Whether you believe it or not, scribbling on walls is basically human nature. One thinks of graffiti as a modern thing. However, it actually goes way back. Cavemen blew paint over their hands on cave walls. Even the ancient Romans scratched messages into stone. They wrote everything from political insults to complaints about their bosses. An easy example is the World War II when soldiers drew a long-nosed doodle. It said "Kilroy was here". It popped up everywhere American soldiers went. So, the urge to leave a mark is old. People have always wanted to say "I exist". But the style we know today really started cooking in the late 1960s.
The modern graffiti story actually kicks off in Philadelphia. It did not start in New York. It began thanks to a guy named Cornbread. In the late 60s, he had a crush on a girl named Cynthia. He started writing "Cornbread Loves Cynthia" all over the neighborhood. He wanted to get her attention. It actually worked. He got so hooked on the fame that he kept tagging everywhere. The local news made a mistake later. They reported that he had died in a gang fight. To prove them wrong, he broke into the Philadelphia Zoo. He spray-painted "Cornbread Lives" on the side of an elephant. That level of audacity set the tone for everything that came next.
By the early 70s, the movement exploded in New York City. A kid named Demetrius led the way. He worked as a courier. He started writing his nickname and street number, TAKI 183. He wrote it on every surface he passed during his deliveries. The New York Times wrote an article about him. Suddenly, every kid in the city wanted that same fame. It became a competition of numbers. Writers weren't just looking to be artistic. They were looking to "get up". This meant getting their name in as many places as possible. They wanted to become the king of the line.
The game changed when writers realized something new. Subway trains were essentially moving canvases. If you painted a train, your name traveled. It went through all five boroughs of NYC. This was the "Golden Age" of subway graffiti. Writers moved away from simple marker tags. They started doing elaborate, colorful masterpieces. This is where we got the "Wildstyle".
These were interlocking letters. They were hard for regular people to read. However, they looked incredible to other writers. Crews like the Fabulous Five were busy. They painted whole subway cars from top to bottom. They turned the transit system into a rolling art gallery.
In the 1980s, the art world finally started to pay attention. The line between "vandalism" and "high art" got blurry. Artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat rose up. He started out tagging cryptic phrases under the name SAMO. Keith Haring became famous too. He was known for his chalk drawings in subway stations. They moved from the streets into fancy galleries. They proved that street culture had serious artistic value. This was also when graffiti became linked with Hip Hop culture. It appeared in music videos. It was in movies like Wild Style. This helped spread the aesthetic to Europe and beyond.
However, the city of New York eventually declared war on graffiti. They invented "The Buff". This was a massive chemical wash system. It was designed to clean the trains. By the late 80s, the era of the painted subway train was mostly over. This forced writers to adapt. They moved to highway retaining walls. They climbed rooftops. They painted freight trains that carried their art across the country. Or, they went "bombing." This meant doing quick, bubbly "throw-up" letters. These could be painted in under two minutes before the cops showed up.
Meanwhile, across the ocean in Paris, a different vibe was brewing. It was called "Stencil Art". An artist named Blek le Rat started it. He used pre-cut cardboard stencils to spray images. He sprayed rats and life-sized figures. Stencils were great for speed. You could prep the art at home. Then, you could spray it on a wall in seconds. This style was much more image-based. It was different from the letter-based graffiti of New York. It laid the groundwork for a new genre. It is now called this "Street Art" rather than just graffiti.
This brings to the 90s and 2000s. One can see the rise of the most famous street artist on the planet: Banksy. He took inspiration from Blek le Rat. Banksy used stencils to create dark, funny images.
They were often political images in the UK. He turned the street art world upside down. His work wasn't just about his name. It was about a message. His pieces became very valuable. People started tearing walls down to sell them at auctions. It created a weird paradox. "Illegal" art was now worth millions of dollars.
Today, there is a bit of a split between "Graffiti" and "Street Art". Graffiti is still usually about the letters. It is about the culture and the illegal thrill. Think of the messy tags you see on mailboxes. Street Art is more about images. It focuses on murals and characters. You see this in places like the Wynwood Walls in Miami. Developers actually pay famous artists there. They paint massive, legal murals. This makes the neighborhood look cool. It drives up property values. It is a huge shift from the days of kids sneaking into train yards at night.
Now is the age of "Instagram Graffiti". Street art is a global tourism magnet. Artists like Shepard Fairey are household names. He did the Obama "Hope" poster and the Obey giant. Purists still miss the gritty danger of the 70s subway era. But the movement is bigger than ever. It went from a tag on a Philly elephant to a mural in a modern art museum. Street art has become the biggest art movement in human history. It is also the most accessible.
