Philly being more script-based, New York emphasizing the contrast of curvilinear and straight serif fonts, and LA taking inspiration from the boxy vertical forms of Old English calligraphy common in biblical texts. each having their own unique stylistic tendencies. Writing styles used to be regionally distinctive, with cities like Philly, New York, and the L.A. While Hollywood film undoubtedly played a role in spreading the visibility of graffiti, the modern art form as we know it definitely did not originate in SoCal during the 80s-90s as someone else suggested. Cornbread, Taki 183, Zephyr, and Dondi are just a few of the names synonymous with the origins of this movement. More sophisticated writing styles (what you might call “bubble”) became commonplace in New York and Philadelphia by the early to mid 70’s. These are generally quick and simple so the writer can make their mark undetected. Initially, the first writers just used simple “tags” which are essentially signatures. “Modern” American graffiti originated on the East Coast in the late 60’s with the availability of the aerosol spray can. The latter is much more impressive and will garner more notoriety. Additionally, location and space are increasingly important to the art form - think of doing a wall at street level vs a piece in a seemingly impossible or dangerous spot. These will have more color, intricate lines, shading and other qualities you’d attribute to more traditional graphic art. This is where you see the “bubble” or block lettering. If the first way to get notoriety or respect is pure quantity, the other way is quality. Graffiti is mostly about notoriety in the scene. The line styles were born out of the need to get the tag up fast to increase the quantity you can do in a short amount of time, and also to decrease the chance of getting caught. They tend to cruise around all night writing their name/tag on everything. Graffiti artists judge each other on the quality of the lines and letters - while they look the same to someone untrained, artists know if you’re copying someone or are otherwise unskilled or uncreative. The line or signature style you mention is closer to pure tagging as above. ![]() These were just plain tags, written pretty clearly. ![]() The object of the “game” being to tag the most - quantity. ![]() Two you mention, the third being murals - full works of art with the signature or tag somewhere less visible in the whole scheme of the piece.īut the modern styles you see are often considered to originate in New York as people would “tag”names similar to our own user names around town. There are more than two styles, but I suppose you can break them into 2-3 categories.
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