Graffiti and Real Estate Investments

As graffiti is usually a vandal's attempt at attracting attention to themselves, removing it as quickly as possible eliminates the satisfaction they receive knowing that people are viewing their name or whatever usually rude message they have left behind. If left alone, graffiti tends to multiply, as other vandals see the area as an easy target.

Therefore, especially in urban areas, but potentially anywhere, it is important that a property owner keep a can of paint on hand that matches their building's exterior color. Conducting a regular tour of the outside of the building, and requesting employees or tenants to inform you immediately if any graffiti is visible, will make sure you can nip any problem with this form of property vandalism in the bud before it becomes a major problem.

It is sometimes controversial whose responsibility it is to clean up graffiti: a property owner or city officials. While many cities conduct graffiti clean-up programs, these often happen only once or twice a year.

In addition, the volunteers or city staff responsible for the effort will likely only choose one or two colors with which to paint over graffiti, leaving an unsightly paint mark that isn't much better than the original eyesore—the graffiti. Therefore, while I would encourage any city to go forward with such graffiti clean-up measures, I assert that any responsible property owner will take removing graffiti upon themselves, and do it in a timely and affective manner.

Create The Graffiti Sketches

Graffiti like anything else. Usually requires plenty of practice to be any good. It can also be helped along with preparation, planning and perfecting your next piece of graffiti art before you even pick up that can of spray paint. You can work on perfecting your work when you create graffiti sketches.

Photo By keusta.net

A few simple steps and plenty of imagination are all you need to create graffiti sketches. Oh, a pen and paper might help, too.

Step1 Decide where you want this graffiti to be. You don’t have to know the exact location, such as under the bridge next to the tree by the bend in the road, but you should have some idea of the size and shape of your concrete or other canvas. A sketch that covers a large, solid area is going to differ from one that is meant to be put along the border of an overpass.

Step2 Sketch out your canvas. Draw the borders of the area you plan to conquer. A large wall will be represented by a rectangle or square, or you can choose any other shape you want to fill with your work.

Step3 Pick your subject. The world is yours. Keep in mind, however, a generic subject, such as a wrestler or snake, is going to be easier to reproduce than a specific subject, such as Hulk Hogan or a Western Diamondback Rattler with exactly seven teeth, forked tongue and colors exactly matching the species. But then again, you are preparing in advance, so you have time and the tools to pretty much perfect anything you want.

Step4 Keep lines fat and bold for easy viewing. Remember that you are working on a large scale, much larger than the piece of paper in front of you. You may want to practice the outlines with a thick marker that will give you a better idea of the work’s bold outlines necessary.

Step5 Fill the space entirely. Some of the best graffiti work includes shading, designs and shadows in the background. Once you have your main subject down pat, work on creating a background for the subject that can also be perfected.

Step6 Decide on colors. Too many colors will look too busy, so keep it simple but make sure the colors that are side by side are different enough to stand out from each other. For instance, do not place a bluish green directly next to a greenish blue and expect people to tell the difference from a distance. You can practice the colors by shading and adding hues with colored pencils.

Play Yahoo! Graffiti

Yahoo! Graffiti is one of the most popular games on Yahoo! Games. In Yahoo! Graffiti, players take turns drawing pictures and everyone else has to guess what the person is drawing. Rack up points by guessing words and having others guess your words. Read on to learn more.


Step1 Choose your difficulty level and find a table to join. The "Apples and Orange" rooms in the social level are usually the most occupied and are a good place to start for a beginner. Click on the "join" button of any table to be inserted directly into the game, whether it's in progress or yet to begin.

Step2 Watch as people draw pictures in the large window in the middle of the screen. Guess words by typing them into the text box and hitting enter. You can see what other people are guessing by looking at the list of words to the left of the drawing window.

Step3 Get ready to draw when it's your turn. When you see your first word, select a color and begin drawing by holding your mouse button down and moving it the direction you want to draw in the drawing window. You can erase your canvas by clicking the eraser button or skip a word by clicking on the "skip word" button. When a person guesses your word, the canvas will clear and the next word will appear. Keep drawing until your time runs out.

Step4 Win the game by compiling the most points at the end of eight rounds. You can score 50 points for every word that you guess and 50 points for every one of your words that another person guesses.

