Graffiti Art

Graffiti art can be found in almost any city around the world, commonly dressing up concrete buildings in colours and expressions. Graffiti is one of the more contemporary arts that receives polarised opinions. Either you love it or hate it, but it unanimously receives feedback. There are cities worldwide known for their amazing graffiti wall art, like Paris, France, and Melbourne, Australia. Some of the biggest names in graffiti are Banksy, Shard Fairey, Blek le Rat, and Invader.

What is Graffiti Art?

To some, graffiti is an exciting urban art form, while others see it as vandalism of public and private property. It became widespread in 1970s New York, where stealthy young artists made their mark in subways, train carriages, and buildings across the city. A decade later, authorities cracked down on graffiti and it became harder for artists to tag train carriages, which had been a favourite canvas. The backlash from authorities caused graffiti artists to adopt pseudonyms and would tag their names as such. Graffiti artists were constantly on the edge and would have to create a work in record time as they never knew when authorities would find them.

3 Types of Graffiti Artwork

Unlike other art forms, graffiti developed in a short amount of time. Still, it has managed to develop multiple ranges of styles. Here are three of the more recognised styles of graffiti.

Tagging

Tagging is the easiest style of graffiti to recognise. The beginnings of graffiti can be linked back to tagging, which sees the artist painting or writing their name across a part of the city. The names are usually pseudonyms to protect the identity of the artist.

Stickers

Perhaps the quickest, and most discreetly achieved a way of putting up an artwork in the public space is through stickers. There’s no need to bring glue or paste along when one could peel back a piece of paper and stick the printed artwork onto a wall.

Stencil

Stencil graffiti is one of the styles that propelled it to mainstream status. Perhaps this is because it's easily approachable and usually depicts an image. Graffiti artists use spray paints or rollers to apply the stencil to the surface, which is often quicker than creating the image from scratch onto the wall.