Visual Communication Project - Calligraffiti

7/28/2019 Visual Communication Project - Calligraffiti

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contentspage 2-3


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[ g r u h - f[ k u h - l i g - rCalligrati

- no dictionary resultsNo results ound or calligrati:D i d y o u m e a n C a l l i g r a p h i s t

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grafti

[ g r u h - e e - t e e ]

1.

p l u r a l o g r a i -

t o .

2.

( used with a plural verb )

markings, as initials, slogans, or

drawings, written, spray-painted,

or sketched on a sidewalk, wall

o a building or public re-

stroom, or the like: These

grati are evidence o the

neighborhood's decline.

3.

( used with a singular verb) such markings as a whole or

as constituting a particular

group: Not much graiti ap-

pears around here these days.

O r i g i n :

185055; < Italian, plural o

grato incised inscription or

design, derivative with -ito -ite2

o graare to scratch, perhaps

inuenced by presumed Latin

*graphre to write; both prob-

ably derivative o Latin graphi-

um stylus < Greek grapheon;

c. graphic, grapho-, grat1

Related forms

gratist, noun

U s a g e n o t e

In ormal speech and writing

grati takes a plural verb. In

less ormal contexts it is some-

times considered a mass noun

and is used with a singular

verb. The singular graito i s

ound mostly in archaeological

and other technical writing.

e - t e e ]h - e e ]

http://dictionary.reference.com

calligraphy

[ k u h - l i g - r u h - e e ]

noun

1.

ancy penmanship, especially highly

decorative handwriting, as with a

great many ourishes: She appreciat-

ed the calligraphy o the 18th century.

2.

h a n d w r i t i n g ; p e n m a n s h i p .

3.

the art o writing beautiul-ly: He studied ca l l igraphy

when he was a young man.

4.

a script, usually cursive, al-

though sometimes angular ,

produced chiely by brush, es-

pecially Chinese, Japanese, or Ar-

abic writing o high aesthetic value.

5.

Fine Arts. line or a group o lines

either derived rom or resembling

letter orms and characterized by

qualities usually associated with

cursive writing, especially that

produced with a brush or pen.

Origin:

1 6 0 5 1 5 ; < G r e e k

kalligrapha beautiul writing.

1610s, rom Gk. kaligraphia, rom

kallos "beauty" + graphein "to

write" (see graph). Related: Cal-

ligraphic. The usual comb. orm

in Gk. was kalli- "beautiul, ine,

happy, avorable;" kalo- was a

later, rarer alternative orm.

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The two arorms in them selves are hard to explain in oneword, there are som many aspects about them both thatshould or not should be considered in risk o conusing or toget dee in a long and heavy history lession, or or that matter,

a book. There are so many books written on both subjects,

each ocusing on just small or wide parts trying to explain the

history, the ideas and philosophy, or how to perorm them.

So to get the whole understanding or them both you wouldhave to study it or several years, and in the end you would

probably have more loose ends on your questions than whatyou originally started up with. This is what I at least have dis-covered, getting new questiones, answers and understanding.

In the beginning my main research questions was to under-

stand the main development o grati into calligrati. Why

or how writers o this urban artorm, enviorments and cul-tures got inspired o this respected and importaint arormwide apart rom the wallwrintings in an backalley or on yourlocal train.

c a l l i g r a f f i t i

I also wanted to research and understand calligraphy, itsorigin, development, who have used it, how it have beenused. The journey rom the East to the west, and maybe seethe connection to the grati writers this way.

Troughout my research several new and interesting actshave occurred and i have been led away my roughly planned

path several times, although these sidesteps took time i have

ound very interesting inormation that have not only helped

me highlight my research questions, but also helped me cre-ate and support new claims about this subject.I wont go too deep into eighter the world o calligraphy or

grati, but hopeully give an easy understandig o how these

artorms occured, developed, and merged to people outside

this new and expressive artorm.

TheProjectv i s u a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n

This project is about Calligrafti. A product o two wide apart cultures.

From an urban arorm bred out o peoples urge to get noticed and dicovered, to an

ancient artorm, delveloped and respected trough 4000 years

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r e s e a r c h

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ChineseHistory Lession ion

History Lession ssion

History Lession 6164

history

l e s s i o n

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lettering origins...HistoryL

History

HistoryLession The art Phi- loso-

phy

Liang

Hu

Trav-

el

from

the

east

Ro-

man

em-

pire6164

origins

In anchient China about4000 years ago. Gia GuWen, or Jia Gu Wen, are theearliest kinds o Chinesecharacters been discov-ered. These where written

on bones and

turtle shells. It is not a ullymature language, but manyo the pictograms used inthis language are precursorsto the later modern Chi-nese written language.The prime minister o the

Qin Dynasty in 221206 BCpromoted a unied orm o

writing based on old inscrip-

tions rom previous states

beore China was one, such

as the bonewritings, but also

several other languages and

scripts. Calligraphy works

rom the Qin Dynasty are

higly evaluated by calligra-

phers troughout history.

The art

It was under the Han Dynas-ty Calligraphy became anarorm, and was equally val-uated as the art o painting.There where many highlyregarded calligraphy worksrom this time, but theartists where humble anddid not care about ameand recognition. The mostimportaint was the art initsel and not the artists. Asthey reached a very highlevel o art these worksand thougths became the

example and standards orlater great calligraphers.

Philosophy

Calligraphy was regarded

as the most abstract and

sublime art in the Chinese

culture, and it was said to be

the most revealing o ones

personality. The study o

calligraphy is a long prosess.

There where little space or

sel expressionism, and you

should copy other masters

strokes and styles. When

writing, it is said that many

calligraphers would orget

worries and themselves, only

ocusing their thoughts o

their art. This state o mind

are compared to Qigong,

witch is said to improve a

persons temper and improvetheir well being.

Liang Hu

From the Han Dynastythere is a story about LiangHu, a calligrapher, whoused to go to the resturant,didnt bring any money butgot paid by the visitors towatch him write on the wall.It is hard to nd much in-ormation about Liang, butthe ino i have ound spreadbetween dierent pagesand books is also about a Li-ang Hu, whitch was a highlyregarded calligrapher in theimperial court, here he hada importaint adminstrativepost. Later he was appoint-ed a major or an army.

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i n t e r v i e w :

c h e r r e la v e r y

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sendtfrommy

iphone

There are similaritiesbetween grati andcalligraphy as you say - thedevelopment o styles- but also the way thelearnt movements o thewriting arm/ hand leadsto the creation o newand exciting letter shapesthrough constant practiseand speed. I taught a younggrati artist and admiredhis penmanship and abilityto manipulate the pen hewas ar better with theseskills than many i myadvanced students !I dont condone public

deacement o property

by grati artists but

do appreciate their artorm. As a proessional

calligrapher I have had

extensive training ( it

took a long time ) so

have a huge repertoire

o skills to turn to

or either ormal work

or more expressive

lettering art. Whatever

I undertake - even ree

work - is done with the

highest standards o

cratsmanship . This is the

main dierence.

Grati artists dont havethe skills to be ormalcalligraphers but manytrained calligraphers wouldbe able turn their hand tograti i they wanted toI suggest you researchthe work o brodyneunschwander ( Bruges),Denis brown (Ireland) ,thomas ingmire ( usa)andKatherina Pieper ( Germany) to see expressive lettering

artists/ calligraphers whohave had years o ormaltraining like mysel.

I h o p e t h i s h e l p s .

B e s t w i s h e s

-Cherrell-

I was pleased to hear that you are interested in researching calligraphy.

I worked with a grati artist some years back on a youth project where we taught our dierent skills to participants who th

Some combined the calligraphy with the reer styles and stencilling, others chose to use the edged pens in an expressive way . I

spray cans and stencils mysel. Our main aim was to help the kids to be able to express themselves visually, which they did.

Yes, I imagine that the ashion or urban style calligraphy may engage young people to look at historical letter orms and cop

One o the benefts o this is an increased awareness o proportions, weights and aesthetic appreciation by young people whic

the understanding that results cannot be achieved instantly is a good lesson .

There are similarities between grati and calligraphy as you say - the development o styles - but also the way the learnt move

creation o new and exciting letter shapes through constant practise and speed. I taught a young grati artist and admired hi

.he was ar better with these skills than many i my advanced students !

I dont condone public deacement o property by grati artists but do appreciate their art orm. As a proessional calligrap

D e a r P e t t e r

I was pleased to hearthat you are interested inresearching calligraphy.I worked with a grati

artist some years back

on a youth project

where we taught our

dierent skills to

participants who then

created work or

exhibition.