Graffiti Restaurant - Steak Seafood Pizza and Paintings

This is the place with Elvis and the paintings. Elvis is at the door holding a welcome sign. The paintings are everywhere else. Graffiti is one of Destin’s older dining establishments. If the walls could talk — from the look of some of the artwork, they probably can — they’d wonder at all the changes that have taken place around the old-fashioned little building. Graffiti adjoins the Funky Blues Shack, and one can move freely between the two places. There are three dining rooms, one of which contains the bar. Diners can choose between booths and tables. We chose tables, which got us a room to ourselves. Booths seemed to be the seating of choice on the mid-week night we ate there.

Our server was Ashley, a friendly young woman who brought us water and menus, and told us of the day’s specials. I used to eat at Graffiti frequently when I lived in the Destin area. The menu has retained many of the same dishes, obviously proven favorites, and an extensive pizza list.

One cannot ignore the walls, even while studying the menu. Graffiti is known for its collection of paintings and freestanding artwork, displayed on every available inch of restaurant space. All are for sale, and the pieces bear the names of both celebrated and up-and-coming local artists. The colors range from muted to near blinding. There are also crayons on the tables for drawing on the paper placemats. ... read more!

How to draw your Graffiti Name

While many people associate graffiti with tasteless vandalism, it is also an art that has been appreciated since antiquity. The Italian word from which the word graffiti was derived, coming from Greek graphein meaning "to write," was first applied to writing on walls in Roman times.

While today the term is more loosely used, graffiti still generally denotes artistic writing or drawing. It can be done in a way that does not vandalize or violate the law. Over the years, distinctive styles have evolved that can be instantly recognized as graffiti, even when the writing is on a piece of paper.

As with any art, there is no right way to draw graffiti, and you need to develop your own style. This article will provide you with the basics to begin drawing graffiti names on paper, along with several inspirational examples.

Free Movie - Graffiti Movie Style Wars

The famous street art movie Style Wars by Henry Chalfant now for free on Google.

Style Wars tells the story of the development of New York Graffiti Art during the early 1980's. It shows the development of the many graffiti letters styles, graffiti artists discussing over graffiti blackbooks and the surrounding cultural development like hip hop breakdance, etc.

The movie features artists like His famous book Dondi White , Seen and many more.

Henry Chalfant was the main person to documentate the development of the New York Graffiti Art movement during the 1970' and 1980's. Subway Art is recognised as the main source for Graffiti Train Art and Graffiti Letters Styles development.

I found this video on http://video.google.de

Click here to watch Graffiti Movie Style Wars

Open Air - Street Art - Graffiti Documentary

In 2006, Their created this short for the University of Southern California's Public Arts Studies Program.This documentary explored the studios and methods of six of the top street artists in America: Faile, Skewville, Mike De Feo, Dan Witz, Espo and Tiki Jay One.Official selection of the Coney Island Film Festival and the Freewaves International Film Festival.

Video form Youtube: Open Air, Street Art / Graffiti Documentary ESPO FAILE KNOX

Please comment and discuss about this VDO!

Tribute To Graffiti Artworks

Street culture and graffiti are well-known for being provocative, appealing, bold and uncompromising. Originally used by gangs to mark their territory in some urban area, graffitis have now become a rich medium for unrestricted expression of ideas and statements. In fact, creative designers and artists across the globe use this form of art to deliver their message and showcase their work.

Probably the most prominent graffiti artist is Banksy, a famous pseudo-anonymous British artist whose works focus on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His art has appeared in cities around the world; it’s worth mentioning that Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti or mount exhibitions of screenprints in commercial galleries. You can explore Banksy’s works in the Time’s slideshow The World According To Banksy. However, many different artists explore graffiti in a variety of ways.

Works of Reverse Graffiti

Welcome to the world of reverse graffiti, where the artist’s weapons are cleaning materials and where the enemy is the elements: wind, rain, pollution and decay. It’s an art form that removes dust or dirt rather than adding paint.

Some find it intriguing, beguiling, beautiful and imaginative, whereas others look upon it in much the same way as traditional graffiti – a complete lack of respect for the law. Reverse graffiti challenges ideals and perceptions while at the same time shapes and changes the environment in which we live, whether people think for the better, or not.

