OUGD401. Context of Practice. Lecture 6. Graffiti and street art.

The word graffiti derives from the Italian: ‘to scratch’. Cave wall paintings considered the first forms of graffiti. Then ancient roman caricature graffiti of politicians. Kilroy – peering over the wall related to wartime rationing and was a political comment. Paris in 1968 was a period of development for the art movement. New york in 1970s became birth place of modern graffiti on subway cars etc – a part of the hip hop movement. Improved over next 10 years then with global popularity of hip hop graffiti became worldwide. Became used in mass media and design and games and tv and film and documentary and on walls. Tats cru from new york were a pioneering crew responsible for the increase in sophistication of styles and techniques.