Some combined the

calligraphy with

the reer styles and

stencilling, others

chose to use the edged

pens in an expressive way

. It was a great success

and I enjoyed trying out

spray cans and stencils

mysel. Our main aim

was to help the kids

to be able to express

themselves visually,

which they did.Yes, I imagine that theashion or urban stylecalligraphy may engageyoung people to look athistorical letter orms andcopy them.I was aware o the artistyou mentioned .One o the benefts

o this is an

increased awareness

o proportions,

weights and aesthetic

appreciation by young

people which may eed

into visuals o the

uture. Maybe also

the understanding

that results cannot be

achieved instantly is a

good lesson .

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Risk

T-kid

Daim

CanTwo

same butdifferent

T-Kid 170 is probably thelast writer in the lineageo the TDS, TFP, and IND'sstylemasters. He learnedrom such masters as Tracy168 and Padre Dos in the1970s and started evolvinginto his own style in the'80s. His ability to drawhelped him immenselywhen he started competingwith European writersthrough the '90s. Hecontinues to paint aroundthe world.http://www.complex.com/art-

design/2013/02/the-50-greatest-nyc-

grati-artists/t-kid-170

DAIM, born in Lueneburg,Germany was soon drawnto the nearby metropolis oHamburg by its tentaclesdeeply enrooted within thesubculture scene. In 1989he started his career as aree artist and a spray canvirtuoso. Only one yearlater he was commissionedhis rst remittance workand in 1992 the change oaliases so important or agrati artist took place. Thelatter o course playing amajor role within modernstreet calligraphy

International art- as well aslecturing work soon led him

amongst the midst o trans-national artist groups suchas GBF, SUK, FBI and FX.Within those brood cells onew styles and techniquesDAIM developed a diversityo skills which enabled himto go beyond his roots.Concrete walls were moreand more replaced bycanvases while spray cansrom a hip hop shop werenow oten amended bymouse clicks in Photoshopand Illustrator. Firstly,two dimensional picturesevolved into bafingly threedimensional graphics withseemingly unlimited depthsand perspective only tonally become sculpturesleaving the connement oat suraces entirely.http://www.visualkontakt.com/p/

daim-grati.html

At the tender age o 7,CAN2 had a driving needto artistically improve hisdesk at school as well as hisschool books with his ownillustrations.In 1983, his rst edglingattempts at sprayingtook place in his hometowno Mainz.His inspiration rom thevery start originated in theMecca o Grati, the Bronx.CAN2 represents the Bronxstyle o the early 80s in hisview the only true gratistyle rom the start. CAN2sprays letters that have adynamic impact.Most o this spraying is

accomplished on walls.His distinctive charactershave a diorama eect andare markedly alive.The dierence betweenhis characters and thoseo other sprayers are to beound in the shadingand o course in hisdistinctive style.http://www.cantwo.com/

In 1983, his amily moved toLos Angeles, and 16-year-oldRISK enrolled at UniversityHigh School on the cityswest side. RISK made thehigh school his personalcanvas, tagging his nameeverywhere during the dayand returning at night todo pieces. He turned someo his buddies onto gratiand started a crew, PrimeCrime Artists, with them.In 1985, RISK was paintingin mid-city when RIVALapproached him and askedi he wanted to start a crew.Just like that, West CoastArtists (WCA) was born.One night, RISK and ellow

writers RIVAL and MINERwere sitting on an overpassabove the PasadenaFreeway just north odowntown L.A. when RISKdecided to hit one o thesigns hanging over thereeway. To get to the sign,he had to shimmy across apiece o wood supportedby two cables. His riends,scared or his lie, beggedhim to come back to theoverpass. RISK didnt listen,and managed to get hisname up.http://riskrock.com/biography/

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Bates

Tracy168

Cope2

Zep

hyr

DrRat

The Vietnam War was anegative time or America,and eeling the need tobalance his lie, TRACY168 would begin his careerand turn his talents intosomething positive. Usinghis drawing skills, uniquesense o color, style andimagination, TRACY 168would change whole,lieless subway cars intovibrant, rolling rainbows.These detailed illustrationsestablished scenery onentire cars as part o thegrati culture. TRACY168 would later describethis orm o expression asWild Style. As the creatoro Wild Style, Wild Style

is whatever you do inlie done to the best oyour ability. I youre notthe best, then nd yourpurpose, and be the best atwhatever it is you do. Thisart orm is what jazz is tomusic. A moment in timecaptured with the air othe streets. REAL LIFE! Itcame rom the hearts o thepeople-US. To the oundero the crews, WANTED andWILDSTYLE, the inspirationto many writers, and one othe architects o theGrati Movement, Thankyou Tracy 168.

http://www.theoriginators.com/

aboutus/tracy-168/

Born Andrew Witten,Zephyr began his art careerin 1977, painting his Zephyrmoniker on subway cars.He was part o the rstwave o grati artists tomake the transition togalleries, collectors, andcommercial work. In 1982he was part o the originalgroup o artists to orm theFUN Gallery in GreenwichVillage, New York, which atthe time also included suchart icons as Futura 2000,Kenny Schar, Keith Haring,and Jean-Michel Basquiat.In 1983, his art was part oan exhibition that touredJapan which also includedFab Five Freddy, Dominique

Philbert, Futura 2000, andDondi White. That sameyear, Zephyr was hired byDirector Charlie Ahearn todesign and art direct thetitle sequence or the rsthip-hop lm, Wild Style, inwhich he was also eatured.

He is co-author o the 2001biography Dondi WhiteStyle Master General: TheLie o Grati Artist DondiWhite and in 2005, hewas included in the EastVillage USA show held atThe New Museum. He hasbeen eatured in the lmsStyle Wars, The Art oStorytelling, and Bomb It.http://www.artothetitle.com/

designer/zephyr/

Dr. Rat (real name Ivar Vics)was a well known dutchgrati-artist, and startedto be an almost mythicalgure when he died at theearly age o 21 years old.His work can be consideredas groundbreaking in theEuropean gratiscene,working in a provo- andpunkcontext, ocusingheavily on themes likemortality and pop-iconism.This is a registration o himpainting in a alley next tothe amous Kalverstraat,also known as the Pissteeg(Pissalley) made by pirate-tv-makers PKP TV.http://www.12ozprophet.com/

bates/entry/dr.-rat-amsterdam-1981/

Cope2 is an American artisto Puerto Rican decent.Born in 1968, New York Citynative Cope2s paintingshave been exhibited insolo and group exhibitionsin galleries and auctionsthroughout the UnitedStates and abroad. He isa sel-taught artist whois a celebrated gure orover 30 years in the gratiart culture. One o NewYork Citys most legendaryprolic grati artists, hebegan tagging his name inthe South Bronx in 1978.He developed his style inthe subways and streets othe Bronx creating gratiproductions throughout the

1980s and 1990s achievinginternational recognitionor his distinctive style. Inrecent years Cope2 hasbeen commissioned byTime Magazine, Converseand designed a ullcollection or Adidas. Hehas worked with SteinerSports collaborating withthe New York YankeesDerek Jeter producinggrati on memorabilia.His work has even crossedinto the virtual realm withappearances in video gamessuch as Mark Eckos: Gettingup and Rockstar Games:Grand Thet Auto IV. Today,you can catch Cope2in the studio painting,bringing his raw energyinto abstract masterpieces,intertwined with histrademark bubble lettersand tags on canvases.He has also delved intocurating successul group

exhibitions. Cope2 crossesbetween art world,mainstream and streetculture alike.http://cope2art.com/#/bio/

Bates began writing gratiin his early teens anddespite his tender agesoon became one o themost prolic artists withinCopenhagens buddinghip-hop scene o the mid1980-ties. Already in 1989 hewas considered among theleading elite o Europeangrati artists includingnames such as Loomit romGermany, Mode 2 andBando rom Paris, Delta andShoe rom Amsterdam.With the international-ization o the Europeangrati o the early 1990-ties the rumor o Batesstylistic elegance spreadeven urther and he soon

became o the mostsought ater artists orthe big venues around thecontinent and overseas.In 1998 he was the secondartist to be eatured inOn the Runs biographicalseries on internationalgrati writers.

In his grati art Batescombines a traditionalistNew York eeling orstyle with an emphasison a logic ow o letters,dynamic and swingingrhythms o bars and arrows with a European sense otechnique, o sharp lines,with a graphic verve and annear awless can control.

http://www.hlgallery.se/bates/

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"Just as I dont like to limit mysel to just New York grati

letters, I also like to try diferent techniques. They are

usually driven by the scale o the work. I I use a pen in a

sketch book, the movements and shapes come rom my hand.

I I use a brush on a big piece o paper, its all in the wrist. And using a spray can on

a wall or canvas is mostly done by my arm. Lately Ive been

experimenting with brooms. They are basically big brushes

and, just like a roller on a stick, I have to use my whole body.

