Long Live the Tag: Representing the Foundations of Graffiti Gregory J. Snyder This short chapter examines the inherent contradictions of graffiti often thought of in simple polarities, such as legal vs. illegal, or art vs. vandalism. My aim is to challenge these conceptual binaries by focusing on one of the most enduring and least understood aspects of graffiti writing, namely the tag. The impetus for this comes from the photo on the cover of this book, a provocative legal piece produced with an ‘illegal aesthetics’, i.e. tags. The chapter starts by contextualizing my own first ‘reading’ of graffiti tags, then talks about how the ‘writing’ of graffiti is practiced, and concludes with a detailed discussion of TWIST (Barry McGee) and AMAZE's (Josh Lazcano) collage of graffiti tags that vividly represents the contradictions of this subculture and its reception from the public. This chapter attempts to glorify in a small way, the most basic, and arguably the most hated, form of graffiti - the tag. Graffiti tags represent the science of style- the aestheticized repetitive practice of writing the letters in a name in an effort to create a personal calligraphy. Tags are most often performed in public spaces under difficult circumstances and when done skillfully they are as beautiful as any mural. This is well known to the members of the subculture (and most who study it) but complete heresy to the rest of the world. Graffiti as we know it cannot exist without the tag. It is the essential component for learning, practicing and mastering the form of graffiti as vandalistic art. In the last two decades, as the mainstream has begrudgingly come to accept the artistic merit of graffiti murals or pieces, the notion that tags are done by unskilled 1 vandals has become entrenched. Outsiders have been constructing writing as a criminal activity since its beginning, and as Joe Austin showed in Taking the Train (2001), the illegality of graffiti is a socially constructed phenomenon, more concerned with who is doing the writing rather than what is being inscribed. Within graffiti subculture there is no strict division between the various forms of graffiti. Pieces, throw-ups and tags are all means for exploring style where writers attempt to get their name seen for the purpose of producing fame.1 Writers practice their tags constantly and put lots of thought and energy into figuring out the best spots to put their names up. As Jeff Ferrell and Robert Weide describe in their article “Spot Theory”, that in addition to the aesthetic skills and taste for competition, writers are also skilled in the “ability to select appropriate spots for writing graffiti” (2010: 49). Spots therefore can also be understood as a critical element of style. Where you write is as important as how you write. Repetitive name painting on public surfaces plays a crucial role in a writer’s development of a critical awareness. AME discusses how his experience “bombing” has had an important impact on his development as an artist and as a person (1998): You need to find a balance between not caring at all what people think and caring too much. Bombing makes you more thoughtful and you can't get there without it, because it provides the critique. It’s like showing your portfolio, only it's not your whole portfolio, it's just a small portion of it. It's like a calling card, that says, 'This is me and a hint of what I'm about. If you remember this and you're curious enough, maybe you'll pursue it more and find out the rest of the story…' 1 Recently a number of books have come out, written by former and current writers, focused on graffiti calligraphy, better known as “handstyles” that showcase the history, science and art of tags. See Acker (2013) and Walde (2011). 2 Reading Graffiti: The Stories to be Deciphered There is a narrative to a wall that goes beyond individual tags claiming space. Numerous tags on a wall provide writers with the opportunity to tell stories about the exploits of their peers. Although tags are visually interesting on their own, it is not one tag alone that provides this impetus to the imagination. Rather, it is how the different tags play off of one another that reveal the creative energy of a wall (Avramidis 2014; MacDonald 2001; Snyder 2009). There is an organic order to the way the space is divided, and a wall or door with heavy layers of graffiti reveals a history to its viewers in the same way that the sedimentary layers of ancient ruins inspires archaeologists to tell tales of past civilizations. [insert Figure ????? here – portrait] The first time I was able to understand this was in the fall of 1995. There was a door on First Avenue and 11 th street in New York City that had about twelve tags on it. I will describe three that I came to know early in my studies, TWIST, DRANE and UFO. I have never personally met these writers, the entirety of my analysis is gleaned from conversations with writers, and my reading of the walls and magazines. Even as early as 1995 San Francisco writer TWIST was a nationwide star, in fact the ubiquity of his tags in the summer and fall of 1995 were a direct result of his first solo show at the Drawing Center in Soho, NYC. He had done gallery shows in San Francisco, and Brazil, bombed Washington, D.C. buses, tagged New York City mailboxes 3 relentlessly, and in the words of AME (1998), “He bombed the Great Wall of China.” TWIST’s tag is thick and done with a home-made marker called a “mop” filled with ink produced from fellow writer KR.2 TWIST’s tag