Graffiti: TERMINOLOGY

The first known example of "modern style" graffiti survives in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey). Local guides say it is an advertisement for prostitution. Located near a mosaic and stone walkway, the graffiti shows a handprint that vaguely resembles a heart, along with a footprint and a number. This is believed to indicate that a brothel was nearby, with the handprint 
 symbolizing payment.

Origins of the word ‘graffiti’

Graffiti is a style of art made on both public and private surfaces, prevalent in low income areas of cities, taking the form o f drawings, words, and art. Graffiti art is often considered vandalism because most of the time, the property’s owner is not consulted about the art administration. Graffitti art dates back to ancient classical Greece and the Roman Empire. The word Graffiti is a plural word derived from “graffito”, which refers to works of art created by scratching a design on a surface. The word sgraffito is also related to the word Graffiti in which it conveys a method of scratching through a layer of paint in order to reveal another pigmented layer below. All the words mentioned above are originally from the Italian language, and the main roots are “graffiato” which means “to scratch” and this word is from the Greek word “graphein” which means “to write”. It is still not clear when exactly the word graffiti was first used to distinguish an art form.

Modern graffiti

Throughout the 20th century, World War Two seemed to mark the real recognition of modern graffiti. “Kilroy was here” became a popular cultural American expression in the form of graffiti; it depicted a doodle of Kilroy peeking over a wall. Similarly, Australians adopted a nation the nation wide graffiti – “Foo was here”. “Mr. Chad” was another popular graffiti subject of the times, which portrayed a face with eyes and nose hanging over a wall saying “What No …. ?”. This referred to lack of commodities during the time of rationing. With the advent of airplane inventions, airplane graffiti followed including the ‘nose art’ that became popular during WWII. With the development of large cities and urban areas after the war, in the second half of the 20th century, gangs would mark public property and walls with their gang names, titles, and tages – this would mark the gang’s territory. By the end of the 20th century graffiti, or tagging, was no longer restricted to gangs, but spread to ‘artists’ who began to leave their tags in order to create a ‘name’ and reputation as a graffiti artist. The very first documented incident of illegal spray painted markings was found in Philadelphia. The artist responsible named himself ‘Cornbread’. Certain graffiti has local significance such as the tagging done by the Californian gangs the Bloods and the Crips. The graffiti name Cool “Disco" Dan appears in the Washington D.C. area; the artist creating the graffiti has been actively spraying his tag since 1984. Instead of becoming caught up in drugs and games during the Go Go scene of the 80’s, this artist devoted himself to graffiti. More information on Cool “Disco” Dan can be found in the book “Free Agents, a history of Washington, DC graffiti”. A joke put out by the Washington post is as follows: What two people’s help will Mayor Marion Barry need to clean up Washington, D.C.? The answer is Cool “Disco” Dan and God!

Ancient graffiti

In ancient times the term graffiti referred to figure drawings, wall carvings and inscriptions found on ancient ruins, throughout Pompeii, and within the Catacombs of Rome. The word evolved to include artistic vandalism. The first known example of ‘modern’ graffiti exists in the Ephesus, an ancient Greek city that is now Turkey. The graffiti conveys a ‘for a good time’ sign which appears near a long mosaic stone walkway. The sign includes a heart shape, a footprint, handprints, and a numbers. The hands represented how much the ‘good time’ would cost, and the foot shows how many steps it would take to find the lover. Pompeii is a Roman city that depicts many examples of graffiti art – you’ll find, in Latin graffiti, magic instructions, insults, love declarations, signs for political campaigns, caricatures, and quotations from literature. Ancient graffiti is also found in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, in the Mayan site of Tikal in Guatemala, Viking graffiti in Rome, and vandalism art in Ireland at Newgrange Mound.

Graffiti art terms

Tag – a tag is an artist’s personal stylized signature. A tagger or a writer is an individual that leaves a tag or signature.

Piece – a piece, derived from masterpiece, is a large 3D image depicting arrows, many colors, and cool effects. If the site of the piece is a difficult location, and is well done, the artists / writer will earn the most respect.

Throw-up – a throw up is not a piece, rather it takes less time to create than a piece. It usually consists of an outline and one fill in color. The most common form of throw-ups are bubble letters and shapes – the reduced time in artistic investment also reduces the chances that the vandal will be caught.

Sticky – a sticky is a sticker that has the graffiti artist’s tag on it.

Cru – A cru or crew is a group of graffiti writers and artists that stick together – they can be part of gangs or not.

Slash – it is a great insult to ‘slash’ or put a line through someone else’s graffiti – it is a disrespectful action also known as dissing, buffing, marking, or capping.

Back To Back – the term back to back describes graffiti that covers a wall from one side to the other (ie the Berlin Wall, train cars).

Burner – a burner is a complex, large piece that appears to be burning out of walls and trains.

Insides – insides are tags created within buses, trains, cars, or trams. During the 1970’s it was common 

in New York to see as much graffiti inside a train as on the outside.

Going Over – if an artist ‘goes over’ another person’s piece and replaces it with his own tag it is the same as declaring war.

Toy – a toy is a graffiti artist that is not talented, or new to the scene.

King – a king is a writer that has gained respect by being talented, and owning the most tags in a certain area (in trains, outside of trains, on walls).

Nic – if you nic someone’s work you are stealing their ideas, color schemes and lettering. Bite – bite means the same as nic in New York