We thought we’d compile a collection of some of the most incredible works of reverse graffiti and the artists behind them for your viewing pleasure.

Original Post : 35 Greatest Works of Reverse Graffiti

Graffiti Creator Machine

Demonstration of a machine built to paint with spray paint.
It very nice tool.

Please comment about it :

Graffiti is often seen as having become intertwined with hip hop culture as one of the four main elements of the culture (along with rapping, DJing, and break dancing). However, there are many other instances of notable graffiti this century. Graffiti has long appeared on railroad boxcars.

The one with the longest history, dating back to the 1920s and continuing into the present day, is Bozo Texino. During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and its filtering into American popular culture. In the sixties, its popularity was eclipsed by American graffiti proclaiming that "Yossarian lives!", a reference to the protagonist of Joseph Heller's novel, Catch-22.

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchist, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary"). A famous graffito of the 20th century was the inscription in the London subway reading "Clapton is God". The phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington Underground station in the autumn of 1967.

The graffiti was captured in a now-famous photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall. A popular graffito of the 1970s was the legend "Dick Nixon Before He Dicks You," reflecting the hostility of the youth culture to that U.S. president.

Graffiti also became associated with the anti-establishment punk rock movement beginning in the 1970s. Bands such as Black Flag and Crass (and their followers) widely stenciled their names and logos, while many punk night clubs, squats and hangouts are famous for their graffiti.

GRAFFITTI ART VDO

Nice Gaffiti Video

History of Graffiti : Art And Crime

"Basically, when I look around, I see us living in a modern day Babylon, full of temptation, sin, distraction, corruption, injustice, and misguided fools being mentally enslaved. It seems to me the only way to wake people up from this kind of numbness is to destroy what they know: Their business, their places of commerce and their biggest place of gathering, the cities! Put it on their trains, on the lines they take to work, on their rooftops, on their highways, on anything just to make some people realize that culture isn't lost and that, at the very least, a small group of kids is fighting to keep it alive."

The word GRAFFITI simply means--words or drawings scratched or scribbled on a wall. The word comes from the Greek term "graphein" (to write) and the word "grafitti" itself is plural of the Italian word "graffito."

Art in the form of graffiti (graffiti by style and considered so only if it appears on public or private property without permission) originated in the late 1960s, but graffiti in term of public and unsolicited markings has been around for ever. Some say it represents man's desire and need for communication, and the history of this type of communication dates back to one of the first communicative acts--drawing.

It was in the late 1960s when "Julio 204" began writing his "tag" all around the city of New York. Soon following Julio came a Greek youth from Manhattan named Demitrius who tagged his own "Taki183" all over the city as well. Taki also focused on writing on the subway in New York. Even though what Julio 204 and Taki 183 did in New York eventually developed into what was called by some "New York Style" graffiti, these New York writers only popularized it.

It is said that tagging first started in Philadelphia with the emergence of the legendary "Cornbread" and "Top Cat." Soon after the Philly development and the start of New York Graffiti, Top Cat's style started showing up in NYC and was called "Broadway Style" because of the long skinny lettering.

In 1971, the New York Times found and interviewed Taki 183 to try and explain this new phenomenon. Within a year of the article, "Taki 183 Spawns Pen Pals," hundreds of new writers emerged and took New York City by storm.

As tagging and graffiti started blowing up in the early 70s, people were caught off guard. One day there were the "natural colors" of the city and then came all the names out of nowhere.

Now there are some interesting points to be made about kids defacing property. You see it was much more complex than just "defacing," there are many ways writers "deface" things.

One type is the individual marks, slogans, slurs or political statements usually found on bathroom walls and stalls or on other exterior surfaces. Some refer to this as "latrinalia" or some just call it junk; this is the stuff that gives writers a bad name. There is also the individual "tag" which is a fancy way of writing ones name or nickname (nicknames often include the street number that a writer lived at, such as Taki 183, on 183rd Street in Washington Heights). A tag is usually decorated with a variety of stylish marks. Although they may have style, they still lack an aspect of quality art work--anyone can come up with and practice and put up a tag. But it is not really meant for artistic purposes--it basically indicates a writer's presence. The tag is one way that graffiti artists are similar to gang members, although gang graffiti doesn't usually evolve into anything very skillful, its purpose is to also, like for writers, indicate a presence (a gang presence) and also to mark around specific gang turf.