is the largest on the door, which shows his confidence. TWIST’s tag in the lower portion of the door is a testament to his skill and according to KEST (1999) shows how TWIST “finds a way to make weird spaces work for him.” DRANE also has a back-story, which I’ve picked up through reading his tags and talking to other writers. DRANE is up all over the East Village, but I hear he is from Ohio. DRANE’s style is easy to read and thus I am able to recognize it all over downtown New York City. For many of his tags, DRANE also uses a mop to get a broad black ink stroke similar to TWIST. The third writer under scrutiny I will call the UFO bomber because s/he doesn’t have a name. This writer has completely broken free from letters, and style. S/he tags up an ugly looking spaceship that I’ve seen everywhere in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Manhattan. The frequency of this writer’s work near more established writers suggest that this writer believes that the originality of his spaceship is on par with the stylized writers. The drips look forced, sometimes s/he puts an eye in the middle and writes UFO or 907 crew next to it. The UFO bomber is a fairly recent phenomenon so I assume that he was the last writer to tag the door. From this it follows that UFO is not intimidated by more established artists. There are numerous stories that we can now tell just by looking at this wall. TWIST’s tag is big, taking up a large section of the door leaving only a small 2This ink was developed by KR, and KRINK in now a fully developed artist supply company with markers and ink intended for use in pubic space. It should also be noted that mops, and other graffiti supplies are no longer homemade but are available in the marketplace. 4 amount of space for other writers to get up. DRANE put his name in the awkward space that TWIST had left open. DRANE was careful not to “go over” TWIST’s tag showing his respect for him as well as announcing his own skills for accepting TWIST’s indirect challenge, of putting his tag in a difficult spot without writing over TWIST. It takes skill to make your mark in this way therefore we can assume that DRANE is a pretty good writer. And finally how to assess what UFO is trying to say? Is this to be construed as a challenge to these writers’ notions of style, or is it just a toy on a wall?3 The narrative possibilities that this door holds are almost endless, and further it matters little if my postulations are correct. Utilizing your imagination for storytelling is a creative act inspired by what many consider to be just ugly markings with no meaning behind them. The story I have just told only looked at three of the 12 tags on the beige door, but for ten minutes I was completely consumed and forgot that I was standing on a busy street in Manhattan. Graffiti writing incites stories and the desire to write graffiti in part comes from the need to be part of the story. As famous Philadelphia and New York graffiti writer ESPO, aka Steve Powers, writes in the introduction to The Art of Getting Over (1999: 6): “Stories are the most permanent medium for storing and sharing the graffiti experience… Good stories go across the world in minutes and last forever.” Writing Graffiti: The Handstyle to be Mastered 3 UFO would remain a consistent writer for over a decade, and unlike most writers, his style never progressed. 5 The process of writing graffiti begins with the creation and development of a tag, which is achieved through a commitment to constant repetition; writing the name over and over and over on paper and in public. Tagging is also the form where regional differences in style are most clearly noted, which means that where one starts writing has an enormous influence on style. Philadelphia signatures began in the late 1960s with CORNBREAD is widely considered to be the first writer to go “all city” and well as the inventor of putting the crown over his tag (Powers 1999:10). Philadelphia writers, not New Yorkers, were the first handstyle masters and they have invented. Every Philly writer has a “gangster style” tag as well as a “tall print”, and a “wicket”. Different styles of prints are used for different functions, tall prints work well on doors, rally prints, which is the name written over and over are used to cover lots of space. By far the most creative and enduring and style to come out of Philadelphia was invented in the late 1970s by NB and his crew SAM (sly artistic masters) and is still used today (Acker 2013). This style is called “wickets” (also “wickeds”) and it is a complex writing style that has a rhythmic requirement of at least eight beats per letter.4 It also has never been copied by anyone outside of Philadelphia, which speaks to the master-apprentice relationships, which are still strong in Philly. [insert Figure ????? here – portrait] Los Angeles has its own style of cholo marking, or placas, which are rooted in Mexican culture and date back to the 1930s, and flourished during the height of the Zootsuiters in 4 This lesson in regional styles comes from conversations with Philadelphia writer DES (1998). See Powers (1999) and Acker (2013) for a complete history. 