Its my hand/wrist/arm/body theory."

-shoe-

INTERVIEW FOR URBAN ARTCORE, APRIL

2010

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Abo

ut1200B.C

The Han Dynasty

202 BC - AD 220)

An calligrapher,

Liang Hu went

to restaurant but

didnt bring money.

He wrote on the

wall. People there

liked to pay or him

by watching

his calligraphy.

Uncial, in

calligraphy: ancient

majuscular book

hand characterized

by rounded strokes.

It apparently

originated in the

2nd century ad

when the codex

orm o book

developed along

with the growing

use o parchment

and vellum as

writing suraces.

Carolingian

minuscule, in

calligraphy, clear

and manageable

script that was

established by the

educational reorms

o Charlemagne in

the latter part o

the 8th and early

9th centuries.

These writings and

carvings tells stories

about the Black

Death, prayers,

pictures o ships,

animals and gures.

In general things

that was importaint

to people during

this time

Viking rune carvings

are ound all over

Europe, in Istanbul

are there ound

LiangHu220BC

-220AD

5th15thCenturies

The inhabitants o

Pompeii was eager

writers, and several

wall writings have

been dicovered,

commenting

the daily lie

and particularly

politicians, which

carved their

election slogans and

promises on private

persons houses.

Pompei-700BC

-79AD

850B.C

700B.C.

Kufc

Unicals

Caro

lingianminuscles

JellTaIiq

Muhakkak

Rika

JeliThuluth

JellDivani

Tevki

Gubari

Thuluth

Divani

Rika

Icaze

Naskhi

Siyakat

TaIiq

Kufc

The earliest kinds o

Chinese characters

been discovered.

These where written

on bones and turtle

shells. It is not a ully

mature language,

but many o the

pictograms used

in this language

are precursors to

the later modern

Chinese written

language.

The Romans

alphabet where

developed and

inuenced by the

Phoenicans who

developed the rst

alphabeth about

1200 B.C...

...whitch in turn was

developed by the

Greeks in 850 B.C

...and then the

Etruscans, who

invaded Rome in

the 7th century B.C.

I you ollow the

path o the western

parts o the Silk

Road, it is easy to

see the inuencial

geographical path

o the alphabeth

rom east to west.

The Arabic

alphabet developed

rom the script used

or Nabataean, a

dialect o Aramaic.

The earliest

inscription that has

been ound that is

identiably Arabic

is one in Sinai that

dates rom about

A.D. 300.

Abo

ut4000Yearsago

viking names and

pictures o their

ships. On the

Orkney Islands

they tell about a

treasure, writing

their names, and

boasts how good

their writing

skills are?

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Out o the middle

ages the Gothic

scripts merged,

a script type

that reects this

times minds and

architectual style.

The gothic scripts is

pointy, aggressive.

They may be hard

to read since many

o the onts are

made to be

space saving.

Graf f i t i i s i sp i red b y a lmo st ev eryo th er c u l tu re , people, writing styles - . And the artists often interpretand makes his or hers inspiration into their personal style

i s p i r e d b y a l m o s t e v e r y o t h e r c u l t u r e , p e o p l e , w r i t i n g s t y l e s - p e r s o n a l a n d a r t i s t i c a p p r o a c h t h e r e i s . A n d

s o f t e n i n t e r p r e t a n d m a k e s h i s o r h e r s i n s p i r a t i o n i n t o t h e i r p e r s o n a l s t y l e

Los Angeles gang

grati, or cholo

writings. Inspired

calligraphic

letterings.

James J Kilroy

worked at a big

shipyard during

the world war two

where his job was

to check i certan

tasks where done

by some workers

beore others took

over the next step

o the production.

To check o the

job he would take

a grease crayon

and write kilroy

was here. As a

ormer sign painter,

Kilroy had a great

handwriting.

Cornbread, starts

writing his name

on walls around

Philadelphia

Taki 183 sees Julio

204 signatures

around in his

neighborhood

and also starts

writing his name

along his routes

as a deliveryboy,

covering almost all

o New York.

Gothic

Qin Dynasty

LosA

ngeles1930-40 s

Boston1940 s

Philadelphia1965

Modern GraftiFriday, 21 Jul, 1971

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Travel from the east

Both the Qin and Han

dynasty where big and wide

spread over the whole east.

So these dyansties have

had a big inuence and on

all the areas o the anchient

east in the development o

the written language and

calligraphy. Each country

have over time developedtheir own styles and scripts

that originates rom these

leading and great military

powers regarding the art o

writing wery high.

The Han Dynasty reached

rom southern Japan, down

the coast to the middle

o Vietam, east to sentral

Asia, but here they where

stopped by other powerull

empires in the middle east.

The Quin and Han dynasty

probably inuenced these

areas too, but the callig-

raphy rom here are more

exspressionistic and artis-

ticly perormed depending

on what documents it was

used or. I you look at

Arabic calligraphy there are

15 varieties o skripts used

or diferent purposes.

The rst experiences o

calligraphy west o these ar-

eas are most likley traveled

second hand or through

generations developed andinuenced each other into

what we now know as the

Roman or Latin

travel

fromtheeast

Roman Empire

The Romansalphabet where

developed andinuenced by the

Phoenicans who

developed the rstalphabeth about 1200B.C, whitch in turn wasdeveloped by the Greeksin 850 B.C and then theEtruscans, who invadedRome in the 7th centuryB.C. I you ollow the patho the western parts o theSilk Road, it is easy to seethe inuencial geographicalpath o the alphabeth romeast to west.The Roman Empire wasbig and stretched widlyaround the Mediterraneansea, down to egypt, upand around the black sea,northwest up to Germany.The northest was at themiddle o Great Britain.The educational systemwhere well developed,and education was higlyregarded by the Romans.Since the widly stretchedempire had such a biginuence or several

centuries the standard owriting and reading waspassed to most parts oEurope, and later America

Romans use

The Inscriptional Capitalwas used both in stonecarving, and brush writtenletters, these letters was

ormed beween parallellines and had the samehight, this style o writingcame rom the way theywrote, mostly carvingor scratching the lettersinto wax tablets or theeveryday use, since paperwas expencive and hardto get hold o.The texts engraved intobuildings, monumets andbridges, was mostly tohonor the builder, emperorsor other leaders in thattime, and the inscriptionswhere oten covered inbronze to improve andhighlight the importanceo the message or theleader it was about. Bronzebecame a presious materialin the dark ages and thesecovered inscriptions whereoten stolen.

The development o thecalamus, a piece o reedwith a split and at end thatabsobed ink just as the splitpens we use today, madeit together with the quill,easier to develop moreround shaped letters andimprovement o the speedo writing.

Romanempire

18


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GothicGothic

Out o the middle ages theGothic scripts merged, ascript type that reectsthis times minds andarchitectual style. Thegothic scripts is pointy,aggressive. They may behard to read since many othe onts are made to bespace saving, and thereoreothen called blacklettersince the pages looks likea sea o ink. It is also calledOld English.In the more humanisticparts o Europe such asItaly and Spain it wasdeveloped more cursivegothics such as the Btardeand Rotunda. Also rom thistime italics was developed,it was written with morespeed, ow, and ewerpen lits. The italics aredescendants o humanisticscripts with endless

variations.Ater the renaisance edgedpens declined and wasreplased or supercededby copperplate, witch wasdone with a pointed quilland with a lot o ornaments.All this time there wheredeveloped gothic scripts,and they played a majorrole in the northern parts oEurope. Even in Germanythe gothic scripts lastedas a ocial script into themiddle 20th century, thismay be a reason manypeople may associatethe agressive lookingblackletters with the Nazis.

Upsanddowns

Th

ewordo

go

din

ourish

ingstyles

that

add

ed

glory

tothe

letters

themse

lves,

lost

the

ira

me

inthem

idt1500sw

here

bib

lesan

db

oo

ksw

here

rolled

ou

tr

om

theprin

ting

press,a

ndtoo

kthep

lace

othemon

ksca

lligrap

hic

skills.

Bu

ttoge

therw

ith

the

Renaissance

the

interest

or

thear

to

calli

grap

hy

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22/42

Can you shortly tell yourstory and background,both personally and yourapproach into writing, likewhat or who inuencedyou to start up with itin the rst place. Was itthe ame, culture and/oropportunities?

I was actually writing with-

out knowing I was writing. I

wrote sur and drew waves

and sayings like wipe out

or aloha etc. then a kid

rom New York showed me

NYC subways and I was like

WOW! thats what I dio but

with spray paint. I went and

stole a ew cans o spray

paint, came back to school

that evening and did a piece.

I was hooked instantly, the

adrenalin rush and impact o

creating huge pieces...

