Граффити (единственное число граффити или граффито , последнее используется только в археологии граффити ) — это надписи или рисунки, сделанные на стене или другой поверхности, как правило, без разрешения и на виду у публики. [1] [2] Граффити варьируются от простых письменных «обозначений» до сложных настенных росписей и существуют с древних времен , примеры относятся к Древнему Египту , Древней Греции и Римской империи . [3]
Современные граффити — спорная тема. В большинстве стран маркировка или покраска собственности без разрешения считается вандализмом . [4] Современные граффити появились в метро Нью-Йорка и Филадельфии в начале 1970-х годов и распространились по всем Соединенным Штатам по всему миру. [5]
«Граффити» (обычно как единственное, так и множественное число) и редкая форма единственного числа «graffito» происходят от итальянского слова graffiato («нацарапанный»). [6] [1] [2] В древние времена граффити вырезали на стенах острым предметом, хотя иногда использовали мел или уголь . Слово происходит от греческого γράφειν — graphein — что означает «писать». [7]
Большинство петроглифов и геоглифов датируются возрастом от 40 000 до 10 000 лет, самые древние из них — наскальные рисунки в Австралии. [8] Рисунки в пещере Шове были сделаны 35 000 лет назад, но мало что известно о том, кто их сделал и почему. [8] Ранние художники создавали трафаретные граффити своих рук с помощью краски, выдуваемой через трубку. Эти трафареты могли функционировать аналогично современным тегам . [ 8]
Самое древнее письменное граффити было найдено в Древнем Риме около 2500 лет назад. [9] Большинство граффити того времени хвастались сексуальным опытом, [10] но также включали словесные игры, такие как квадрат Сатор , надписи типа «Я был здесь» и комментарии о гладиаторах. [8] Граффити в Древнем Риме были формой общения и, как правило, не считались вандализмом. [8] Некоторые граффити считались кощунственными и были удалены, например, граффити Алексаменос , которое может содержать одно из самых ранних изображений Иисуса . Граффити изображает человека с головой осла на кресте с текстом «Алексаменос поклоняется [своему] богу». [11]
Единственный известный источник сафаитского языка, древней формы арабского языка , — это граффити: надписи, нацарапанные на поверхности камней и валунов в преимущественно базальтовой пустыне южной Сирии , восточной Иордании и северной Саудовской Аравии . Сафаитский язык датируется первым веком до нашей эры и четвертым веком нашей эры. [12] [13]
Древние туристы, посещавшие цитадель V века в Сигирии на Шри-Ланке, писали свои имена и комментарии на «зеркальной стене», что в общей сложности составило более 1800 отдельных граффити, созданных там между VI и XVIII веками. [14] Большинство граффити относятся к найденным там фрескам с изображением полуобнаженных женщин.
Среди примеров древних политических граффити были арабские сатирические поэмы. Язид аль-Химьяри, омейядский арабский и персидский поэт, был наиболее известен тем, что писал свои политические стихи на стенах между Саджистаном и Басрой , выражая сильную ненависть к режиму Омейядов и его вали , и люди читали и распространяли их очень широко. [15]
Граффити, известные как Тахерон, часто нацарапаны на стенах церквей в романском стиле в Скандинавии. [16] Когда художники эпохи Возрождения, такие как Пинтуриккьо , Рафаэль , Микеланджело , Гирландайо или Филиппино Липпи , спустились в руины Неронова Domus Aurea , они вырезали или рисовали свои имена и вернулись, чтобы положить начало стилю grottesche в декоре. [17] [18]
В 1790-х годах французские солдаты вырезали свои имена на памятниках во время наполеоновской кампании в Египте . [19] Имя лорда Байрона сохранилось на одной из колонн храма Посейдона на мысе Сунион в Аттике , Греция. [20]
Самый старый известный пример граффити-названий был найден на вагонах поездов, созданных бродягами и железнодорожниками с конца 1800-х годов. Названия Бозо-Тексино были задокументированы режиссером Биллом Дэниелом в его фильме 2005 года « Кто такой Бозо-Тексино?» . [21] [22]
Современные граффити можно увидеть на достопримечательностях США, таких как Скала Независимости , национальная достопримечательность вдоль Орегонской тропы . [23]
Во время Второй мировой войны надпись на стене крепости Верден дважды за поколение рассматривалась как иллюстрация ответа США на несправедливости Старого Света: [24] [25]
Остин Уайт – Чикаго, Иллинойс – 1918
Остин Уайт – Чикаго, Иллинойс – 1945
Это последний раз, когда я хочу написать здесь свое имя.
