Graffiti often has a bad reputation. However, when a talented artist gets down to business, it can become a work of art and only beautify the city. Graffiti and street art are not always legal, however, people come from all over to see what is truly worthwhile. It is known that street art can increase the number of tourists.

It also reflects culture without saying a word. More and more communities around the world are decorating walls and walkways with graffiti and playful statues.

Graffiti is most common in urban areas. Without it, residents would only admire the concrete walls. The city may be gloomy, boring, falling apart, but the sudden splash of street art draws people in and they travel to see it.

advises you to visit Oktyabrskaya Street in Minsk, where you can see beautiful intricate graffiti on the walls. And if you like this kind of art, here is a list of 10 cities around the world where you can find it and enjoy it in moderation.

1. Mexico City

On the walls of Mexico City, you can see the murals that have already become part of the urban landscape. And not so long ago, the project "The whole city is a canvas" was implemented, which further decorated the streets. The graffiti was drawn legally. It took about 11 months to get official permission. 9 artists from Mexico City and other countries came together to give the walls their current look.

2. London, UK

It will be quite expensive to visit London, but at least you can admire the street art for free.

3. Prague, Czech Republic

Graffiti is scattered all over the streets of Prague.

Notable street artists behind many of the works in Prague include CRYTIC257, SKARF, TRON, and EPOS 257.
Their real names are unknown. We only know how they sign their work on the streets, and some in galleries where their art is also displayed.

4. Lisbon, Portugal

Instead of letting the area fall to pieces, the people of Lisbon got together and created the "CRONO" project. A number of artists were commissioned to paint the neglected buildings, and an exhibition was held in 2011 to show the resulting work.

5. Lodz, Poland

It is impossible not to see graffiti painted throughout the city the size of 10 floors.

Two artists, Przemyslaw Blejzyk and Mateusz Gapski, known as "Etam", created most of the artistic graffiti in Łódź. Their paintings are varied and unique, but each shows a different scene from Polish folklore.

6. Bogota, Colombia

For graffiti lovers, a tour of street art monuments has been created, which takes 2.5 hours. You can book it on the website www.bogotagraffiti.com. It is hosted by CRISP, a street artist who moved to Colombia in 2009. He will show the images, what they mean and what conclusions should be drawn from them.

7. New York, USA

New York is a wealthy city with rich history and culture; in it you will find unique examples of street art.

Recently, artists have been flocking to the Bushwick, Brooklyn area. Here you can find the work of several well-known New York City graffiti artists, such as Buff Monster, who uses bright splashes of pink as his trademark.

8. Valparaiso, Chile

Everywhere in Valparaiso you will find amazing collections of street art. The safest and most touristic neighborhoods include Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion.

9. Sao Paulo, Brazil

The Google Art Project has even partnered with the city to display Sao Paulo's amazing collection of street art.

10. Paris, France

The street art here is diverse, and each whispers some secrets of the city and helps to reveal it from the inside.

Graffiti ( graffiti from ital. graffito - inscriptions) is a street painting. The debate over whether graffiti should be considered a separate art direction or an act of vandalism has not subsided so far. It is customary to refer to graffiti any images placed on the surface of walls, buildings, and other public objects. What is it, how did this direction appear, how does it develop, what is considered to be graffiti in contemporary art?

The history of graffiti: from the ancient world to modern times

Now graffiti is called any kind of street art and wall painting; regardless of the degree of professionalism of drawing images. In history, this term has been used for a long time. And earlier there was a division into two concepts, such as "dipint" and "graffiti". The term comes from the verb “graffiare”, which means “to scratch” in Italian. The verb "dipinti" denoted inscriptions made with paint.

An interesting fact: in the past, scratching and painting techniques were often combined. Examples of this technique were observed among potters, who scratched inscriptions on the top layer of paint, thus exposing the inner layer. Of course, it is difficult to call such a technique now graffiti in the classical sense of the word, but then it was one of the first examples of the application of technology. Especially often the masters signed their works in this way.

It is customary to start counting the history of graffiti from the moment when the wall inscriptions were discovered. The first examples were found in the countries of the Ancient East, in Rome, as well as in Greece. Later, any graphics that were applied to the surface of the walls were referred to as graffiti, and in many countries it was regarded as an act of vandalism. Incredibly, the first drawings appeared already in the thirtieth millennium BC. It was the rock paintings that became the prototype of this trend in art. Then, natural pigments and sharp objects were used as tools: such as animal bones, stones and fragments of hardened rocks.

