Despite the fact that street graffiti art usually has a very bad reputation and is understood by many people as generally illegal, “damaging houses and fences” activity, many talented street style artists are gaining recognition in their own and not only circles, and their art is becoming respectable. and highly valued. One of the most popular graffiti styles these days is the graphic style. Many of the street artists today have become famous precisely for their ultra-modern views and methods, with the help of which they created their masterpieces. However, we warn readers that practicing such a hobby is very dangerous on the part of the law and the "disgruntled residents" of a particular house or area where you decide to paint your street picture. Many countries have separate articles that punish this type of offense (as a rule, graffiti is classified as petty hooliganism and petty vandalism). But today, due to the huge spread of the hobby, graffiti has become more legal, because today there are a lot of specially equipped places where professional and not only street style artists can compete in their abilities and realize their talent in full glory in front of the astonished public.

Introduction

This type of street art developed in public places. Today, there are a lot of types of graffiti art: they include traditional graffiti, stencil graffiti, sticker art, poster art, video projection and many others. Typically, the term street art or post-graffiti is used to distinguish modern look real art from the usual "wall vandalism" and hooliganism, which has nothing to do with art.

The history of Soviet graffiti began with the young people's passion for breaking, which came to the country from the USA thanks to films about hip-hop. The general “mentality” of a graffiti writer has been transmitted and copied by young people since the days of New York: this is a disregard for private and state property, youthful maximalism, somewhat aggression, romance illegal drawing, the desire to be part of a subculture and earn authority within it. SMOG, together with Dmitry Aske, editor of the online publication about street culture Ultramarine, talks about the development of graffiti in Russia.

1980s

During the perestroika period, the just emerging domestic subcultural movements were in informational isolation from Western countries: it was difficult to get photographs, magazines and videos, there was not enough communication with professionals. Rescued by friends of successful parents who brought from America feature documentaries on cassettes like "Beat Street" and "Stylewars", which formed among the Soviet youth the idea of ​​hip-hop as a synthesis of three directions: rap music, break dance and graffiti . The model of American street culture (which sociologist Adam Gopnik once described and illustrated by documentary photographers Martha Cooper and Henry Chelfant in their legendary book Subway Art) became the basis of the national graffiti school and, perhaps, determined the lifestyle of young dancers and artists. In fact, Breakers became the first graffiti artists, as they often had to create visuals for their performances. The dance shows themselves sometimes faded into the background: such painted scenery in an unusual style and unbanal technique surprised and shocked the audience. b-boy Vadim Krys from Latvia was the first graffiti writer in the Soviet Union. Since it was difficult to get spray paint, and there was a plant for its production in Riga, Vadim found himself in the best position that a writer of that time could imagine, and began to actively spread his hobby, traveling to different cities. Member of the Koenig City Breakers Max Navigator from Kaliningrad is also considered one of the founding fathers of Russian graffiti: the Baltic hip-hop wave had a strong influence on the culture of his city and quickly spilled over into it.

Aske's comment: “In the USSR, graffiti became known almost at the same time when it got into Western Europe, but in our country it began to develop with a great delay. Even today, few young writers know that there was graffiti in the Soviet Union.”

1990s

The 90s are called the second wave of graffiti: at this time, young people from Moscow, St. Petersburg and major cities countries, traveling abroad, learned about a new, almost illegal artistic method and began to actively create small communities. An important stage of the period was the festival of extreme sports "Nescafe - Clean Energy", which was the first and key meeting place for graffiti writers. One of the most famous representatives of this time - Anton Make- started doing graffiti in the mid-90s and became one of the writers who painted for the first time in the Moscow metro. Make also produced a black and white samizdat (graffiti zine) Outline(1999), and later, together with Igor Ponosov and Kirill Kto, founded the movement "Partisaning, having gone from graffiti writer to urban activist, researcher of social relations.

Aske's comment: “The example of Anton Meik is indicative, since active writers of the late 90s became known outside their field. They became artists, designers, festival organizers and entrepreneurs. Graffiti was for them an incentive for active self-development: for example, Dima Oskes became one of the founders of the Faces & Laces festival, Artyom Ren - the creator of the domestic graffiti paint Rush.