R i s k , R i s k & S h e p a r d F e a r l e y

RISK I n t e r v i e w

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23/42

Who/what is yourinspiration nowdays?

They change constantly,most recently guys likethe Los Angeles Fine ArtSquad, and 70s chicanoartists like eloy torrez, etc

Do you think the accep-tance o new and dier-ent styles in the grafticulture have had anyinuence on the breedingand evolution o streetand public art.

No I think the breeding

and evolution o street and

public art is simply the

immediate gratication age

it was just a quicker easier

way to get up. a stencil, and

or wheat pasting are all

orms o getting up but way

easier and or quick (obvi-

ously some exceptions)

R i s k , R i s k R k , s k & S m a s h 1 8 6 ,

Why do you think thegrafti movements writersgot so inspired and adopt-ed calligraphy styles?

Appreciation or letters as an

art orm,

When do you think callig-raphy becomes calligrafti

I guess its when someone has a

basic knowledge and they apply

both making a hybrid such

as Calligrati...

Do you think the grafticultures many calligraphicstyles have helped to openup the interest orcalligraphy to a youngertarget audience?

Yes, when people are inter-

ested in things they tend to

research, as the old jazz players

said, you cant know where its

at until you know where it

came rom

As i see it the classicalcalligraphy and Graftiliestyles are wide apartrom each other, but thereare similarities such as theinterest or scripts andtheir personal develop-ment o this. Do you thinkthe grafti culture havehelped to open and bred,interests to art and cultureto persons who in the rstplace dintt have the bestcondtitions or it?

200% i I understand the ques-

tion right.... I believe grati is

the last hand to medium to sur-

ace art orm, ater that came

digital where people create via

machines, programs, lters etc.

grati bred the last generation

o modern day artisans are

juvenating arts a s a whole or

younger generations

I had an interview withan British (a classical andproessional trained cal-ligrapher), which claimed

that a trained calligrapherwould easier adopt anddevelop grafti style signa-tures than an establishedgrafti artist would copyand make calligrahy styles.What do you think o thisstatement/ do you haveany assuptions answering?

I eel it would be completely

opposite, because grati is

unique to the individual where

as calligraphy onts are set and

documented as onts,

making it easier to repeat study

and learn.

In a career spanning 27 years, RISK has impacted the evolution

o grati as an art orm in Los Angeles and worldwide.

23


24/42


25/42


26/42

Can you shortly tell your story and background, bothpersonally and your approach into calligraphy/writinghandstyles, like what or who inuenced you to start upwith it in the rst place?

I have noticed you masterclassical calligraphy,copperplate and dierenthandscripts, and you alsohave and grafti expres-sionistic approach to someo your works. Can youtell about your grafti/streetstyle letterings back-ground, both artistically

and personally?

For me as a person who

grew up in Poland in the

90s where grati had

the biggest infuence on

the look o the streets

it was natural to get

inspired by the spirit o

spray culture. As I always

was very interested in art

in general, and I never elt any

stereotype approach on visual

art, what is wrong and right. I

analized everything around me.

I got interested in lettering at

a very young age. My ather

is an architect so I was all the

time going around his design

things, like lettering stencils or

letraset letterig sheets that you

had to press hard against the

paper to get them transered.

It was amazing! I also collected

things like old bottles with

beautiull etiquetts and Icopied the lettering by hand.

I even made my own copy o

NECRONOMICON rom

the movie Evil Death - army

o darkness haha...

Later on I went to art

highschool where I had

lettering classes, and I was

the only person in school that

aild to pass the class and had

to make extra designs... (I always

had problems with teachers

because I had my individual

path and approach on things...)

Next was Fine Arts Academy in

Gdansk (industrial design and

visual communication) where I

had great teachers (history o

art, heraldy, vexillology,

graphic design and a lot more)

It all had a great impact on what

I do now...

i n t e r v i e w

T h e o s - O n e

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27/42

When do you thinkcalligraphy becomescalligrafti?

It all depends... Grati always

had this particle o expression

and calligraphy is an art o ocus

and precission. Mixing these

two may be called calligrati as

well as calligraphy expression.

Very important is the context

and tool used. Grati is based

mostly in urban enviroment/

outside not exactly on a surace

made or it, and calligraphy

most o the time exists on

paper, parchment or

other materials used specicly

or this purpose...

Do you think the grafticultures many calligraphicstyles have Helped to openup the interest or callig-raphy to a younger targetaudience?

Absolutley! Anything made

with a bit o skill and by hand is

very exciting!

What do you thinkmotivates a person to startup making grafti and visaversa calligraphy.

We all live in a culture o visualsigns, letters and symbols.

Some o us nd beauty in

it and want to be a part o

it by creating it. Grati or

calligraphy is not a common

knowledge/skill (calligraphy was

common once.. ehhh..) but what

I think motivates a person to

start is a need o being a part o

the creative group or being a

part o a subculture that he/she

likes the most.

As i see it the classicalcalligraphy and Graftiliestyles are wide apartrom each other, butthere are similaritiessuch as the interest orscripts and their personaldevelopment o this. Doyou think the grafticulture have helped toopen and bred, intereststo art and culture topersons who in the rstplace dintt have the best

condtitions or it?

I you see something that you

really like and want to be a

part o it, you search and dig

everything about it, and since

the worls o art has its paths

that intersect so oten it is just a

matter o determination or luck

to nd and see the great world

o visual beauty. The more you

see, the more you aestheticly

eel, you gain bigger sense o

beauty and taste...

I had an interview withan British (a classical andproessional trainedcalligrapher), whitchclaimed that a trainedcalligrapher would easieradopt and develop graftistyle signatures than anestablished grafti artistwould copy and makecalligrahy styles. What doyou think o this state-

ment/do you have anyassuptions answering?

I think that waht we see today

in the world o calligrati

speaks or itsel. I a skilled

grati artist will take a s pecic

calligraphy tool, sooner or

later he will use it like a pro

calligrapher and maybe even

better because now he is

mixing knowledge rom grati

and calligraphy what gives him

more creative power. The same

would happen in the other side.

What I think is crucial here is being open minded! Learn, observe,

practise, eel and respect the world around you!

What script style havebeen your main ocusthrough the years.

I love all the types o hand

lettering, but I think the gothic

texture gives me the most

pleasure to experiment with...

Who/what isyour inspiration?

There are a lot o people

rom the present and the past

who inspire me a lot. I also

get inspired by tools... I think

that old German masters like

Rudolph Koch or German

expressionist calligraphers

rom the 50s are a big

inspiration material.

Why do you think the gra-ti movements writers gotso inspired and adoptedcalligraphy styles?

Calligraphy was a bit orgotten

through the years and as grati

is based mostly on letters I think

it was natural to look back on

the great heritage o our ances-

tors regarding lettering... Also

the ascinating era o computer

possibilities is getting boring

and good old hand

crat is getting its deserved

attention back...

The more you see, the more you aesthet icly fee

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t h e u r g e t o

w r i t e

Carvings, wrintings on walls, caves, monuments, viking

ships, the great wall, trains, garages, and planes. Trough

the times people have had the urge to write, even beore

any alphabets where invented people carved or painted

their victory o a sucsessull hunt on the walls o caves.

Later when people developed writing equipment and n ew

suraces to write on, the syles, ideas, messages, and o

course their reasons to do it changed.

The name or meaning are rom the original word; Graato

rom Italy, means scratched and reers to designs and art

pieces scratched into a surace. The word originates again

rom Greek; graphein, whitch simply means to write!

Writers bench at 149th Street Grand

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Pompeii

In the year 79 A.D. the cityo Pompeii was buried bythe eruption o Vesuvius.The grati rom this cityhave been revealed as someo the earliest wall writings.The inhabitants o Pompeiiwas eager writers, and sev-eral wall writings have beendicovered, commenting thedaily lie and particularlypoliticians, which carvedtheir election slogansand promises on privatepersons houses. These lastpolitical carvings whereprobably made by proes-sionals, and dates back to

the last three hundred yarso the citys existece.

Medieval

From the middle ages whenmost parts o Europe wherepopulated, some peoplecould write dependingwhere they grew up. InEngland it was mosly the

monks and priests thatcould write. Thereore, the

OMAN GRAFFITIMEDIEVAL GRA-FFITI

Roman

The ordenary peoples gra-ti on walls in the streetswas oten about politicianssuch as many o the writingsin Pompeii, but also aboutsexual achievements andtheir avourite gladiator andposters or ghts and otherhappenings. The gratiwas oten carved with whatthey had by hand, such as astone or a knie.