Ancestors of graffiti - ancient rock paintings

The first prototype of graffiti, such as we are used to seeing it now, is located in the city of Ephesus, which is located in Turkey. It previously belonged Ancient Greece and even preserved marks of this culture. The first text was an advertisement for the services of prostitutes. The drawing depicted a palm print, vaguely resembling a heart, a number and a footprint. This whole figure is interpreted as the amount of payment for certain services.

The ancient Romans also were not without a sense of humor, and often made caricatured graffiti with images of those in power. Then this direction was used as a tool for declaring love, and for conveying one's thoughts and for political rhetoric. In Pompeii, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, various curses, magic spells, the alphabet, political slogans and much more were displayed. As it becomes clear from this list, the direction was very multifaceted. Thanks to the same inscriptions, many riddles and incomprehensible aspects of colloquial speech were revealed. Considering the low level of education of most of the people, many inscriptions turned out to be a serious help in understanding oral speech.

It is also noteworthy that graffiti appeared almost simultaneously in different parts of the world. Even in Egypt, on the territory of the historical complex of Giza, researchers have found many inscriptions and drawings that were also attributed to this style. It is believed that they were left by the builders and religious figures of the time.

Graffiti was used even where there was no connection with civilization. The ancient Mayan tribes, in one of their largest settlements - Tikal, left many well-preserved drawings. long and rich story the appearance of graffiti is also among the Eastern Slavs. In Novgorod, 10 examples of works dating back to the eleventh century have been preserved. Most of the messages of this people carry a prayer message, although sometimes you can find some kind of comic messages. It is worth noting that folk spells were often applied, because people then were very superstitious.

Already in the Renaissance, such famous artists as Michelangelo and Raphael went to the golden house of Nero, where they carved their own names, after which they began active work. Later, french soldiers left inscriptions during the Egyptian campaign led by Napoleon. Lord Byron also left his mark on the Greek Temple of Poseidon. And during World War II soviet soldiers made a huge number of inscriptions on the walls of the Reichstag.

The birth of modern graffiti

Examples of graffiti of the new time are considered to be the base on the basis of which the modern direction was created. Many cultural scientists believe that modern look directly related to hip-hop and breakdancing. However, this is a misconception, because the first wave of drawings appeared in the 1920s in the New York subway, which serves as a weighty refutation of this theory. Drawings can often be found on the surface of cars, as well as in pedestrian crossings.

Inscriptions on train cars in New York, 1920s

Then, during the Second World War, the expression “Kilroy was here” began to spread. This inscription appeared long after the end of the war. Over time, it began to be supplemented by the image. This phrase was used by American soldiers during the war, which is why the phrase has become entrenched in American culture.

The famous WWII graffiti “Kilroy was Here”, 1940s (modern interpretation)

Then there was a wave of signage all over New York City saying "Bird Lives". In Paris, during the strikes of 1968, the phrase “L’ennui est contre-révolutionnaire” became popular, which means “Boredom is counter-revolutionary”. As can be seen from these examples, graffiti has been firmly woven into human culture throughout human existence.

Graffiti Culture Distribution Center

There is no formal and unified center for spreading graffiti culture as such. Some believe that the center of this trend is the city of São Paulo, which is an inspiration for graffiti artists from all over the world. This city is often compared to New York in the 1970s and has a similar vibe. The period from 1969 to 1974 is considered to be revolutionary in history. It was then that a huge number of directions were born, and the center for the development of this type of art moved from Philadelphia to New York. Since then, it is New York that is considered to be the center of graffiti development.

World experience of confrontation between graffiti and the state

All over the world there is a dual attitude towards street art. In many countries, graffiti is still considered vandalism, and people who apply drawings are fined or sentenced to administrative punishment. In some countries and states, such activities are even imprisoned.

In the 1980s, an anti-graffiti organization, the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network (PAGN), was formed in Philadelphia. The authorities quickly began to realize that graffiti and wall paintings were actively spreading only in the poor areas of cities. In such cases, graffiti is a kind of reflection of the standard of living of people. Then the US authorities began to fight the devastation in cities in order to eliminate the possibility of drawings on the walls.