Zero (first half)

Already by this time, street graffiti had become a means of self-affirmation of youth groups and had lost its political coloring in the mid-90s. Active writers began to set the trends of the next decade - authors with original local styles appeared, the backbone of the Russian graffiti community was formed. The release of two parts of the French film Dirty hands(1999, 2001) about bombing (i.e. quick drawing on electric trains, subway trains, city streets) became an important event in the local graffiti community, and for many Russian writers it opened up drawing on transport. In 2001, the first domestic graffiti magazine "Spray It" (No. 1) was published, and a year later, the Moscow team WHY!(Sta, Pose, Misha Most, Kirill Kto and others) released the first domestic video about bombing, which made the new activity super popular in Russia. This form of street painting is still the most popular among young people due to its accessibility and bold, attractive image of bomber jackets.

Asuka's comment: "In major cities there are graffiti communities whose cores are experienced writers, and the outer circle is constantly updated. In Moscow, such communities are more passionate about bombing; in St. Petersburg, many writers actively supported style writing in different periods. Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg became noticeable on the wave of street art, when some writers retrained as street artists and various festivals began to take place there. In small towns, everything usually rests on a few enthusiasts.

INTRODUCTION

Graffiti (from Greek - “drawing, scratching on a flat surface”) is an artistic composition, drawing, or simply an inscription applied to the surface of a wall, building or any other object, usually in the public eye. Like many other things, the art of aerosol came to us from America. The development of graffiti began with the simplest inscriptions, "tags", which were made with a marker. At first, taggers were limited to writing their names, then simple drawings appear. During this period, such a direction as bombing also began to take shape - illegal drawing of images on subway cars, vehicles. A vivid example of this is the "wholecar" - the painting of a "poorly standing car".
In the early 1970s, graffiti artists went underground. The New York subway has become a battlefield. These were the "style wars" widely known to the masses.

The next revolution came when Brooklyn craftsman Pistol first painted in 3D. He made his name in red and white with blue trim, which gave it a three-dimensional feel. His feat was not immediately repeated by many raters. Later, finally, the most complex style “wid style” arose, in which the letters were cunningly intertwined, linking into an unreadable web.
Graffiti is one of the most unique urban trends in hip-hop culture. The real explosion of hip-hop in the early 1980s propelled the art of the aerosol, along with such currents as breakdance and rap, into a popular cultural phenomenon. First of all, it is an art with a rich past and, no doubt, a bright future.

But what is the reason for the appearance of these "masterpieces"? Many of the works, perhaps, are a way of self-expression of the authors. Many of the creations carry a subtle philosophical meaning, where sadness or joy, annoyance or relief can be hidden behind a small stroke of a huge “masterpiece”.

A Brief History of Modern Art

Modern Art formed in its present form at the turn of the 1960s and 70s. The artistic searches of that time can be characterized as a search for alternatives to modernism (often this resulted in denial through the introduction of principles directly opposite to modernism). This was expressed in the search for new images, new means and materials of expression, up to the dematerialization of the object (performances and happenings). Many artists followed the French philosophers who coined the term "postmodernism". We can say that there has been a shift from the object to the process.

The most noticeable phenomena of the turn of the 60s and 70s can be called the development of conceptual art and minimalism. In the 70s, the social orientation of the art process noticeably increased both in terms of content (themes raised in the work of artists) and composition: the most noticeable phenomenon in the mid-70s was feminism in art, as well as an increase in the activity of ethnic minorities (1980- e) and social groups.

The late 70s and 80s were characterized by "fatigue" from conceptual art and minimalism and a return of interest in figurativeness, color and figurativeness (the flourishing of movements such as the New Wilds). In the mid-80s, there was a time for the rise of movements that actively use images of mass culture - campism, East Village art, neo-pop is gaining strength. The flowering of photography in art dates back to the same time - more and more artists begin to turn to it as a means of artistic expression.

The art process was greatly influenced by the development of technology: in the 60s - video and audio, then - computers, and in the 90s - the Internet.