The grati could also tellwhat theatrical productionwas worth seeing, howmuch you had to pay or aprostitute or where dier-ent an groups hung out inthe city.One other city that reectsnormal peoples historythrough grati is anchientIsrael where people wroteabout personal appeals togod, the uture and dicus-sion o belie systems.

grati in England rom thistime are ound in church-es and cathedrals. Thesewritings and carvings tellsstories about the BlackDeath, prayers, pictures o

ships, animals and gures.In general things that wasimportaint to people duringthis time

Viking rune carvings areound all over Europe, inIstanbul are there oundviking names and pictureso their ships. On the Or-kney Islands they tell abouta treasure, writing theirnames, and boasts howgood their writing skills are?

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Kilroy was here

James J Kilroy worked ata big shipyard during theworld war two where hisjob was to check i certantasks where done by someworkers beore others tookover the next step o theproduction. To check o thejob he would take a greasecrayon and write kilroywas here. As a ormer signpainter, Kilroy had a greathandwriting.At the shipyard there whereproduced steel parts thatwas sendt all over theUnited States and around

kilroy was

heremonikersm o n i k e r sAter the American civil war in the middle o the 18thcentury many soldiers where scattered all over the country.

Many o them did not headhome, but searched ora new lie. With the newtrain system that providedree transport, homelesshobos could travel betweenthe cities. In the end othe 19th century the rstmonkiers where carvedinto the wooden sides o

the reight cars. Someo these messages

was simple andsome complicated

and probably

based on the code systemrom the civil war. Hobosused used these codes tocommunicate with eachother where to get shelter,sae travel routes, andmeetingpoints.With the industrializingo america the hobostraveling around wasreduced since therewhere jobs to get, but therailroadworkers had noticedtheir markings and kept onwhere the hobos let. Withsteel becomming morecommon the car inspectors

used chalk and oil sticks tomark the cars with. Manyo these workers naturallygot creative and over timethey where called boxcarartists. One o the most

iconic artists was BozoTexino, he came up in

the Depression years,and many thought

he was the work oa hobo.

In 1957 there was arailroadworker drawingthe monkier name Herbyalong with a man sleepingunder a palm tree, hewas one o the mosticonic boxcar artists andinspired countless hobosand railroad workers, in aninterview rom the lm Whois Bozo Texino he says; "Idhave to spend all my timeout on the yard, and i didwork once in a while"Monkiers became acceptedas an art orm among therailroad workers, and many

started up drawing realizingthe potential o spreadingtheir name and message."It says something aboutthe power o an image thatthe eort o a ew obsessedindividuals could createan icon that would lastor eight decades" Bill BillDaniels says in aninterview in "the history oamerican grati"

the world. Oten to remotelocated locations wherethe war was raging. Ma nyo the soldiers had alreadyseen these monkiers beorethey went to the war. Sinceno one knew who hadmade these markings it wasassumed to be commonproperty. It was easy toreplicate, and Kilroy WasHere became United Statesde acto tag, with everyonetaking it up and writingit. It represented UnitedStates and became a moralboosters or the young menthat ought in the war.

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32/42

Gang

Los Angeles have a long

time o streetwriting that

goes back to the 1930s

when the Latino shoeshine

boys marked the walls close

to their spots with daubers.

Many mexicans emigratedrom Mexico during the

1800s to the promised land,

and settled down in Calior-

nia and especially Los An-

geles. These Latinos where

segregated into the oldest

and run-down parts o

the city. The big problems

or these peoples was job

dicrimination and thereore

poverty, and through The

Los Angeles Times there

where race dicrimintion o

the Mexicans. It became

a massive racial tension

between the Latinos

and whites.

Especially many o the

young american sailors o

this time would ollow the

latinos into their neigh-

borhood and attack them.

To protect themselves

the Latinos ormed gangs

based on whitch neighbor-

hood they lived in. These

Latino gangs was easly

recognised on their styles,dressign codes, hair styles,

taillor made suits and their

cal, an american/spanish

slang. To mark the end o

their neighborhoods, they

developed an own style

o writing; Cholo, a style

whitch is based on Old

Gang graffiti

Cho

lo

writing

Englis, the typace that

was to represent a ormal

document to the public.

The gangs where presented

in an layout with a headline

stating the gang or street

name, the body text with

the members and a logo as

the writers signature.

Cholo bacame more than

just grati, but a liestyle

with strict traditions hand-

ed down rom generation

to generation, keeping the

style o cholo alive rom the

40s and up to now.

In the 1980s the black gang-sters adapted the whole

style, but choosing to use a

more western seri type or

their grati. Making a ace

and branding to the whole

west coast style o hip hop

and liestyle through mass

media and music!

32


33/42

Sh

azBo

jrqez.

This interview by invurt.com givesan idea o the thoughts, inspirationbehind Chazs interpretation o hismodern cholo grafti style.

Even though I had been

doing grati since 69, that

was when I decided to real-

ly prove it, and start making

grati as art. I started out

as a tagger. People were

always saying Its not art,

its trash!

Yeah Im a writer. Im a

tagger. Thats who I am,

and Im proud o it, he

proclaimed passionately.

You gotta be who you are.

You gotta tell the truth, be-

cause in the long run, thats

all youre gonna have, and

you have to build rom that

truth. I could only build

rom the oundations that I

created.

Chaz sees grati as

communication between

people or urban youth,

in particular but he also

views it as a thing o abso-

lute beauty and strength.

He wanted to prove this to

the world, to create a paint-

ing to show the people

around him, and indeed,the world, grati meant to

him. Having witness rst

hand the early New York

style, he realised that at

that time it was an entirely

East Coast style and entity,

as, even then, there was

orm o isolation between

There are some modern grati

writers intentionally taking up

Cholo cultures writing and mixing

it with their own individual style.

One o the rst artists taking up

this, developing and making aown Cholo based grati style is

Shaz Bojrqez.

the East Coast and West

Coast. In order, however,

to show people the beauty

and strength in the way he

expressed himsel, he had

to take a diferent tack.

Through his many days and

nights spent painting on the

streets o L.A., Chaz nally

bega to eel as though he

had discovered his identity.

As an individual who has

always been a dreamer, he

oten saw things where oth-

er people didnt see them.

He saw, quite early on, and

beore many others, that

grati was important, that

grati it was a language,

and that it was a history to

be celebrated.

When we asked Chaz

about how it elt, to know

that what he had dreamed

o back then, that the

ubiquity and acceptance o

grati in popular society

is slowly beginning to

permeate our cultures, that

people all across the worldnow see his work and his

place within that history, he,

with all humility, put it down

to luck. Little by little rom

his experiences he learnt

what exactly what it was

that he was not, and ater

heading to New York and

spending time with Dondi

White and Keith Haring, he

could see that he was, most

simply, Cholo.

At this point in time, Chaz

also began to all in love

with the ancient art o Cal-

ligraphy. It was his respect

and appreciation o Asian

artwork and illustration,

as well as other tradi-

tional onts, that involved

intricate owing letterorms

which also lent themselves

to developing his beautiul

and unique script.

I could see the inuence o

the letters, I could see the

image and the letter shapes

actually bouncing of each

other. I could describe what

it was doing to the birds,

and the wings looked like

the letters, he expressed,

I started to see combina-

tions, started to see images

that calligraphy was all

about imagery.

He also spoke to old timeCholos in LA, men who

had seen the passing o

years and who held the

traditions o their people

in their hearts. He asked

why they had chosen Old

English as their style, why

it was so ubiquitous in

their communication, and

they had remarked that it

was because Old English

was made rom the most

prestigious o letters, its

on your birth certicate, on

your death certicate, its

used or your graduation

and that it was this, and

amiliarly enough, the inu-

ence o growing up reading

comic books, that led to the

creation o the old Cholo

style.

As this quest or identity

began to orm a cohesion

around him, Chaz began

to ruminate on the almost

imperceptible disappear-

ance o the old Cholo-style

writing rom around the LA

neighbourhoods, and the

beauty o the Gothic and

Old English onts amongst

the Chicano culture. It

was then, when he began

to reect his own inward

discoveries outwards to

the world via both writing

upon the walls as well as

his work in the galleries,that he evolved his unique

interpretation o a letter-

orm; one that he elt best

represented his people.

When he rst took his

paintings to Chicano

galleries in East L.A, Chaz

remembers the general

dismissal o his work. At

the time, the resounding

response was that that

Chicano was all about

amily, religion, border is-

sues, immigration, suppres-

sion and that his bad

boy art and reinterpreta-

tions and evolution o the

letters o his culture would

undermine the subjects

that were deemed most

important.

Finally, tells us, and thank-

ully, he was embraced by

other artists who saw his

work as new and invigorat-

ing, and met such luminar-

ies as Robert Williams and

Ed Big Daddy Roth, who

both helped Chaz to put

on his very rst show. His

work was displayed along-

side tattoo tribal artists,

artists who worked on sur-

boards, cartoonists and hot

rodders and it was through

that show, and many more

in uture years, that he

discovered that that thediferences between their

various cultures and styles

had begun to ade away.

