Urban Calligraphy/Intro



''Welcome to NYC, where, around every corner, there is something on the wall. Each bend you turn there is another piece sprayed or written on the wall. They all vary: KEZ1...SUBJECT...TKZ...You watch people turn their heads in disgust as they look at this vandalism.''

I turn and smile at it.

Welcome to the world of graffiti. However, before you turn your head from this page, know this:

If Leonardo da Vinci had painted Mona Lisa on his neighbor's wall, then they would have turned their heads in disgust. But it was a professional canvas painting, and is now famous. But, due to the massive abuse of spray paint on walls, any form of calligraphy that has arrows, dots, stars, and fast curves in it is looked at with disgust. If anyone did that to my house, I'd get them locked up for it.

But as an artform, it's beautiful.

What is "graff"?