Although lots of writers would not want to be compared to gangsters, the two groups do have several things in common: "both seek recognition from their peers, use aliases, take part in illegal activities, see themselves as noble outlaws and are young and most often poor."

Even though graffiti has grown in style and artistic quality, even though graffiti crews can now be found everywhere from (my own) Louisville, Kentucky to mainland China, most people would still say that "New York City conceived graffiti and it will always be the capital and cultural centre of graffiti."

Also, when graffiti first started coming up, it was done predominantly by Puerto Rican and African American youths from poor inner-city neighborhoods. Now, graffiti has attracted people, male and female, of all races, religions and nationalities from the broadest types of backgrounds from all socio-economic classes, and you can regularly find writers ranging in age from 8 to their 30s.

What is Graffiti ?

Graffiti or tagging as it is commonly referred to in every day life usually takes the form of publicly drawn, painted, sprayed or stenciled text (tags), designs, logos or images covering public structures and buildings. Although it's often considered a public nuisance or outright vandalism it's subjects vary from prose, to signatures (or sigs), personal, social or political statements or advertising and images.

It is sometimes recognized as a modern art form with it's origins in urban life and hip hop culture based on creative expression and it is encouraged.

Nice Graffiti Video :

Beat the physical graffiti

Do you remember your mother saying, 'Pick up your clothes (or books, or toys, or ….)? Funny thing is, a modified version of the same philosophy - 'Put it away as you go' - applies at the highest level of business.

Perhaps it's because our mothers told us to do it that so many seemingly well-organised, highly paid and otherwise neatly-turned-out adults ignore this sage piece of advice! How many desks do you see covered with dead trees and miscellaneous equipment? How many drawers and cupboards hide a fascinating selection of junk?

How many factories and workshops have areas with an embarrassing mess of lurking clutter? What's the archival storage room like? (And how about your home garage?) Piles of 'stuff' are physical graffiti, a visible sign of deferred decisions. Next time you open the mail, pick up a file or handle any object, take a second to decide where it needs to go before it jumps out of your hand.

This is not to say that you major in minor things, running around all day putting things away. However, once the decision is made you can safely put things in a pile (either on the floor beside you, or just out of eye range to avoid distraction) and quickly put them away the next time you stand up. If you think you'll forget your decision, pencil the destination on the top right-hand corner of the paper or attach a temporary post-it note. The trick is - don't let yourself leave your workstation without the latest 'put-away' material.

Whilst the action is still fresh in your mind you will only take seconds to put things away. Someone's waiting? Even the most important person will wait 30 seconds; you'll feel efficient; and it feels great when you walk back in to your tidy office.

Graffiti and our Real Estate Investments

Recently there has been a rash of graffiti in the Fergus Falls area, and it is a disturbing modern trend of vandalism. Graffiti, when left to fester and multiply, can make neighborhoods look run-down and eventually lead to a reduction in property values for an entire area. That is why it is important that property owners, especially owners of commercial property, remove or paint over graffiti as soon as it appears.

As graffiti is usually a vandal's attempt at attracting attention to themselves, removing it as quickly as possible eliminates the satisfaction they receive knowing that people are viewing their name or whatever usually rude message they have left behind. If left alone, graffiti tends to multiply, as other vandals see the area as an easy target. Therefore, especially in urban areas, but potentially anywhere, it is important that a property owner keep a can of paint on hand that matches their building's exterior color. Conducting a regular tour of the outside of the building, and requesting employees or tenants to inform you immediately if any graffiti is visible, will make sure you can nip any problem with this form of property vandalism in the bud before it becomes a major problem.

It is sometimes controversial whose responsibility it is to clean up graffiti: a property owner or city officials. While many cities conduct graffiti clean-up programs, these often happen only once or twice a year. In addition, the volunteers or city staff responsible for the effort will likely only choose one or two colors with which to paint over graffiti, leaving an unsightly paint mark that isn't much better than the original eyesore—the graffiti. Therefore, while I would encourage any city to go forward with such graffiti clean-up measures, I assert that any responsible property owner will take removing graffiti upon themselves, and do it in a timely and affective manner.