Во время Второй мировой войны и в течение десятилетий после нее фраза « Килрой был здесь » с сопровождающей ее иллюстрацией была широко распространена по всему миру из-за ее использования американскими войсками и, в конечном счете, проникла в американскую популярную культуру. Вскоре после смерти Чарли Паркера (прозванного «Yardbird» или «Bird») в Нью-Йорке начали появляться граффити со словами «Bird Lives». [26]
Современный стиль граффити во многом был под влиянием хип-хоп культуры [27] и начался с молодых людей в 1960-х и 70-х годах в Нью-Йорке и Филадельфии . Теги были первой формой стилизованного современного граффити, начавшейся с таких художников, как TAKI 183 и Cornbread . Позже художники начали рисовать броски и части на поездах по бокам поездов метро. [28] и в конечном итоге переместились в город после того, как метро Нью-Йорка начало покупать новые поезда и закрашивать граффити. [29]
Хотя у этого искусства было много сторонников и ценителей, включая культурного критика Нормана Мейлера , другие, включая мэра Нью-Йорка Эда Коха , считали его осквернением общественной собственности и видели в нем форму общественного упадка. [30] В то время как те, кто занимался ранним современным граффити, называли его «письмом», в эссе 1974 года «Вера в граффити» его называли термином «граффити», который и прижился. [30]
Ранним граффити за пределами Нью-Йорка или Филадельфии была надпись в Лондоне, гласящая « Клэптон — Бог » в отношении гитариста Эрика Клэптона . Создавая культ героя гитары, фраза была нарисована поклонником на стене в Ислингтоне , на севере Лондона, осенью 1967 года. [31] Граффити было запечатлено на фотографии, на которой собака мочится на стену . [32]
Такие фильмы, как Style Wars в 80-х, изображающие известных писателей, таких как Skeme, Dondi , MinOne и ZEPHYR, усилили роль граффити в зарождающейся хип-хоп культуре Нью-Йорка. Хотя многие офицеры полиции Нью-Йорка посчитали этот фильм спорным, Style Wars по-прежнему признают самым плодовитым фильмом, представляющим то, что происходило в молодой хип-хоп культуре начала 1980-х. [33] Fab 5 Freddy и Futura 2000 привезли хип-хоп граффити в Париж и Лондон в рамках New York City Rap Tour в 1983 году. [34]
С ростом популярности и легитимации граффити достигло уровня коммерциализации. В 2001 году компьютерный гигант IBM запустил рекламную кампанию в Чикаго и Сан-Франциско, в которой люди распыляли краску на тротуарах в виде символа мира , сердца и пингвина ( талисмана Linux ), чтобы представить «Мир, Любовь и Linux». IBM выплатила Чикаго и Сан-Франциско в общей сложности 120 000 долларов США за штрафные убытки и расходы на уборку. [35] [36]
В 2005 году похожая рекламная кампания была запущена Sony и реализована ее рекламным агентством в Нью-Йорке, Чикаго, Атланте, Филадельфии, Лос-Анджелесе и Майами, чтобы продвигать свою портативную игровую систему PSP . В этой кампании , принимая во внимание юридические проблемы кампании IBM, Sony заплатила владельцам зданий за права нарисовать на своих зданиях «коллекцию городских детей с головокружительными глазами, играющих с PSP, как будто это скейтборд, весло или лошадка-качалка». [36]
Когда граффити делается как форма искусства, оно часто использует латинский алфавит даже в странах, где он не является основной системой письма. [37] Английские слова также часто используются в качестве прозвищ. [38]
Художники трафаретного граффити, такие как Blek le Rat, существовали в Западной Европе, особенно в Париже , до появления американского граффити и были связаны больше со сценой панк-рока, чем с хип-хопом. [39] В 1980-х годах американское граффити и хип-хоп начали оказывать влияние на европейскую сцену граффити. [39] Современное граффити достигло Восточной Европы в 1990-х годах. [39]
Некоторые из самых ранних выставок граффити за пределами США прошли в Амстердаме , Нидерланды. [39]
