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Cave Drawings
Some of the first forms of graffiti are cave drawings from ancient times, like Pompeii, or ancient Greeks carving images of gods into walls. The drawings were used to convey a message without using words. It was a collection of shapes and lines that helped others understand what the "artist" was trying to tell them, like modern graffiti. Let's begin our timeline when some of the first carvings were discovered in pompeii. -
The Beginning of Modern Graffiti
Cave drawings aren't what you first think of when you think graffiti, the first thing you usually think is the large graffiti scene in New York in the early 1960's and 1970's. It was an art form that grew and spread very quickly, some might even argue that it was an epidemic. From Philadelphia all throughout New York City, subway graffiti and name "tags" were born -
Graffiti in the 80's
Graffiti started to die down because of more strict laws set in place by the mayor of New York at the time, John Lindesy. More and more graffiti artist stopped and switched to canvases, but for the true die-hards of graffiti it meant that they had to get sneakier and more creaive in the ways they went about creating their art to avoid legal punishment. -
Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring
When law started to crack down on Graffiti, artists had to find a new way of expressing themselves and many switched to canvas paintings with the same style of graffiti. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring were two of the first artist that helped make that transition from graffiti being seen as street vandalism to a respected art form. -
Stencil Graffiti
When you think of stencil graffiti you think of Banksy but one of the first graffiti stencil artists was Blek le Rat in Paris. He started the moveent and in a few short years it had spread to other cities, including New York ans even cities in Australia like Sydney and Melborn. -
Complex Graffiti
As stencil graffit grew in popularity, other graffiti also became more complex, it was no longer a random make scribbled, or "tagged," it became legitamate art pieces with a story behind them, and they made the audience, the public, stop and think for a minute. -
Banksy
Although Blek le Rat was one of the first people to create stencil graffiti, the more well known Brittish artist, Banksy is arguably what made it famous. He still to this day remains anonymous but has gained his fame by creating art that has a deeper meaning. Whether it be a political or a social issue like poverty, Banksy uses his fame to make people aware of issues happening around the world through his art. -
Current Graffiti
Graffiti is still illegal in most cities, but it is still an art form that hasn't died and there are still millions of graffiti artists creating art in the streets and on canvases today. There are still different types of graffiti. You still have simple tags of people writing their names, but now more complex . You also still have stencil graffit artists, like banksy, and even some reall good street artists that put time into their murals and create art that still has a message behind it.