Photo by graffiti documentary filmmaker Martha Cooper for Subway Art

In 2006, a city councilman named Peter Vallone proposed a bill that would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to carry wall markers or spray paint. Then fashion designer Mark Eco sued for violating the rights of artists and a hearing was held in the same year. Mark Eco's demands were satisfied, and the amendments to the legislation were removed. There is a known case when in Chicago in 1992 spray paints and other means of drawing pictures on walls were banned for sale. And in the same year, a law was passed that imposed a fine of 500 dollars on those who put graffiti on the wall.

At the same time, the amount of the fine exceeded the amount that was imposed for being intoxicated in public places, as well as for violating a religious service. In 2005, a system was created that allowed drawings to be entered into a single database, which made it easier to find an artist, because it was easier to find their author by a general outline. One of the first planted was Joseph Montana, who was called the king of graffiti. He painted more than 200 buildings, for which he was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

The fight against street artists also took place in Europe. A law was passed prohibiting the sale of spray paint to persons under the age of 16. And, despite the fact that the toughest fight against graffiti was observed in the UK, it was here that the famous artist, nicknamed “Banksy”, who was nicknamed the art terrorist, appeared. The most interesting thing is that after many years of struggle, his work was brought into the cultural heritage of Great Britain. The artist has gained world fame, he exhibits in all countries, the cost of his work reaches millions of dollars. But, despite this, his identity has not yet been revealed.

The police load Banksy's work into the car. New York, 2014

A fierce struggle against street art is taking place in the East as well. In Iran and Israel, this art direction is prosecuted by law. And in Singapore, a student of an American school was sentenced to 4 years in prison. At the same time, in Hong Kong, a writer (graffiti writer - graffiti artist) named Tsang Tsu Choi, who received the nickname "King of Kowloon", is very revered, and some of his work is under official protection.

The reverse side: the emergence of graffiti as a new direction in art

One of the first famous artists is considered to be Jean Michel Basquiat, who began his career with wall paintings. He left short phrases with deep meaning all over New York, for which he became famous. The project ended with the phrase “SAMO IS DEAD”, after which a new stage began in the life of the artist. They, together with Andy Warhol, used a stencil technique to apply images to the walls.

Among contemporaries, a street writer nicknamed “Banksy”, whose identity is still shrouded in mystery, received particular fame. He raises topical issues and ridicules the absurdity of situations in modern politics. Many of his works have been recognized as world masterpieces.

Materials and technique of creation

Modern writers use a number of tools:

• spray paint (and many application techniques)
• markers
• rollers
• brushes
• stickers
• cardboard stencils, etc.

As an experiment, magnetic light-emitting diodes and projections of drawings were used. Artists are engaged not only in restoration, but also in the transformation of old works, using new technology application. "Yarnbombing" involves the use of jerseys that are attached to a pattern. Something intermediate between classical graffiti and installation is formed.

Types and styles of classical graffiti

Certain application techniques have received their own names. "Tag" (tag) - the main technique, which involves the signature of the writer, drawing his name. This is where the “graffiti tagging” technique comes from, which is one of the most popular on this moment. The inscription can have initials or messages, letters, calligraphy. “Pissing” is a type of tagging that involves filling an empty fire extinguisher with paint, after which a pattern is applied to it. The difficulty with this technique lies in the fact that it is too massive, which often makes it sloppy.

“Throw-up”, aka “bombing” - is drawn quickly, with one or more colors. The main thing here is to quickly apply a drawing, sometimes sacrificing its quality. “Masterpiece” is a complex rendition of the writer's name. “Roller” or “blockbuster” are massive works done in a printed manner. When creating them, rollers and rollers are used, with the help of this technique, the paint falls on the entire surface of the wall or object. "Wildstyle" is one of the most complex types graffiti. It is characterized by intricate forms of letters, intertwined together, with serifs. Separately, mention should be made of such a phenomenon as “capping”, which involves covering one image with another. This method is used to deface other people's work and is not welcome among graffiti writers.

Blockbuster

masterpiece

Graffiti is a separate world where people communicate in their own language. They carry messages, reflect reality, make you think or smile. To love this direction or to be against it is an individual choice for everyone.

On March 15, the winner will begin to implement his grandiose project international competition. It was the Moscow street artist Misha Most.