6 the 1950s (Kelley 1998; Chastanet 2009). These marking have a specific aesthetic form and are often used to promote the gang and its members (Phillips 1999). Although this style has evolved into an artform itself, as evidenced by the work of artist ChazBojoroquez, it is a separate culture from the name and famed-based graffiti. LA has both gang and NYC influences in their writing style. San Francisco also has a stylistic history which is fairly discernible, however transplanted New York writers, like KR who is the most notable, have had a huge impact on San Francisco writing style. If style began in Philadelphia it was perfected in New York City. New York writers’ handstyles have become iconic as graffiti calligraphy, and have influenced the style in every major city in the world (Schacter 2013). The early history of New York style begins when TOPCAT moved from Philadelphia to New York, added his street number, 126 and became TOPCAT 126. Christian Acker, in his thorough study of the calligraphy of graffiti tags (2013), suggests that TOPCAT transformed a Philadelphia “gangster print” and created what came to be called “Broadway Elegant”. This marked the beginning of New York writers creating “logos” or “lockups”, which tended to connect the letters into a visual whole and were written without lifting the spray can or the marker from wall, done in one continuous stroke (Acker 2013: 97-98). Other important NYC early style masters include PHASE II and STAN 153, but none has been as enduring as STAYHIGH 149. STAYHIGH’s stick figure was borrowed from the logo of an American TV show, The Saint, and the halo that STAYHIGH wrote over his tag, has since become of fixture of handstyle design the world over.5 5STAYHIGH 149, passed away in June 2012, R.I.P. 7 Representing Graffiti: The Aesthetics of Illegality In order to understand how writers themselves blur the strict polarities between legal vs. illegal graffiti it is interesting to analyze the photo on the cover of this book. The spot has been a fixture of New York legal walls for the last decade. The wall was sanctioned by Deitch Gallery and is known simply as the “Deitch Wall”, and various global superstars have been commissioned to paint. It is on the corner of Houston Street and the Bowery at the entrance to the art district of Soho. Originally, there was a Keith Haring replica done by ANGEL, and then it got murals from Brazilian twins OS GEMEOS, Shepard Fairey, and Kenny Scharf followed by TWIST and AMAZE’S piece. This is a legal spot in a fairly prominent area of downtown NYC and it is respected by viewers and writers who rarely ever (except in the case of Fairey) tag over it.6 Contemporary graffiti murals are almost exclusively legal and in many cities all over the world they have even become tourist attractions. Elaborate masterpieces most often require more time and more supplies than tags and throw ups, and therefore, most graffiti pieces done today are done on legal walls in which, writers have been granted permission to paint. There are also spots all over the world that are specifically set aside for aerosol art. These legal spots have disarmed some of the controversy over graffiti vandalism. While some of the most ardent anti-graffiti folk worry that providing kids with a place to paint encourages more illegal graffiti, local Queens’ websites listed 5 6Fairey is a street artist and his piece was dissed largely because NYC writers viewed the work as studio art affixed to a wall rather than graffiti. 8 Pointz as one of the main attractions for tourists to visit in the neighborhood. But as KEZAM warns (1999): Permission walls are pretty cool. Although you are more or less guaranteed to have the [police] make an appearance - so you better have permission slips from the owner of the property. Sadly, in 2013 the owner of the building that housed 5POINTZ, buffed out all of the graffiti in the dark of the night and sold the building to developers seeking to create luxury condos. But for a while at least, 5POINTZ made Long Island City Queens a popular tourist attraction. As mentioned, TWIST is one of the most successful graffiti writers to make the transition from graffiti to fine art. Barry McGee (TWIST), studied at San Francisco Art and Design and was featured at the Venice Biennial, and currently has works in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum in New York City, in addition to a recent (2012) retrospective of his art at the Berkeley Art Museum in Berkeley, California. For graffiti artists in the early ‘90s there were no longer opportunities to become professional artists right out of high school, so many put together portfolios of their graffiti work and got accepted to art schools (Snyder 2009). There they used the institutions’ facilities to learn fine art, graphic design, photography, video editing and filmmaking. These skill sets would eventually help writers to produce professional looking graffiti magazines, videos and websites. TWIST was one of the early pioneers to make this transition and his success created opportunities for others. Fellow former writers, Steve Powers (ESPO), Todd James (REAS), Greg Lemarche (SP.ONE) Craig Costello (KR) and so many others have 9 moved beyond piecing with spray cans to conceptual pieces that deal with signage, commercialism, fame and urban aesthetics. This artistic work is not graffiti but it is clear by their use of letters, graphics and sometimes aerosol paint, that each of these artists' vision was developed in conversation with the cities' built environment. But that doesn’t mean that TWIST has left his roots behind. When we examine the wall done by TWIST and AMAZE the fact that they chose to paint the tags of legendary and current writers, shows their commitment to the subculture of graffiti, in addition to staking the claim that tags are also art. [insert Figure ????? here – portrait] TWIST and AMAZE’s “piece” is a challenge to those who want to dismiss graffiti tags as ugly vandalism. 