We all showed together,

and we discovered that we

all had the same lines. We

had the same stroke the West Coast stroke.

33


34/42

M O D E R NMany o the writers wasasked to join these clubsbecause o their names

where well known, in turnthe writers wanted to joinsince the clubs where madeup o the neighbourhoodscoolest kids.Cornbread joined one othese crews where therealready was other writersand the rst grati crewwas ormed. These crewsmade it easyer to get theirnames and reputation upsince their individual namesgrew with the crews ameand glory among othercrews and social clubs.In the beginning Cornbreadand his aliates wrote withtheir own basic handwriting,but as there where morewriters comming up, theyhad to develop their writingstyle to stand out o thecrowd. There where addedswirls, eets, piece signs andcrowns to their signaturesto get a uorishing style.The early gratiwriters in

Philadelphia where not gangmembers, but got inu-enced, and othen imitatedthe stylized gang writings.

Phila

de

lphia

New

Yor

k

Philadephia:

The orather o moderngrati; Darryl AlexanderMcCray began writing whengoing to a reorm schoolin 1965. While he was herehe missed the ood romthe south, where his amilyoriginatet rom and he wentinto the kitchen askingthem to make cornbread.The cook got ed up o hisnagging about cornbreadand threw him out o thekitchen and said "keepthis cornbread out o mykitchen!" When his peersheard this they startedteasing Darryl and callinghim cornbread. He took thename and wrote it on theback o his shirt, making thename or himsel, and it wasno longer a tease!

There where gangs writingon the schools walls orrecognition, Darryl alsowanted recognition so hestarted up writing his newnickname. Not only therebut everywhere, and themore people talked aboutit, the more he did it. Theunknown reorm school boystarted to build a reputa-tion, and gradually romjust using markers he alsostarted to use spray paint.Ater nishing school corn-bread kept on writing allover the city, several otherssaw his name and wantedthe same attention andame he had.At this time there whereoccuring social clubs inPhiladelphia, almost likeraternities, where younggirls and boys met aterschool and their spare time.

or announce anything, hejust wrote his name whereeveryone could see it. Thismade the New York Timesmake a case on him; in July21, 1971, with the headline"Taki 183spawns pen pals".This is seen as the ocialarrival o the modern gratiamongst writers and mediaall over the world!With the message sendt andhis cover blown, Taki 183decides to quit.Modern grati had nowmade its entrance, hundredso young teenagers whererunning around trying toget amous. There where somany tags around the city oNew York that no one reallystood out anymore. Morecolours where used,thicker lines where madewith diferent caps andmarkers, and the youthound out that the easyestway to be seen was to gobig and colourul with yourown style.

New york:

In the summer o 1969 inNew York a 16 yearold kidnamed Demetrius saw hisrst grati writings in hisneighborhood, a signatureby Julio and his street num-ber; Julio 204. He soon gothimsel a marker andstarted up writing Taki183.The summer beore therehad been an election be-tween Nixon andMcGovern, and there wherehanging election postersand stickers ater themeverywhere. Taki wondershow they can get away withall o their markings every-where, so why shouldnt hedo the same! As a deliveryboy he traveled aroundthe city writing his nameon the neighborhood walls,in the subway cars andeven midtown Manhattan.He was not trying to claim

34


35/42

Laika

infue

ncesInfuences

The educational systemsin these years got aectedby the Soviet/Americanspace race, cuts wheredone in the schools sportsand arts sevices, and theother programs like mathand sience got increasedoundings. The yout o NewYork ound other ways, andcreated their own compet-itive art program, based onquantity and original styles,shaping the typography otheir names to reect theirindividuality.The youth. The kids o theearly years looked to kidreerence material to getinspired, toys, comic books,album covers and otherwriters. Simultaneouslycreating a culture wherecopying each others styleswhere shameul, somethingthat still is a big thing in thegrati culture all over theworld.

Writers ound out that thesubway cars with two blocswide cavases travelingaround the city made themget attention rom every-one, and culture o subwaygrati was born.It is easy to understand the

acination o a early teen-

ager when they saw huge

subway cars rolling past

them with endless colors

together with their avourite

comic gures, many o them

probably thought they could

do this too and probably

give others the same acina-

tion they did.

"I wrote sur and drew waves and sayings

like wipe out or aloha etc. then a kid

rom New York showed me NYC subways

and I was like WOW! thats what I do but

with spray paint. I went and stole a ew

cans o s pray paint, came back to school

that evening and did a piece. I was hooked

instantly, the adrenalin rush and impact o

creating huge pieces..."

-risk-

Another actor must have

been the mystery behind

the artist, who could do

something like that, what is

this new ting and how can i

be a part o it, at least this

is what i thought when i saw

my rs grat...

Later on many o the artist

got hired by companies to

decorate their buildings,

spraying in music videos,

and the cultural respect

increased when the new

urban art where taken in

to galleries, opening a new

world or both the artist and

the viewers.

Soon grati became one

o the our elements o a

whole new culture: hip hop.

And together with djing, rap,

and braking it took over the

world in a ew years. There

where many youths outside

the common social groups

that now had a new ashy

way o liestyle, which did

not include ootball, tennis

or other "common" hobbies

and recreations.

In 1984, the book Subway

Art and the movie StyleWars came out, represent-

ing grati and hip hop,

sweeping over the entire

world, showing how this

new package o cultural and

visual expressions should be

done! Since this was the rst

glimps o hip hop that came

out, they sat many o the

standards and rules to the

artists emerging out o this

times new sub culture.

New york became the gra-

ti capital o the world, and

many artist would pi lgrimage

there to document and learn

how things was done, andmaby see one o the legends.

When they came back home

they would bee the coolest

kids in school.

In the early years o grati

there where ew or no mag-

azines or books with grati,

so New York really sat the

standard, but the develop-

ment, and the search o in-

dividual styles became more

and more importaint or the

grati artists. This actor

together with the consistent

rule o not copying each

other, and that grati have

along with hip hop never

been a race dividing thing,

been open to people o all

ethnicities, cultural groups

across boarders and societ-

ies, have probably helped to

open up and breed several

new artists and styles than

any other culture have done!

I n d i v i d u a l s t y l e s

Much o the early years

grati can reect the social

and economical state o the

city and the artists growing

up in it, the New York trans-

port system did not have

enough money to remove

the grati and much o the

scribbles stayed on the sub-

way cars or years. Some o

the boroughs where isolated

by the highway that where

build pass them and these

areas where let isolated

and turned into slums and

wastelands. The educational

system, the politicians prior-

itizing money in the wrong

way made the inhabitantsupset and opposed the sys-

tem through less thoughtul

scribbled slogans and riots.

In the later years things

became less or more thougt

out by the writers regarding

styles and perormance,

some artists ell of and

others kept on developing

and letting themselves

explore and research new

orms o art in search o new

resh styles.

"...when people are interested in things they

tend to research, as the old jazz players

said, you cant

know where its at until you know where it

came rom"

-Risk-

This development o more

intelectual and thoughtull

grati have helped to bred

and develope the already

underlaying competitive

nature o these artists, that

again have developed new

orms, new styles and ap-

proaches to the grati art.

"...The more you see, the

more you aestheticly eel, you gain bigger

sense o beauty and taste..."

-Theos one-

Where does the urge orattention and competitioncome rom? Is it bigger nowthan beore, or does theartists settle with who theyare, and their product overtime?What have happened thelast 2000 years? From thetime where the calligraphyartists did not even signtheir works, to the modernsociety where the writersintentions are to get theirname up, to be seen? The younger writers still

copy the styles o theelders and trying to achievethe perect lines.The development o scriptsand styles are not up tokings, popes, priests munks,or any kind o educated

scribes anymore. Theequipments and methodshave developed, the lettersare easyer to draw, they arebigger, and more colorullthan ever, it can be doneeverywhere by everyone.

35


36/42

What is calligrafti?

Why does grati artists

tend to mix their style and

lawless art with calligraphys

rules and ideologies? Are

they looking or guidlines to

calm down the hustle

and bustle in the search or

their style.

Is it a natural (?) exloration

o a underground enom-

enons artist trying to

represent hi msel/herselves

culture in the best way they

mean. Is it a personal inter-

pretation o two? Three?

worlds o art that have met

each other? When are grat

becomming calligraphy and

calligraphy grati? How

ar rom these two can you

go again beor it all is just

a persons, expressionistic

piese o art?

The answer are in each

writers motivation or doing

their thing, something we all

are looking or, ollowing our

values in lie and belonging

to something.

"My ather is an architect

so I was all the time going

around his design things,

like lettering stencils or

letraset letterig sheets

that you had to press hard

against the paper to get

them transered. It was

amazing!

