The current era in graffiti
is characterized by a majority of graffiti artists moving from subway or train cars .to “street galleries.” The Clean Train Movement started in May, 1989, when New York attempted to remove all of the subway cars found with graffiti on them out of the transit system. Because of this, many graffiti artists had to resort to new ways to express themselves. Much controversy arose among the streets debating whether graffiti should be considered an actual form of art.

During this period many graffiti artists had taken to displaying their works in galleries and owning their own studios. This practice started in the early 1980s with artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started out tagging locations with his signature SAMO (Same Old Shit), and Keith Haring, who was also able to take his art into studio spaces.

In some cases, graffiti artists had achieved such elaborate graffiti (especially those done in memory of a deceased person) on storefront gates that shopkeepers have hesitated to cover them up. In the Bronx after the death of rapper Big Pun, several murals dedicated to his life appeared virtually overnight;similar outpourings occurred after the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Big L, and Jam Master Jay. Princess Diana and Mother Teresa were also memorialised this way in New York City.

Between the years of 1969-1974 the “pioneering era” took place. During this time graffiti underwent a change in styles and popularity. The city produced one of the first graffiti artists to gain media attention in New York, TAKI 183. TAKI 183 was a youth from Washington Heights, Manhattan who worked as a foot messenger. His tag is a mixture of his name Demetrius (Demetraki), TAKI, and his street number, 183rd. Being a foot messenger, he was constantly on the subway and began to put up his tags along his travels. This spawned a 1971 article in the New York Times titled “‘Taki 183′ Spawns Pen Pals”. Julio 204 is also credited as the first writer, but didn’t get the fame that Taki received. TAKI 183 was the first artist to be recognised outside of the graffiti subculture, but wasn’t the first artist. Other notable names from that time are: Stay High 149, Hondo 1, Phase 2, Stitch 1, SEEN,Bosik 1, Bolst 1, Kinks 2, Septik 1, Joe 182, Junior 161 and Cay 161. Barbara 62 and Eva 62 were also important early graffiti artists in New York, and are the first known females to write graffiti.

Also taking place during this era was the movement from outside on the city streets to the subways. Graffiti also saw its first seeds of competition around this time. The goal of most artists at this point was called “getting up” and involved having as many tags and bombs in as many places as possible. Artists began to break into subway yards in order to hit as many trains as they could with a lower risk, often creating larger elaborate pieces of art along the subway car sides. This is when the act of bombing was said to be officially established.

Graff Bombing

train bombings in action

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