Граффити на Ближнем Востоке появлялось медленно, теггеры работали в Египте , Ливане , странах Персидского залива, таких как Бахрейн или Объединенные Арабские Эмираты , [40] Израиле и Иране . Крупная иранская газета Hamshahri опубликовала две статьи о нелегальных писателях в городе с фотографическим освещением работ иранского художника A1one на стенах Тегерана. Токийский журнал дизайна PingMag взял интервью у A1one и опубликовал фотографии его работ. [41] Израильский разделительный барьер на Западном берегу стал местом для граффити, напоминающим в этом смысле Берлинскую стену . Многие райтеры в Израиле приезжают из других мест по всему миру, например, JUIF из Лос-Анджелеса и DEVIONE из Лондона. Религиозная отсылка «נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן» (« Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman ») часто встречается в граффити по всему Израилю.
Граффити сыграло важную роль в уличном искусстве на Ближнем Востоке и в Северной Африке ( MENA ), особенно после событий Арабской весны 2011 года или Суданской революции 2018/19 годов. [42] Граффити является инструментом выражения в контексте конфликта в регионе, позволяя людям высказывать свои политические и социальные мнения. Известный уличный художник Бэнкси оказал важное влияние на уличное искусство в регионе MENA, особенно в Палестине , где некоторые из его работ находятся на Западном берегу и в Вифлееме . [43]
В Южной Америке очень активная культура граффити, и граффити очень распространены в бразильских городах. Это объясняется высоким неравномерным распределением доходов, меняющимися законами и лишением избирательных прав. [44] Пичасан — это форма граффити, встречающаяся в Бразилии, которая включает в себя высоких персонажей и обычно используется как форма протеста. Она контрастирует с более традиционными художественными ценностями практиков граффити . [45]
Среди выдающихся бразильских писателей — Ос Гемеос , Болета, Нунка , Нина, Спето, Тикка и Т.Фрик. [46]
В странах Юго-Восточной Азии также существует большое количество влияний на граффити , которые в основном исходят из современной западной культуры , например, в Малайзии, где граффити уже давно стали обычным явлением в столице Малайзии Куала-Лумпуре . С 2010 года страна начала проводить уличный фестиваль, чтобы побудить все поколения и людей из всех слоев общества наслаждаться и поощрять малазийскую уличную культуру. [47]
Аэрозольная краска и маркеры являются основными инструментами, используемыми для маркировки , подбрасывания и рисования . [48] Также используются маркеры для рисования , мазки для рисования и инструменты для царапания. [49] Некоторые художественные компании, такие как Montana Colors , производят художественные принадлежности специально для граффити и уличного искусства. И во многих крупных городах есть магазины граффити-искусства. [50]
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Трафаретное граффити создается путем вырезания фигур и рисунков из жесткого материала (например, картона или тематических папок ) для формирования общего дизайна или изображения. Затем трафарет аккуратно помещается на «холст» и быстрыми, легкими мазками аэрозольного баллончика изображение начинает проявляться на предполагаемой поверхности. Некоторые из первых примеров были созданы в 1981 году художниками Blek le Rat в Париже, в 1982 году Jef Aerosol в Туре (Франция); [51] к 1985 году трафареты появились в других городах, включая Нью-Йорк, Сидней и Мельбурн , где их задокументировали американский фотограф Чарльз Гейтвуд и австралийский фотограф Ренни Эллис. [52]
Наклейки, также известные как пощечины, рисуются или пишутся перед тем, как их вывешивают на публике. Традиционно использовались бесплатные бумажные наклейки, такие как Label 228 Почтовой службы США или именные бирки . [53] Также часто встречаются наклейки из яичной скорлупы, которые очень трудно удалить. [54] Наклейки позволяют художникам быстро и незаметно вывешивать свои работы, что делает их относительно безопасным вариантом для нелегальных граффити. [55]
Тегирование — это практика написания «своего имени, инициалов или логотипа на публичной поверхности» [56] в стиле, уникальном для райтера. Теги были первой формой современного граффити.