In the meantime, we invite you to evaluate the work of his "comrades in the shop." It's not just drawings on buildings. Murals - a fundamentally new look contemporary art, requiring patience, precise planning and tens of liters of paint. These are graffiti that have reached a completely different level, works that occupy hundreds of square meters and are noticeable from afar. This collection contains paintings, stunning in their scale, decorating walls in different parts of the world. Enjoy!

Eight giant concrete grain silos in Northam, Australia have been turned into art objects as part of the PUBLIC-2015 project. Two famous artist– Hense from the US and Phlegm from the UK started working on painting from opposite sides to create a unique pattern. The contrast is striking - juicy bright abstractions from Hense and surreal smoky images of Phlegm.

By the start of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, he set out to break his own record and painted five giant portraits symbolizing the five continents on a building in the port area. By the way, in his dynamic geometric manner, Eduardo also made graffiti with the image of the ballerina Maya Plisetskaya in Moscow.

Inspired by traditional Japanese culture and the wonders of nature, street art artist Mademoiselle Maurice combined them in her Lunar Cycle project. A 2,000-square-meter wall in a Parisian residential building, covered in black paint, has turned into a cosmic expanse with spheres made of origami paper figures and their painted copies.

Claiming to be the world's largest graffiti, the ambitious project belongs to a team from the French firm CiteCreation. The residential building has become an extension of nature, with trees, flowers, birds and animals. Monumental painting has a chance to get into the Guinness Book of Records, but for now it simply delights the eyes of passers-by and enlivens the city landscape.

To get city officials to think about the state of old buildings in the Toledo area, the artist Inti took to the street not with a banner, but with cans of paint. A huge image of Don Quixote appeared on the facade of one of the buildings. "Build without destroying what is!" - this is the slogan of the action, within the framework of which Inti got down to work.

Wall painting is not only a way to attract attention or express yourself, but also an opportunity to capture the brightest moments in the history of mankind. Josef Kristofoletti took part in a project for the famous Swiss CERN to perpetuate the amazing power of scientific progress. The author was inspired here, watching the work of employees and scientists.

Many are oppressed by the dullness and facelessness of big cities, and especially the workers' quarters. Argentinean artist Alfredo Segatori approached the problem with great care and completely covered the concrete walls of 2000 square meters with drawings! Residents of Buenos Aires, where the drawing is located, are proud of it as one of the local attractions.

An incredibly thoughtful and large-scale drawing adorns one of the squares of Morocco. The artist Giacomo Bufarini, also known as RUN, set out to show the aloofness in modern world, dividing their heroes in a wide stream. To see the whole picture, you need to climb higher. The rest of the time the picture is actually under the feet of passers-by.

Graffiti, even the most complex, is already difficult to surprise the public. But the artists of the German Crew team succeeded: they turned into a picture not one wall, but the whole block, which is now officially considered the largest mural in Mexico. The houses painted in bright colors, standing on a hill, have become like a giant painting canvas - it looks very impressive and can be seen from afar with the naked eye.

Pokras Lampas, aka Arseniy Pyzhenkov, spent two days drawing a breathtakingly complex calligraphic pattern on the roof of one of the buildings of the former Krasny Oktyabr factory. The work, which can only be fully seen from the air, claims the title of "the largest calligraphy in Russia." Of course, it will be difficult to beat his record, because the total area of ​​​​the drawing is 1625 square meters.

Throughout the history of graffiti, humanity has tried to deprive it of the right to be called art. After all, any fool, armed with a can of paint, is able to draw some kind of drawing on the wall. Nevertheless, street artists continue to amaze us with their bold and bright paintings, each time convincing the audience more and more that their creations deserve to be called art. Looking at the examples of graffiti below, you can see for yourself.

12. Take cover under my umbrella

This great example of graffiti is the brainchild of British artist Seth. Such paintings truly decorate the city. The bright colors and originality of the pattern as a whole are definitely impressive.

11. Too late


Banksy, the most famous street artist in the world, has gained popularity thanks to his huge collection of provocative and controversial drawings, which he leaves in various parts of the globe. And although this artist has plenty to choose from, the simplicity and at the same time the power contained in this drawing is truly impressive and makes you think about global problems. The drawing can be found on a wall near the Regents Canal in North London.

10 Leaf Me Alone


A Spanish artist named Pejac proved that often the most simple ideas conceal unparalleled beauty. He uses a special approach, using the missing components of objects in his drawings, creating real masterpieces from them.

