Many people see graffiti art as just ‘vandalism’ but in reality, graffiti art is a beautiful way to express yourself. Graffiti has helped many people express themselves, some got lucky and became famous such as Dondi White, Futura 2000, Blade, and many more. Though the art of graffiti may seem like it isn’t much to some, it has a long history starting just with drawings on walls dating back to 30,000 years old. Later on, the Ancient Romans and Greeks wrote their names and protest poems on buildings. However, all of this is not considered modern graffiti art. Modern graffiti is mainly speculated to have appeared in Philadelphia in the early 1960s and in the late 60s reached New York.

The start and current status of Modern Graffiti 

When the modern style of graffiti took off it was in the early 1970s. In the world of graffiti, typically, people have what are called ‘tags’ or your art name. ‘Tags’ rose to fame with people writing them all over buildings. Then in the mid-70s graffiti became popular to graffiti on subway trains and at times it was difficult to see out the windows because of all the graffiti. This is when modern graffiti art became popular and began to rise. At first, most taggers were in gangs and their tags marked the territory. Later, the term ‘graffiti’ was first said/used in the New York Times and by the novelist Norman Mailer. After a while, in the 1980’s it became increasingly more difficult to graffiti on subway trains without getting caught so to avoid getting caught many graffiti artists began doing their art on roofs or canvases. As of now, the debate on whether graffiti is art or vandalism still lingers. You can see graffiti almost anywhere on trains, abandoned areas, and neighborhoods, some people even get paid to display graffiti in public areas.

Famous names in graffiti

Steven Ogburn, better known as Blade. Blade grew up in the Bronx and by 1980 rose to fame with his graffiti art. In 1971 he began to write his name on the inside of buses and the exterior of post office trucks and instead of doing his art with spray paint, as it is normally done, he began with small markers. His style began with stick letters, as most graffiti art was done then until he began drawing in his signature bubble letter style. In 1984 he tagged his last train with another graffiti artist SEEN. Now, you can see his work in the collections of William Speersta, Yaki Kornblitt, Vincent Vlasblom, and fellow artist KAWS.

Futura 2000 is another famous name in the world of graffiti art. He left his legacy of graffiti during the 1970s and 1980s. He had a very original approach to lettering, and all the details were added to his lettering and art. He has many notable art pieces, two of those being ‘Futura’ (1980) and ‘Escapism’ (2018).

There are many other artists besides these two who are very popular and have left their mark on the graffiti community. One question remains left up to only one opinion. Graffiti: Art or Vandalism?