В ряде недавних примеров граффити используются хэштеги . [57] [58]
Throw ups, или throwies, — это большие граффити с пузырями, которые стремятся «бросить» на поверхность как можно больше и быстрее. [59] Throw ups могут быть заполнены или быть «полыми». [60] Они отдают приоритет минимальному негативному пространству [61] и последовательности или пространству между буквами и высоте. [8]
Элементы представляют собой большие, сложные граффити на основе букв, которые обычно наносятся с помощью аэрозольной краски или валиков. [62] Элементы часто имеют разноцветные заливки и контуры и могут использовать блики, тени, фоны, [63] расширения, 3D-эффекты, [63] а иногда и персонажей . [64]
Wildstyle — самая сложная форма современного граффити. Для тех, кто не знаком с этим видом искусства, его может быть сложно читать. [65] Wildstyle черпает вдохновение из каллиграфии и описывается как частично абстрактный. [66] Термин «wildstyle» был популяризирован граффити-командой Wild Style, сформированной Трейси 168 из Бронкса , Нью-Йорк, в 1974 году. [67]
Современное искусство граффити часто включает в себя дополнительные искусства и технологии. Например, Graffiti Research Lab поощряет использование проецируемых изображений и магнитных светодиодов ( throwies ) в качестве новых медиа для граффитистов. Yarnbombing — еще одна недавняя форма граффити. Yarnbombers иногда выбирают целью предыдущие граффити для модификации, чего избегали большинство граффитистов.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up".[68]
People who appreciate graffiti often believe that it should be on display for everyone in public spaces, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery.[69] Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere from sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc.[69] Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing onesself. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism.[30] And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society.[70] He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.[71]
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.[72]
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
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Many analysts and art critics see artistic value in some graffiti and recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles graffiti is an effective tool of social emancipation, or for the achievement of a political goal.[73]
In times of conflict graffiti has offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and has been an effective tool for establishing dialog. The Berlin Wall was extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures related to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s.[74] In Amsterdam, graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered in names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat".[75] To document the graffiti, a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s, there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
—Sandra "Lady Pink" Fabara[76]
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.[77][78]
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest.[79]The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.[80][81]
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.[82][83]
In the Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thanks to your mother".[84] Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past".[85] Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which youths are being exposed to the celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".[86]
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through the celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans, inhabited by Serbs, using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in the Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave.[85][87] Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement".[84][88] Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with the graffiti creators and their supporters,[86] blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way,[84], and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.[88]
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly).[89] Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.[90]
A spatial local code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come.[91] A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints),[92] these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.[93]
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads.[94] In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.[95]
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.[96][97][98][99]
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.[100]
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.[101][102]
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.[103]
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs.[104] A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.[104][105]
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.[106]
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.[107]
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones".[108] From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. Graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation.[109] However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."[110]
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.[111]
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.[112]
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.[113]
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.[114]
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.[115]
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16.[116] The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."[117]
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.[citation needed]
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation,[118] nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.[119]
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".[120]
Ancient rock art in Australia is seen as a sacred part of First Nations histories, and many of it is legally protected, and some are given National Heritage status.[121]
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by writers. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[122][123] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere.[124] Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.[125]
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.[126]
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.[127]
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.[128]
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.[129]
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![The ghosts from the computer game Pac-Man. A mosaic by Invader in Bilbao, Spain. Since 1998, Invader has placed over 4000 tile mosacis in 83 territories across the world.[132] 2008](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Pacman_Guggenheim_(cropped).jpg/1280px-Pacman_Guggenheim_(cropped).jpg)
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