A clean and attractive neighborhood is a valuable neighborhood.

Graffiti Workshop in School

This year’s batch of 25 students assigned to my 15-weeks graffiti workshop is not much different from the previous year. There is somehow the same mix of jokers and dreamers that look alike, but overall they are good kids. I must stress that the principal of this school is a progessive thinker and is supportive of the programme.

She dropped by one lesson and told us how this year she does not even have to sell the idea like previously due to the success of last years programme which taught the kids about social issues and responsibility. It is one of the nicer school I’ve worked in and it is also the shooting location for a TV musical ‘Schoolhouse Rockz’ on Kids Central. If you watch closely, you’d probably see some of the damages done by my crew. This workshop is still ongoing so we’ll see if this years batch is better than last years.

Resourse form: http://kamaldollah.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/second-graffiti-workshop-at-outram-secondary-school/

Graffiti Rock and Other Hip Hop Delights

Yo, I don't own the DVD, but having seen the show in its initial (and ONLY) airing, I remember it like it was yesterday. WPIX Channel 11 in the New York area...at 8pm in the evening. I just knew Hip-Hop had arrived officially!!! The world was finally witnessing what I had been into since 1978...yeah I goes back!! This show, corny as HELL by today's standards, gave you the nuts and bolts of what Hip-Hop was all about. The 4-Elements of Hip-Hop (emceeing, djing, graffiti art, and breakdancing) fully represented!

It's sort of like your average party that was happening back in '84 (minus the guns & weed) and you were invited. New York City Breakers (Rock Steady Crew's competition in "Beat Street") did their THING!!! Mr Wave, Chino, Powerful Pex...etc...killed the dancefloor with their breakdance/popping skills. Co-hosts Kool Mo Dee and Special K of the Treacherous 3 did their thing (in their HOT A$$ leather outfits - and I mean HOT as in perspiration). Run-DMC came thru and did "Sucker Emcees" (RIP JMJ), and then "battled" Treacherous 3....kinda weak, but it was on TV, it was Hip-Hop and THAT'S what made it cool. Then Shannon (Let the Music Play) came thru and did her thing.

All throughout the show, the "most host" Michael Holman would interview kids from the crowd and they would speak on what they were wearing. When Michael asked one kid "how do you sport your gear?", he said "I sport it FRESH homes!!" WOW, that was wack, but so cool back then...lol When the show broke for commercial, a word used by Hip-Hopers would fly on the screen (written in graffiti of course) the words "Fresh", "Wack" "Word".

I must agree with some of the writers above, this is sorta corny but still loveable in its own way. You sit back and laugh at yourself, because you know if that were you being interviewed, you would have said and done the same things. You were wearing the same clothes (kangols, shelltoe Addidas with fat laces, a name plate chain and belt buckle, and Cazals, windbreakers, etc), so you could identify with EVERYBODY at the party.

In all I highly recomend this DVD to all true Hip-Hoppers who recognize the true school of Hip-Hop, before commercialization, before gangstaism, before the bull crap, when Hip-Hop was all about getting girls and having fun!

As I said, I don't own this DVD, but considering nostalgic value the show itself contains, this is a true gem that MUST be owned by anyone considering themselves in any way part of this Hip-Hop culture.
Peace!

Only 9.95$ click here if you want to buy

You can see graffiti in every country in the world

You can see graffiti in every country in the world. It often defaces walls, poles, trains and the fronts and sides of buildings. Graffiti is considered undesirable vandalism to its victims who spend time and money to paint over or wash it off their property. Indeed, graffiti painting is an ongoing problem in many subway stations and on public walkways, signs, cement walls, and other locations.

However, on the streets of the United Kingdom near London, an artist called Banksy continues to gain international recognition and fame for his graffiti. The fact is that Banksy's "street art" has become immensely popular with both pedestrians and private art collectors alike. In the last several years, there have been a number of exhibitions and auctions of Banksy's art work as his popularity has soared.

