Create My Own Graffiti 

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Create My Own Graffiti

Graffiti Creator

Graffiti Groups

Those who write graffiti for more than a few months typically go through a series of structured stages similar to those of more recognized careers. As we have seen, the writer begins with tagging, a solo activity that satisfies a range of individualistic needs.

After a few months, most taggers abandon the marker and spray can for non-graffiti pastimes, but those who continue on to the next career stages-the painting of "throw-ups" and larger, more complex "pieces"-begin to collaborate and in the process forge close personal and professional relationships.

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The new emphasis on style prompts them to cluster in groups, constructing, according to Richard Lachmann, "a total art world" for discussing new designs, devising aesthetic standards, and judging innovations. Historically, writers from the same schools and neighborhoods began gathering at local coffee shops and parks in the early 1970's, and eventually "writers corners" appeared-subway stops where writers from across the city would gather to share ideas and to watch and evaluate train pieces.

Many of the early artists also dabbled in neighborhood gangs, which, like graffiti, satisfied their craving for identity and recognition. Anxious to paint across the city, most found the gangs too restrictive, however, and eventually broke these ties, often advertising their independence by wearing gang-style denim jackets on which they painted their graffiti tags.

Preoccupied with rivalries and impressed by the writer's fearlessness and skill, gangs generally left them alone, but for a short time in the early 1970's, artists in areas where gang wars were especially intense sought safety in numbers and established writing gangs such as Brooklyn's ex-Vandals.

This strategy backfired, however, sparking conflicts among writers and with some of the larger non-graffiti gangs, and by 1973, the ex-Vandals and similar groups had disbanded. As the graffiti gangs dissolved, writers began to organize more informal groups or crews, not for protection, but for companionship, collaboration, and support.

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The first crews were master groups of highly skilled and experienced writers-"crack team[s] that couldn't be touched ... a chosen few that were in a class by themselves," according to Phase 2. The high standards and exclusivity of these crews created intense competition among those vying for membership as well as between rival groups. Beginners' crews and groups composed of writers at various levels of proficiency also surfaced.

The Baltimore writer Deka became involved in one of these multi-level crews as a teen. Touched by "a fever" for graffiti at the age of ten, he regularly cut his high school classes to watch and draw with older, more accomplished writers who would critique his work and at times share letter models with him. Eventually some took him into their crew, where Deka assisted on pieces designed and executed by his mentors: "they took me on, and I just started doing characters and stuff like that cause they were doing heavy detail work," he recalls. "Its almost like an apprenticeship, they'd start you off with characters so you couldn't mess up the wall too bad . . . ."

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