The beginning of the 2000s was marked by disappointment in the possibilities of technical means for artistic practices. At the same time, constructive philosophical justifications for contemporary art of the 21st century have not yet appeared. Some artists of the 2000s believe that "contemporary art" is becoming a tool of power in a "post-democratic (English)" society. This process causes enthusiasm among representatives of the art system, and pessimism among artists.

A number of artists of the 2000s return to the commodity object by abandoning the process and offering a commercially viable attempt at 21st century modernism.

Actual art

In Russia in the 1990s, the term "contemporary art" was also used, which is in many respects similar, but not identical in meaning, to the term "contemporary art". By contemporary art, participants in the artistic process in Russia meant innovative contemporary art (in terms of ideas and/or technical means). Actual art quickly became outdated, and the question of its entry into the history of modern art of the 20th or 21st century is open. Participants in the artistic process in Russia endowed the definition of "actual art" with the meaning that was once attributed to avant-garde (innovation, radicalism, the use of new techniques and techniques).

Contemporary Art Institutions

Contemporary art is exhibited by contemporary art galleries, private collectors, commercial corporations, state art organizations, contemporary art museums, art studios or by the artists themselves in the artist-run space. Contemporary artists receive financial support through grants, awards and prizes, and also receive funds from the sale of their work. Russian practice somewhat different in this sense from the Western. Many contemporary art galleries offer artists monthly payments regardless of the work sold [ , to support the artist. As for funds, awards, grants, this form of support for contemporary art is practically absent in Russia. One of the exceptions is the Iris Foundation for the Development and Support of Art, founded by Daria Zhukova. The foundation's first project is the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture.

There is a close relationship between government agencies dealing with contemporary art and the commercial sector. For example, in the UK, most of the key works contemporary artists, exhibited in state museums, purchased from several influential art dealers.

Museums, Biennials, festivals and fairs of contemporary art are gradually becoming tools for attracting capital, investment in the tourism business or part of public policy(see, for example, the Perm Museum of Modern Art).

Private collectors have a great influence on the entire system of contemporary art. For example, the UK contemporary art market has been dominated since the 1980s by Charles Saatchi, who is sometimes associated with a decade in British contemporary art.

Attempts to directly integrate into the system of contemporary art are made by commercial corporations: they hold exhibitions of contemporary art on their territory, organize and sponsor awards in the field of contemporary art and acquire works by artists, form large collections.

Contemporary art institutions are often criticized by artists and independent art critics. This type of activity is called institutional criticism. In Russia, this type of practice is absent with rare exceptions (such as, for example, the work of Avdey Ter-Oganyan).

Graffiti. history and modernity

Graffiti (in the context of historical inscriptions, the singular is graffito; from it l. graffiti, pl. graffiti) - images, drawings or inscriptions scratched, written or drawn with paint or ink on walls and other surfaces. Graffiti can be classified as any type of street painting on walls, on which you can find everything from simple written words to exquisite drawings.

Graffiti is believed to be closely related to hip-hop culture and the myriad styles that have evolved from New York subway graffiti. Despite this, there are many other great examples of graffiti. At the beginning of the 20th century, graffiti began to appear in boxcars and underpasses. One of these graffiti - Texino - traces its history from the 1920s to our time. During the Second World War and over the next few decades, the phrase "Killroy was here", complete with an image, became common throughout the world. This phrase was used by American troops, and it quickly penetrated the American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (he had the nickname "Yardbird" or "Bird") graffiti with the words "Bird Lives" began to appear throughout New York. During student protests and a general strike in May 1968 in Paris, the city was flooded with revolutionary, anarchist and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counter-revolutionary"), which were done in the style of graffiti, poster and stencil art . During this time, political slogans (such as "Free Huey" dedicated to Huey Newton, the leader of the Black Panther movement) become popular in the United States for a short period. Famous graffiti of the 1970s was the famous "Dick Nixon Before He Dicks You", reflecting the hostility of young people towards the US president.

