Most likely, the graffiti scene began in the late 1990s and early 2000s in New York (hence its name of NYC graffiti) and was quickly moved to other states and cities to establish a home base. Its popularity was so strong, that graffiti artists often used their skills to paint political, religious (Islam, Judaism, Hindu, Baha’i), and environmental messages.
Where and when did graffiti become “street art”?
Many artists started their graffiti careers before the 1990s but didn’t stop until the early 2000s, with many of those artists moving to New York.
Did graffiti use political messages?
Graffiti began at the end of World War II, when Japanese citizens were painted green to symbolize the end of the war in Asia. In the 1960s and 1970s, graffiti would feature anti-war, anti-globalization, and anti-nuclear messages. However, between 1999 and 2007, most graffiti that has been created by young New Yorkers has been anti-Islamic. Many of the anti-Islamic graffiti began in the early 2000s and are popular today.
Can you put an example of graffiti to the back of your head?
At the New York University Student Union, I saw two men painting graffiti while listening to the news. The graffiti artist was wearing a “Black Lives Matter” sweatshirt. I was so fascinated by his work that I wanted to do something with it. I had always been interested in writing, but thought graffiti was more challenging to do. I decided to start a graffiti writing group called graffiti with a few friends on April 12. I started to notice graffiti on a daily basis, and soon had a team of about 20 students and some helpers. During the last week of December, we made it back to campus, with the goal of publishing about 5-6 new graffiti pieces a day! It was a fun learning experience that became more challenging every day.
So you had a team of about 20 students doing graffiti. Then you decided to try crowdfunding. How did you feel about the whole thing?
I think it was an amazing experience. At school, kids like to read about their art history (and they get a lot of that from the art history students, so I always encouraged them to read about contemporary art). Also, I love the idea of making things to help people. I felt I was doing something that was for the wider community at large to understand, so I’m not necessarily against crowdfunding. People should
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