-Theos One-

Modern grati are an urban

art, the rules are vague,

they are made up by simple

prinsiples and as long they

are made by a writers valueswith an attitude the world o

grati worthy, it seems that

most styles and approaches

are accepted.

The meaning and intentions

o grati may have changed

over the years, but the origin

o the word can relate to

every intentions and reasons

that have led people to

write on walls up trough

the ages.

Can you call Liang Hu rom

anchien China a calligrati

writer? He certainly did not

do it with a modern grati

writers mind and intension,

but his reputation and skills

served him respect and

money rom his viewers.

Are the Cholo writers cal-

ligraphy inspired grati cal-

ligrati? They did, and still

does it with and attitude in

an urban enviorment mod-

ern grati worthy! It is easy

to draw paralells between

such a strong culture as the

Cholo and the development

o grati. Just as Cornbread

got inspired by the gang

grati on the east coast, the

inspiration rom the west

coasts Cholo culture have

inspired and inuenced the

styles o grat there.

"...there is an eerie stylistic

similatiry between

Brooklyn an Philadelphia

tagging styles o the

warly 1970s . to the

point where some early

Brooklyn writing, such as

the Vanguards- seems to

have more calligraphic

ourishes in common with

Philadelphia than the

bronx..."

-The history

o American Grafti-

This shows that the calli-

gaphic styles where early

adopted by the writers, it

does not say where they got

their inspiration rom.

Phase 2 introduced design

details, intentionally painted

drips, and the idea and

shape o multicoloured let-

terings in 1973. Designs that

have been used and inspired

writers then and now. Just

as early new scripts and

styles by respected writers,

scribes and artists through

the history have sat the

standards o their arts, these

early writers showed their

descendants how they did

and how to do it.

The documentation o

calligraphic inspiredgrati have no right or

wrong answer, it is not well

documented who made the

rst calligraphic signature, or

where their inspiration came

rom. The easiest way to

explain it is each individual

writers search o a way o

style in their grati markings

that made their writings

stand out. I you got a cool

style you where respected.

"I guess its when someone

has a basic knowledge

and they apply both,

making a hybrid such as

Calligrafti..."

-Risk-

Calligrati is a branch o,

and have the roots and

rules o modern gratis

philosophies. An art where

everyting is legit...

whatiscalligrati?

36


37/42

37


38/42

Shoe

Shoe

"Calligrati is a combination o calligraphy

and grati.

Calligraphy is about the art o writing and can have

many orms. Whether it be Japanese ancient brush

characters, Arabic pictorial scripts, illuminated

mediaeval books or swirly quill writing

all calligraphy.

Calligrati: traditional handwriting with a

metropolitan attitude."

-Shoes simple answer on calligrati-

9 8 4 1 9 8 5 .1985 1987,

raphic studio.on Beeke, Am-9 1992 , as-

hic designer.wij Edelkoort,

9 0 , g r a p h -

d production.Back, 1990, mural

eum, Amsterdam.t Cry, 1992, ex-

Dingeman Kuil-

in, Amsterdam.& Tensing I,, partner in

s i gn s t u d i o .af f i t i , 1 9 9 3 ,tion at Gal-

t, Amsterdam., 1994, own -n g l a b e l .

ence, 1994, ex-silkscreens aty, Amsterdam.

ne, 1995, pho-ation editor.& Tensing II,

, partner ins i gn s t u d i o .gazine, 1996

r t d i re ct or .rs Club Neth-7, jury mem-

i c d e s i g n ) .1998, art schoolsrecht, Pasadena.

i s e , 1 9 9 8 ,R o t t e r d a m .

gn Dead, 1998, publication., 1998, Dutch

an FranciscoModern Art.

rnational, 1998,

y, Hollywood., 1998, Lisbon.lub Netherlands,

ber (typography).emy, Eindhoven,design teacher.

Goed, 1999, St-m, Amsterdam., Amsterdam,

nior art director.1999, proj -Haze, Tokyo.

ors Club Eu -jury member

n/new media).2002, exhibi-

ille Kwaaitaal

o, Amsterdam.2 2004, part -or creative di-

brand strategy.In t e rn at i on -shion design

ng strategy.e, 2003, re-styl-tive direction.

gn|Media Arts,and workshop.

emie (Design Lab,

), 2004, teacher.oor Bouwkunst,2006, teacher.

e Scene #01,exhibition at

Mobile, Milan.

y home, 2006,b i t i on Ce n -um Utrecht .

delta&machine,xhibition at Pa-

er, Amsterdam.essories, 2007,scar brand.

rs Club, Newjury mem-

i c d e s i g n ) .

x, 2007, group 103, Berlin.i , 2007, solo

at Post BGA m s t e r d a m .s Benelux, 2007

Creative & Design.007, solo exhibi-vel, Amsterdam.

r H e i n e k e n ,twear collec-eken The City.

t S t r o k e s ,exhibition at

Amsterdam.

of Wonderful,exhibition host-

ge, Melbourne.arth Have You, group exhi-

ght, Frankurt.Vivant, 2009,on at Tenue

Amsterdam.9, group exhibi-nd Palais, Paris.

ti, 2009, grouprti, Amsterdam.a, 2009, group

Atzaro, Ibiza.Mozambique,exhibition at

y, Amsterdam.Right Brainers

009, exhibition

rket, New York.i n a G r o u p

9 , Sa l amat i -

Manhasset NY.zambique, 2009,

on at Mass Mar-ace, New York.2009, speaker at

ament, Brussels.ll, 2009, groupayair, London

rnette de Saint2009, Paris.

Tokyo, Paris,

on and auction.man show, 2010,d Gallery, Berlin.

one man show,gallery, Cologne.Pl ay grou n d ,

2010, Essen.nternational De-

2010, exhibition,ormance, Berlin2 Urban Artbition, Munich.

010, exhibitionance at Sony

Boston MA.

Indepenence,bition at Salam-

Manhasset NY.

38


39/42

Niels Shoe Meulman

Is probably the most iconicwriter that have mixedgrati with calligraphythe last 30 years. He

have studyed, writtenand understood the arto calligraphy rom thestart o his grat career.Niels is one o the ewgrati artists that masterand understands the arto both these worlds,he have learned theprinciples o calligraphy, thetraditions, the strict rules oconducting the right lines,

"Yes, the frst Shoe tags are rom 1979. Wed steal those small spray cans o uorescent car paint and tag the old

center o our city. Especially in 1980 with the squatting riots and the crowning o queen Beatrix, old Amsterdam

was in complete anarchy. A wonderul environment or a kid growing up and doing grati. Beore I had seen

any subway grati rom New York my biggest inuence was Dr. Rat. Ater my frst visit to New York in 1982 and

noticing grati in galleries and museums my biggest inuence was Dondi. He really was a kind o a mentor when I

frst started to do New York styles.. Sadly they are both dead."

-INTERVIEW WITH STREETWEAR TODAY, MARCH 2010-

how to get the right owand the use o ink or paint.Where the calligraphyartists stribe or perectionin sae enviorments, thegrati artists are excusedo the oten randomexpressionistic versions otheir works, made in thedark. Shoe embraces anduses his understandingo these two extremes tomake his art.Starting up graphic design

rms, joining businesses,working as an art directorand in MTV, interviewsin Emigr and spreads in

Esquire, getting up as apart o the early Europeangrati movement andPainting with the mostinuencal artists rom allover the world are just aew things Shoe have beenpart o that have shapedhis approach to his art and

visual language.In 2007 he let the industryand starts ocusing beingan artist and developinghis calligrati works. Helaunches a solo exhibitionthe same year where hiscalligrati works are shown. From then his style and works havebeen a actor and a part o putting a ace to the gradually ownartorm Calligrati...