9. Peek-A-Boo


If you don't look around carefully enough, you will pass by without noticing this cleverly hidden drawing, located in Bangsar, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. It was created by the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zakharevich as a tribute to the memory of a late street artist from Russia.

8. Love is love


Stick is a street artist based in London, widely known for his cute drawings that describe various situations in life. Here is one of his paintings, painted in Brick Lane, an area of ​​Bangladesh notorious for constant racist clashes. The picture shows a Muslim woman holding the hand of a European.

7. Lizard King


This huge reptile came from the hand of an ROA artist in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This graffiti is widely known among the street art community, and never ceases to amaze with amazing detail in the smallest parts of the picture.

6. Five points


Drawing, located in the Queens area of ​​New York, has become a real Mecca for street artists around the world. The 200,000 square feet of building wall surface here are covered in graffiti. Unfortunately, in August of this year, it was announced that the building was to be demolished soon.

5. Under the bridge


As we all know, real masterpieces are often obtained from the most ordinary and unremarkable things. And this is exactly what happened to the artist under the nickname Dome in Karlsruhe, Germany. He turned the nondescript support beam of the bridge into a huge arm that supports it.

4. Flutter like a butterfly…


..sorry like a bee. Many of you are probably familiar with this image. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali's commemorative punch, recreated in the video game Street Fighter, is depicted on the door of a garage in Paris.

3. Your choice


The talented artist Nuksuno Xan did not let any object from this fence go to waste. Wood, brick wall and everything that was nearby fit into amazing picture, which he painted on a wall in Fort de France, in Martinique.

2. We need food, not football


This touching drawing of a starving child was painted on a building in Spain. This drawing is just one of a series dedicated to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which was intended to draw people's attention to more important issues than sports. Despite the importance of this graffiti, it was soon erased.

1. Like, like, like...


In the late 1980s and early 90s, the topic of propaganda for the rejection of television was popular among graffiti. Someone Tomas from Ferentino, Italy, decided to revive this tradition and created a drawing calling for abandoning the obsession with social media. The main source of inspiration for the creation of this graffiti was the popular social network Facebook.

No matter how rich or poor, how small or how big a city is, there is bound to be graffiti in it. Sometimes there are so many of them that our eyes no longer notice them! By the way, what do you know about the history of graffiti as an art and its different styles?

1. The word "graffiti" comes from Greek and Italian: the Greek word "graphein", which means "to write", and the Italian word "graffito", which means "scratch".

2. Many graffiti artists prefer to remain anonymous. to avoid the legal consequences of their activities.

3. Graffiti art originated in Philadelphia in the late 1960s. Initially, graffiti was mainly used to write political slogans and mark the territory of the gang, and they did not represent much artistic value.

4. Most graffiti artists want to be called "writers" and leave a unique signature called a “tag” on their work.

5. Nowadays, the most common graffiti materials are spray paints and marker pens.

6. Banksy is the most popular graffiti artist known for his stencil art on political and anti-war topics. His work can be seen all over the world.

7. The world record for the longest graffiti drawing is 2245 meters. It was created in Dubai in 2014 by over a hundred artists and featured scenes from the history of the United Arab Emirates.

8. Yarn Bombing is technically a form of graffiti that originated in Texas. It consists in covering objects, structures, trees with knitted or knitted materials.

9. The first known example of “modern style” graffiti is in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus. This is a handprint, which is somewhat reminiscent of a heart, as well as a footprint and a number.

10. "Heaven spot" (Heaven spot) - these are graffiti drawings made in a hard-to-reach area, such as, for example, a roof or bridge.

11 Graffiti Writers Have A Black Book, and this is an album with sketches of future works.

12. Graffiti is also a term used to refer to inscriptions and drawings found on the walls of ancient ruins such as Pompeii or the Roman catacombs.

13. The first famous graffiti artist was Darryl McCray, nicknamed Cornbread. In the late 1960s, he and a group of friends began putting their names on the walls of Philadelphia, which started the graffiti movement.

14. Graffiti bombing - a term meaning the rapid application of large graffiti. Trainbombing is especially popular, when a group of writers instantly paint a train before the police arrive.

15. There is a difference between graffiti and street art. In graffiti, writers are generally not interested in public understanding of their work, instead they use it to communicate with other writers. Street art is meant for society.

16. People who are new to graffiti are called toys.. Those who have more experience and respect among other writers are called kings or queens.

Bonus: Spray painting. How to draw graffiti on the walls