Rock and roll graffiti forms an important part of graffiti art. The famous graffiti of the 20th century was the inscription in the London Underground, which reads "Clapton is God". This phrase was written spray paint on the wall of Islington station in autumn 1967. This graffiti was captured in a photograph of a dog urinating on a wall. Graffiti art also became associated with the punk rock protest movement of the early 1970s. Bands like Black Flag and Crass (and their followers) stenciled their names everywhere, while many punk nightclubs, venues and venues are famous for their graffiti. In the late 1980s, the image of an upside-down Martini glass - the symbol of the punk band Missing Foundation - became the most ubiquitous graffiti in lower Manhattan, and was reproduced by hardcore punk fans throughout America and West Germany.

Graffiti today is a type of street art, one of the most relevant forms of artistic expression around the world. There are many different styles and types of graffiti. The works created by graffiti artists are an independent genre of contemporary art, an integral part of culture and urban lifestyle. Many countries and cities have their famous writers creating real masterpieces on the streets of the city.

In most parts of the world, graffiti on someone's property without the permission of the owner of that property is considered vandalism and is punishable by law. Sometimes graffiti is used to spread political and social messages. For some people, graffiti is real art, worthy of placement in galleries and exhibitions, for others it is vandalism.

Since graffiti has become an integral part of pop culture, it has become associated with hip-hop, hardcore, beatdown and breakdance music. For many, it is a way of life hidden from the public and incomprehensible to the general public.

Graffiti is also used as a gang signal to mark territory or serve as a designation or "tag" for the gang's activities. The controversy that surrounds this type of art continues to fuel the divisions between law enforcement officers and graffiti artists who seek to put their work on public display. It is a fast-growing art form whose value is vehemently defended by its adherents in verbal skirmishes with government officials, though the same legislation often protects graffiti.

The birth of modern graffiti

The emergence of modern graffiti can be attributed to the early 1920s, when drawings and inscriptions marked boxcars plying the United States. However, the origin of the graffiti movement in its modern sense is associated with the activities of political activists who used graffiti to spread their ideas. Also graffiti was applied by street gangs, such as the Savage Skulls (“Wild Skulls”), La Familia, the Savage Nomads (“Wild Nomads”), in order to mark “their” territory. By the end of the 1960s, signatures began to appear everywhere, the so-called tags, performed by writers from Philadelphia, whose names were Cornbread, Cool Earl, Topcat 126. Cornbread writer is often called one of the founders of modern graffiti.

The period from 1969 to 1974 can be called revolutionary for graffiti. During this time, its popularity has grown markedly, many new styles have appeared, and the center of the graffiti movement has moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to New York. The writers tried to leave their tags wherever possible, with the maximum number of times. Soon after New York became the new center for graffiti, the media took notice of this new cultural phenomenon. The first writer to whom a newspaper article was devoted was TAKI 183. He was a teenager from the Washington Heights area of ​​Manhattan. His TAKI 183 tag consisted of his name Demetrius (or Demetraki, Taki) and the number of the street where he lived - 183. Taki worked as a courier, so he often had to take the subway. Wherever he went, he left his tags everywhere. In 1971, the New York Times published an article dedicated to him entitled "Taki sparked a wave of followers." Julio 204 is also considered one of the early writers, but at that time he went unnoticed by the media. Other notable graffiti artists were Stay High 149, PHASE 2, Stitch 1, Joe 182 and Cay 161. Barbara 62 and Eva 62 were the first women to become famous for their graffiti.

At the same time, graffiti began to appear more often in the subway than on city streets. Writers began to compete with each other, and the point of their competition was to write their name as many times as possible in all possible places. The attention of graffiti artists gradually shifted to railroad depots, where they were able to complete large, complex jobs with less risk. It was then that the key principles of the modern concept of "bombing" were formed.

By 1971, the way tags were played was changing, becoming more sophisticated and complex. This is due to the huge number of graffiti artists, each of whom tried to draw attention to themselves. The rivalry of the writers stimulated the emergence of new styles in graffiti. The artists complicated the drawing itself, trying to make it original, but in addition they began to noticeably increase the size of the letters, the thickness of the lines and use the outline for the letters. This led to the creation in 1972 of large drawings, the so-called "masterpieces" or "pieces". It is believed that the Super Kool 223 writer was the first to perform such "pieces".