39


40/42

page 3-4Introduction page

TXT:

http://dictionary.reerence.

com

PHOTO:

http://30.media.

tumblr.com/tumblr_

lzb5bZwOQ1qd1rto1_500.jpg

page 5-6Opening Screen

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

Petter B

page 7-8History Lession

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://www.eliteauction.

com/catalogues/091612/

images/569_1.jpg http://www.

art-virtue.com/history/origin/GiaGuWen1.jpg

page 9-10Cherell Avery interview

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://media.vam.ac.uk/

media/website/versions/

uploads/people_page_

portraits/cherryl_avery_artist_

in_residence_290_overlay290.jpg. http://www.vam.ac.uk/

content/articles/c/cherrell-

avery/ http://cherrellavery.

les.wordpress.com/2012/05/

dsc03932.jpg

page 11-12Same but dierent

TXT:

http://www.12ozprophet.

com/bates/entry/dr.-rat-

amsterdam-1981/

http://www.artothetitle.com/

designer/zephyr/

http://cope2art.com/#/bio/

http://www.theoriginators.

com/aboutus/tracy-168/

http://www.hlgallery.se/

bates/

http://www.cantwo.com/

http://www.visualkontakt.

com/p/daim-grati.html

http://riskrock.com/

biography/ http://

www.complex.com/art-

design/2013/02/the-50-

greatest-nyc-grati-artists/t-

kid-170

PHOTO:

Petter B

page 13-14Quote

TXT:

Urban Artcore

PHOTO:

Petter B

page 15-16Timeline

TXT:

Petter B and http://www.

britannica.com/EBchecked/

topic/614047/uncial http://

www.britannica.com/

EBchecked/topic/96555/

Carolingian-minuscule

http://www.britannica.com/

EBchecked/topic/96555/

Carolingian-minuscule

PHOTO AND

ILLUSTRATION:

Petter B and http://www.

art-virtue.com/history/

origin/GiaGuWen1.jpg

http://www.ansshare.com/community/uploads12/14624/

phoenician_alphabet/ http://

ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak/ppenn/

museum/lists/16477-Greek.

jpg http://ianwhiteman.les.

wordpress.com/2011/11/roman-

lettering1.jpg http://static.

newworldencyclopedia.org/

thumb/c/c4/AndalusQuran.

JPG/300px-AndalusQuran.

JPG http://www.livescience.

com/26164-pompeii-wall-

grati-social-networks.html

http://www.chinesechinese.

net/images/Picture_005.

jpg http://codex99.com/

typography/images/

manuscript/cathach_lg.jpg

http://ub.uib.no/ragment/

acsimiles/UBB%20MS%20

1549,%207a%201.jpg http://

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/

article-2274401/Archaeologists-

ascinating-quest-decipher-

medieval-grati-scrawled-

cathedral-walls.html http://

drc.kenyon.edu/bitstream/

handle/2374.KENY/7062/Bible_

Ege44_Verso.jpg?sequence=3

http://www.dokument.org/

images/extrabilder/2445_8_

pb_CW_008.jpg http://arm8.

staticickr.

page 17Roman Empire, Travel rom

the east

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

Petter B

page 18Gothic, Ups and downs

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

Petter B

page 19-20Photo lines

PHOTO:

Petter B

page 21-22Risk Interview

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://riskrock.com/blog/wp-

content/uploads/IMG_9891.

jpg http://riskrock.com/blog/

wp-content/uploads/risk-

smash.jpg http://vivalaoodies.

com/wp-content/

uploads/2011/06/PICT0021.

jpg http://riskrock.com/blog/

http://riskrock.com/blog/wp-

content/uploads/5.jpg

page 23-24Psychology ink test

TXT:

http://www.calligrati.nl/

interviews

PHOTO:

Petter B

page 25-26TheosOne interview

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://2.bp.blogspot.

com/-3HnVPx-saQQ/

ULt4nKUmmaI/

AAAAAAAAGKM/KGm-

LU4i3jI/s1600/taggg+copym.jpeg

page 27-28Grati

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://arm7.staticickr.

page 29-30Roman & Medieval grati

Monikers &

Kilroy Was Here

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://www.therailroadpolice.

com/hobos/Hobo_1933_in_box

car_door.jpg http://arm6.stati

cickrcom/5299/5544338522_

895c40284_o.jpg http://arm

8.staticickr.com/7041/681426

3714_4d9d787a1d_o.jpg

page 31-32Gang grati

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

Petter B & http://image.

lowriderarte.com//

miscellaneous/ute-with-

appeal/39928213/el-camino.

jpg http://latinolmund.

40


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http://www.hanban.com/writing-chinese/calligraphy/calligraphy-modern-china.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/arts/design/early-grafti-artist-taki-183-still-lives.html?_r=2&

http://genreauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/medieval-mondays-viking-grati.html

http://news.cultural-china.com/20101122093011.html

http://www.art-virtue.com/history/chin-han/chin&han.htm

http://www.crystalinks.com/grati.html

http://www.carhartt-wip.com/news/brandbook/2011/12/luca-barcellona-letters-are-language

http://www.clas.co.uk

http://www.debutart.com/illustration/niels-shoe-meulman#/illustration

http://www.mymodernmet.com/proles/blogs/calligrati-an-explosive-new

http://guity-novin.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/history-o-graphic-design-calligraphy.

html http://www.nabilchami.com/Calligraphie_Eng.htm

http://www.ottomansouvenir.com/Calligraphy/Netscape_Calligraphy.htm

http://www.hceis.com/chinabasic/history/han%20dynasty%20history.htm

http://www1.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/24/content_45863.htm

http://chinese-school.netrms.com/Chinese-calligraphy-history.html

http://www.invurt.com/2012/05/18/eature-interview-chaz-bojorquez/

Calligraphers Companion.

Mary Nobler & Janet Mehigan

Scribble & Script, the rise and all o handwriting.

Kitty Burns FloreyCalligrati, the graphic art o Niels Shoe Meulman

Niels Shoe Meulman, Adam Eeuwens & John Langdon

The history o American Grati.

Roger Gastman & Caleb Neelon

org/blog/wp-content/

uploads/2011/04/IMG_3304.

jpg http://latinolmund.

org/blog/wp-content/

uploads/2011/04/IMG_3291.

jpg http://www.dokument.org/

images/extrabilder/2445_8_

pb_CW_008.jpg http://4.

bp.blogspot.com/-

o6JV4U8V2YQ/TYljWth2ngI/

AAAAAAAAB94/koaVilgFog/s1600/

page 33-34Modern grati

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://ohmygodthatsamazing.

les.wordpress.com/2013/03/

style-wars-original.jpg

http://content.answcdn.

com/main/content/img/

getty/3/1/2696331.jpg http://

thankgodisur.les.wordpress.

com/2011/01/boomboxregular.

jpg

page 35-36What is calligrati

TXT:

Petter B

PHOTO:

http://arabia.style.com/wp-co

ntent/uploads/2013/03/el-seed-.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.

com/-zMuejZMv32A/UECzL

Wnu_I/AAAAAAAAFGo/9j_3

LsGoZk8/s1600/244003_18523

2554863034_6878917_o.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZK-

CKq2_CB6k/TtUHuZLvdvI/

AAAAAAAAAOo/1DqH

O1ajcNE/s1600/IMG_3566.

JPG http://www.tumblr.com

/tagged/calligrati?be-

ore=1348580756 http://ww-

w.941geary.com/blog/2012/06/

behind-the-scenes-niels-shoe-

meulman-x-canlove-adele-re-

nault/ http://abcnt.les.word-

press.com/2011/10/cryptik-1.

jpg?w=1024&h=508 http://3b

p.blogspot.com/-Phn

APHIGNI/ThYequAAllI/

AAAAAAAAALY/dQ4PlU09v

xU/s1600/loremipsumteo.jpg

http://www.subenysuben.com

/art/wp-content/uploads

/Cartonero-6-Indian-ink-on-

cardboard-21-x-29-cm-80-E

uros.jpg http://www.ickr.com

/photos/39694554@N03/5550860652 http://www.co

dered.ru/uploads/blockpics

/9151/photos_text_twocol_r_r

ight.jpg?1361648533 www.ickr.

com/photos/greg_papagrigori-

ou/7460114102/sizes/l/in/pho

tostream/ http://whatyouwr

ite.les.wordpress.com/

2012/06/copy-o-rotumsb20

12-388.jpg http://ironlak.com/

wp-content/uploads/2012/02/

Artillery_NeilsShowMeulman_

Interview_02.jpg http://graut

urism.com/wp-content/up-

loads/2011/05/5636233860_

76338cc742_b.jpg abcnt.les.

wordpress.com/2011/10/a-2.jpg

http://cherrellavery.les.w

ordpress.com/2012/05/dsc03

932.jpg www.melinart.com/images/sniper-oner-handstyles

-by-sniper-one-grati-tags-

and-tagging-what-is-grati-img

-35371-jpg-grati-tags-and-

tagging.jpg Abdullah-khan_

islamicartrevival.com/wp-

content/uploads/2012/09/Abd

ullah-khan.jpg http://www.crav

ingdepth.com/storage/lul_det

ail02.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_

CACHEVERSION=132018988

5757 arm7.staticickr.com

/6009/5940982051_3a9c656

203_b.jpg 1.bp.blogspot.

com/--tV8Qlr0Fic/T77ZUZa

7_FI/AAAAAAAAQGQ/swoEa

UNNgcI/s1600/elseed_

capetown_streetartnews-1.

jpeg http://www.tumblr.com/

tagged

/calligrati?be-

ore=1348580756 A1One_2.

b

Documents

Visual Communication Project - Calligraffiti