With permission, graffiti is public art. Today, city officials and building owners often commission graffiti artists to paint large murals on the walls of buildings — sometimes to cover up illegal graffiti,The Writing on the Wall,With permission, graffiti is public art. Today, city officials and building owners often commission graffiti artists to paint large murals on the walls of buildings — sometimes to cover up illegal graffiti
Photo: Shutterstock
“Josh was here.” You’ve probably lost count of the number of times you’ve seen a message like this scribbled on the back of a bus seat or carved into a tree trunk. Just like you’ve lost count of the number of pictures spray-painted on city walls.
Both the writing and the pictures are examples of graffiti something many people condemn. So how does some graffiti make it into an art exhibition?
One graffito two graffiti. The word comes from the Italian word graffito which means a scratch. From simple written words to elaborate wall paintings graffiti existed in Ancient Egypt Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.
The first modern graffiti writer was Philadelphia’s Darryl McCray a.k.a. Cornbread. In 1967 when McCray was a high school student in Philadelphia he started tagging city walls. Just like clothing tags are the signatures of brand companies graffiti tags are the signatures of the person behind the writing or picture. Tagging caught on and soon gangs all over America were tagging streets to stake out their territories. They tagged subways and subway cars and began painting pictures too.
Create a free account to keep reading.