A variety of graffiti decoration options came into vogue: polka dots, checkered patterns, hatching, etc. The use of spray paint increased greatly, because the writers increased the size of their work. At that time, “pieces” began to appear that occupied the height of the entire car, they were called “top-to-bottoms”, that is, “from top to bottom”. The development of graffiti as a new artistic phenomenon, its ubiquitous distribution and the growing level of skill of writers could not be ignored. In 1972, Hugo Martinez founded the United Graffiti Artists organization, which included many of the best graffiti artists of the day. The organization sought to present graffiti works to the general public as part of an art gallery. By 1974, writers began to include images of characters and scenes from cartoons in their work. The TF5 team ("The Fabulous Five", "The Incredible Five") became famous for skillfully painting entire cars.

The spread of graffiti culture

In 1979, art dealer Claudio Bruni provided graffiti artists Lee Quiñones and Fab 5 Freddy with a gallery in Rome. For many writers working outside of New York, this was their first exposure to traditional art forms. The friendship between Fab 5 Freddy and Blondie vocalist Debbie Harry led to a single called "Rapture" by Blondie in 1981. The video for this song, which also features Jean-Michel Basquiat, known for his SAMO graffiti, shows the audience elements of graffiti and hip-hop culture for the first time. Although more significant in this sense was the release in 1982 of the feature film "Wild Style" by independent director Charlie Ahearn, as well as documentary film"Style Wars" by Public Broadcasting Service. (National Television USA) in 1983. The musical hits "The Message" and "Planet Rock" contributed to increasing interest in hip-hop outside of New York. Not only did Style Wars showcase famous writers like Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and Zephyr, but it also reinforced graffiti's role in New York City's emerging hip-hop culture: in addition to writers, famous breakdancing bands, such as Rock Steady Crew, and the soundtrack is exclusively rap. To this day, Style Wars is considered to be the most accurate depiction of what was happening in hip-hop culture in the early 1980s. As part of their 1983 New York City Rap Tour Fab, 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 showed hip-hop graffiti to European audiences in Paris and London. Hollywood also turned its attention to hip hop when the 1984 film Beat Street was released around the world, again featuring hip hop culture. During the making of this film, the director consulted with the PHASE 2 writer.

The appearance of stencil graffiti also belongs to this period. The first examples of stencil art were created around 1981 by graffiti artist Blek le Rat in Paris, and by 1985 they were popular in many other cities including New York, Sydney and Melbourne. American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis captured many of the stencil graffiti of those years in their photographs.

Graffiti came to our country (like many things in our country late) in the 80s and 90s, but only a decade later it gained mass character and popularity.

With a huge variety of various subcultures, graffiti is the most relevant type of street art. Inscriptions, images, everything that is applied to walls and other surfaces refers to graffiti.

The term graffiti has been used in history for a long time, but in a different meaning. And they used to associate it with ancient epigraphic monuments like inscriptions scratched on the surface in Greece, Rome, countries ancient east. Then graffiti was scratched on the walls with sharp objects or chalk and coal were used for this.
AT modern world graffiti is painted with spray paint. Now it is much easier to develop in graffiti drawing, because. the presence of modern tools allows you to create new styles and techniques without restrictions.

Often modern graffiti includes new technologies and elements of other arts. Such an example is the use of magnetic LEDs and projected images or multi-colored knitted fabrics (knitted items) in creativity.

The longer you look at a graffiti drawing, the more you understand its meaning and you begin to like it. People of all ages are fond of drawing graffiti. Most of them, of course, are teenagers who unite in different teams and come up with a unique name for it.

Being a means of communication and an extraordinary form of deviant behavior of adolescents and young people, in the modern world, graffiti rightfully claims the title of art. Graffiti drawings can most often be found in such places of urban space that are not accessible to the public and are hidden by the main facades of buildings: garages, underpasses, stairs, concrete barriers of the highway, the area of ​​the railway track, etc.

Graffiti does not lose its relevance and continues to develop. The world of street art should not have limits and is associated with adrenaline, recognition and respect. The path of its development is still long and interesting.

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