7 Their piece is a painstaking conglomeration of tags from famous writers. All of the tags are done in red, which indicates that they were done by the same artists (TWIST and AMAZE) and they vary in style and size. The tags have an organic order as none of the tags go over any other but there is almost no negative space on the entire wall; this is no easy feat. The tags are from writers all over the world in addition to some non-graffiti names. Interestingly there are not too many TWIST tags, instead it is an homage to the writers that Barry McGee, Josh Lazcano and CHINO (who showed up to lend a hand) respect. It is difficult to discern individuals tags save for the numerous AMAZE, CHINO, TEMPT, SKREW and REVS tags and instead the piece has a wholeness to it, that speaks to graffiti as a collective subculture rather than a mere 7 TWIST and AMAZE did a similar piece in Sydney a year after the one in New York. For more see Lowpro (2011). 10 conglomeration of individuals. This wall also works as a purely aesthetic testament to the graffiti tag, it is not necessary to know the back stories of the individual writers for the wall to be appealing. During the process of painting the wall McGee and Lazcano got hassled by the police, who were desperately confused because these writers insisted they were painting a legal wall, even though they were inscribing it in a way that the police assumed was illegal.8 It is here where we can understand that it is not always the act of graffiti that is illegal but its aesthetic that signifies its illegality. The public has come to understand that there is something called “street art” which is good, and that there is something called graffiti tagging which is bad. In this way of thinking graffiti murals are accepted as good and legal and artistic, while tags symbolize, aggression, deviance and criminality. Police and (some) passersby pride themselves on their ability to recognize graffiti tags, and connect them to vandalism, crime and deviance. Most could not conceive that anyone, let alone one of the most successful artists in the world, would choose to paint tags on a legal wall. Therefore it is the style of writing that marks it as deviant and represents it as illegal, rather than the act; or as Ferrell always reminds, style, especially in the case of criminalized subcultures, always matters (Ferrell 1996, 2007). In painting this wall TWIST might be prodding the public and the art world to remember the foundations of graffiti (which also paved the way for street art), the lowly tag, in all of its beauty and elegance. This suggests that the illegality of graffiti goes beyond mere vandalism, and instead lies in the aesthetics of graffiti writing. If TWIST and AMAZE were painting a fancy mural, even with aerosol paint, the police and others 8 For a detailed account of the process of painting the wall see Newman (2010). 11 in the mainstream would not question them. By painting tags they are challenging the notion that it is not vandalism per se, that the public despises, but a particular aesthetic; an aesthetic that is associated with a particular subculture. To those ignorant of the importance and elegance of the graffiti tag, tags represent, deviance and criminality. TWIST and AMAZE seek to challenge this notion by making an illegal style of vandalism, legal art. In this way we are reminded that graffiti tags represent the foundations of a subculture that has become a world-wide phenomenon. The tag represents years and years of practice and hard work, and yet those writers who made a name for themselves with their hand styles, did not do so by merely practicing them on paper, they had to be applied to public space for all to see and to critique, and possibly diss. In this way the tag represents overcoming doubt and fear, risking health and safety and the possible wrath of the criminal justice system, all in the name of style. So while tags are executed in public space with the heat of scorn and criminality all around, this fire has consistently forced writers to progress and innovate while relying on their daring and creative courage. Long live the tag. References Acker, Christian. 2013. Flip the Script: A Guidebook for Aspiring Vandals and Typographers. Berkeley, CA: Ginko Press. Ame. 1998. 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(1998). “The Riddle of the Zoot: Malcolm Little and Black Cultural Politics During World War II”, in Austin and Willard, (eds.) Generations of Youth: Youth Culture and History in Twentieth Century America. New York and London: NYU Press. Kest. 1999. Interview with author. Summer. Kezam. 1999. Interview with author. Spring. Lowpro. 2011. ‘Streets: TWIST & AMAZE (Sydney)’. Arrested Motion, 16 September 2011. Available at: http://arrestedmotion.com/2011/09/streets-twist-amaze-sydney/. Accessed: 25 September 2015. 13 Newman, Jeff. 2010. ‘Accidents Will Happen: Barry McGee Hits Houston Street’. The Art Collectors, 30 August 2010. Available at: http://blog.theartcollectors.com/2010/08/30/accidents-will-happen-barry-mcgee-hitshouston-street/. Accessed: 25 September 2015. Powers, Stephen. 1999. The Art of Getting Over: Graffiti at the Millennium. New York: St. Martins. Schacter, Rafael. 2013. The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti. New Haven: Yale University Press. Walde, Claudia. 2011. Graffiti Alphabets: Street Fonts from Around the World. London: Thames and Hudson. 14