Urban Calligraphy/What is "graff"?

What Is Graff?

What is graffiti to the eyes of the public? To many, graffiti is a defacing of public property, some words scrawled out on a brick wall, some spray paint done in about three seconds with absolutely no meaning. Most people pass by a person doing block letters in a note book. They take one look at the letters and accuse the person of being a vandal. These people don't see between the lines in the art form we know as graffiti.

What's graffiti to us?

Well, take a look at it this way. Graffiti is an art, has every right to be displayed in a museum (which, in fact, some is), and is something people from urban environments almost enjoy. It's a movement, it's a culture, it's a way of life. It's talent that flows in the form of lettering and cartooning, red and black and orange and pearlescent gold spray paint. It's design capability that flows in the form of Sharpie ink, Marks-a-lot paint, and normal pencil or pen. And what I said above about people unable to read between the lines, is that FAME means something other than what it seems. SARS means something other than just a sickness.

If you're reading to learn how to vandalize property, I suggest you find another source. If you're serious about making things beautiful, about the ART part of graffiti, about the calligraphy flow of this underdog art form, then I welcome you to my world.

Because once in, there's a big wall behind you that's about to prevent you from turning back.