover the wall with newspaper or drawing paper, but the background color will be lacking and the color will be darker.

Of course, the most interesting thing is graffiti on the wall. Some people will donate their rooms for friends to practice graffiti together.

2 Sticker graffiti

Using the "bomb" technique to graffiti requires speed and the quality is often not guaranteed, so many enthusiasts use computers to design or "paint" them at home. Come out and make small stickers, and stick them on your belongings or in "niche" places such as dormitory doors for others to appreciate

3 Internet graffiti

Early Internet graffiti boards were created through people Through computer interaction, you can draw directly on the drawing board displayed on the screen with the mouse or handwriting pad. Moreover, the program will also record the drawing time and the number of tools used, and provide playback of the drawing process, but it can only draw lines and fill in colors. , and the drawn things cannot be saved. Today, the mainstream graffiti board Oekaki has outstanding functions. The drawing function is close to that of mainstream image software such as Photoshop. There is even a combined online chat room program that supports multiple people to draw online at the same time and can instantly see each other's works. Even the writing pad in MSN can be considered part of Internet graffiti.

Representatives of Graffiti Culture

Introducing two representatives of graffiti art, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) and Keith Haring, 1958-1990), they all came from "street" backgrounds.

Basquiart was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA in 1960. He is a painter who truly grew up in New York. The figures he painted were often flat and frontal, with simple outlines and partial bones and organs exposed. He often represents himself with a simple, painted figure (only the eyes and mouth are blank).

Basquiat's international reputation was quickly established and rose at a meteoric speed. In 1987, Basquiat held his first solo exhibition in New York, and became the first New York "Time Magazine" cover person. was a black artist and attracted the attention of Andy Warhol. The two later collaborated to launch a series of collage and graffiti works. Later, the concept of graffiti was also accepted by European artists across the ocean. Shepard Ferry's street fashion brand "Obey Giant" is unique in its street graffiti-style patterns.

The figures in Haring's paintings are made up of simple lines, without faces, fingers, or gender. The main themes include dogs, people hugging each other, pyramids, and flying objects. Someone once asked him what the meaning of his paintings was, and he had the following answer: "It's your job to decide, I only do the darwing."

Haring's works later became closely related to business. , after "Art Space" introduced him in detail, his works can be sold for US$350,000, and he became a millionaire by selling his own brand of clothing and cheap goods.

Now, the image Harlem created with street graffiti has become a very popular look in modern Western society. It can be seen everywhere on wall calendars, on the patterns of handbags, and on the front and back of sweatshirts.

Today's Graffiti Culture

Today, graffiti has become an art. Many countries have famous graffiti artists. Graffiti enthusiasts also hold regular graffiti activities and competitions. In some areas, such as Germany, government departments will also cooperate with graffiti organizations to open up venues, issue licenses to enthusiasts, and hold graffiti competitions every year to improve the artistry of graffiti. At the same time, graffiti has also entered people's daily lives and has become a favorite way of leisure for young people. The Internet has become a new canvas for a new generation of graffiti. Picture blogs and emails allow them to show off their skills easily and happily on the Internet. In North America alone, there are more than 2,000 graffiti-themed sites. The largest graffiti website www.graffiti.org was founded in 2000 by the graffiti master Futura. At present, most of the graffiti works on the Internet are mainly comics. Young people who love to read comics and draw their own paintings put their works on the Internet, which has become the latest way to communicate with friends.

Graffiti is more closely integrated with business, and graffiti contains more of the spirit of fashion, entertainment and games. Many young graffiti artists with outstanding talents have entered the house and become the lucky ones among the designers of the new era. Their canvases were transferred to posters, advertisements, clothing, shoes, hats, toys, television stations, arcades. The tools have changed from spray paint cans to Apple computers, PS, and Illustrator. Now those vying to cooperate with them are advertisers with a lot of money, including Nike and Adidas... entering mainstream design through graffiti The leader in the field is undoubtedly Marc Ecko. This guy started graffiti at the age of 12. At the age of 20, he laid the foundation of his personal brand with 6 self-made graffiti T-shirts. Now he is the owner of a clothing brand with billions of assets. He has always believed that "young people nowadays love to highlight their own characteristics, and designs that are too ordinary cannot arouse excitement. Our designs must be eye-catching, exaggerated, dazzling, and amazing!"

There are many examples to prove how graffiti is now favored by thousands of people in the cutting-edge design circles. A graffiti handbag launched in 2001, with simple and pure white English circles randomly painted on a pure black background. It lacked the roughness of the street, but it was a combination of elegance and rustic charm. It became a spring must-have for fashion people at that time. In addition, there are trousers, short jackets, leather bags and shoes with gorgeous graffiti patterns. Many brands also use scenes of the Paris Flower Capital as patterns on their leather bags. In addition, animation design that combines real-life images with graffiti style has gradually become a trend. Some channels targeting avant-garde young people, such as Comedy Central and MTV in the United States, are full of graffiti-style titles, advertisements, music videos, Even games are beginning to adopt graffiti-style hand-drawn graphics and animations. The famous game developer Atari hired more than 50 graffiti artists to do visual design for a new PS racing game released in September this year.

The graffiti of the new generation is more about declaring one's own existence. If you have strong enough passion, then leave beautiful graffiti marks for your youth.