The growing popularity of his art is in evidence in the secondary market where a painting titled “Space Girl and Bird” sold for $575,000 in an auction event last year (2007). In fact, Banksy's art can now be found in many private art collections worldwide. Banksy has also produced leaflets and books on art and has his own website. He self-published his first three books, “Existencilism,” “Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall,” and “Cut It Out.”

His latest book called, “Wall and Piece,” was published by Random House and has already sold more than two hundred and fifty thousand copies. Nevertheless, Banksy continues to keep his real identity secret to avoid arrest and prosecution. His anonymity is said to be born of a desire to be a “quality vandal” and to elude the police. He once said, “Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw wherever they liked, where the street was awash with a million colors and little phrases. . . . A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business.” He has a unique view of the art world as well. He has said, “The art world is the biggest joke going. It’s a rest home for the over-privileged, the pretentious, and the weak.”

Banksy's graffiti began appearing on trains and walls around Bristol, England in 1993. By 2001, his street art could be seen all over the United Kingdom. His art has a distinctive style which makes it easy to recognize. It features attention to detail and uses layered stenciling and spray paint. Banksy uses familiar images and his pictures contain dark humor and are often controversial. His art is often focused around anti-war, anti-establishment, and anti-capitalism themes. Sometimes Banksy's works have a pro-freedom message.

Banksy uses rats as images in many of his pictures. His most famous street paintings are a series of black-and-white stenciled rats. Many of these rats are created to be larger than life. The rats have become immensely popular with London pedestrians. A “gangster rat,” painted on a wall near the Smithfield market, wears a peace-sign medallion and carries a sign that says “Welcome to Hell.” Another rat holds a sign that reads, “Please love me.”

Other Banksy art features the image of two policemen kissing painted on a public wall. In another picture a military helicopter is adorned with a pink bow. Winston Churchill has a Mohawk haircut in another. He has even produced revisionist oil paintings such as Mona Lisa with a yellow smiley face, and a pastoral landscape surrounded by crime-scene tape. Banksy, dressed in a disguise, installed them in the Louvre and the Tate.

Banksy often uses public walls as a background to display his art. Although recently he has been creating art on canvas as well. In addition, Banksy sometimes enters museums and galleries to add his own art to the museum collections. In the last several years, Banksy's street art has been seen internationally. It has been found in the Middle East on Israel's West Bank barrier, and in various countries worldwide including Spain, Palestine, Germany, and the United States. He painted the security fence at Bethlehem with a scene of a hole in the concrete barrier. The hole revealed a glittering beach on the other side.

Banksy is viewed by people in many different ways. To some he is an anti-hero who touches the public conscience. Others think of him as an anti-social rogue who vandalizes public property. Some people who have done business with him consider him to be both a genius and a madman. Many view him as unique and irreverent.

On his website Banksy states that he has bought a taller ladder to use in his work. So there can be no doubt that his graffiti (“street art”) will continue. For their part, the authorities in the United Kingdom will continue to try to identify and subsequently arrest Banksy, the world's most wanted graffiti artist.

Urban Graffiti Art presents street art

How do you sell graffiti? If it's the usual variety found on surfaces in cities the world over, then, short of equipping buyers with a pneumatic drill and a very large bag to take it home in, you can't. But as the success of street artists such as Banksy proves, these days it's possible to couple a career in clandestine urban decoration with more commercial activity.

Showing for one weekend only, The Gascoigne Gallery's selling exhibition, Urban Graffiti Art, features screen prints by ten diverse graffiti artists. From Parisian pioneer Blek Le Rat, whose stencilled designs have been cropping up since the 1980s, to Swoon, who pastes life-sized and delicately detailed portraits of people she knows on to New York walls, the show presents each artist's distinctive style in a format suitable for enjoying at home. This fact is apparently not lost on London artist D*Face, whose Green Lady gives an icon of kitsch 1970s living rooms a ghoulish twist.

'If people are expecting to see 1980s-style tagging, that's not what's in this show,' says Daniel Syrett, a local artist and graphic designer whose work is also featured. 'It's very grown-up and very beautiful.'

To promote the exhibition, Syrett left copies of his print Weapons Of Mass Decoration in locations around Harrogate and Leeds. It seems a generous gesture at a time when similar artists are seen as hot investments. 'Some of the work goes for phenomenal prices. Blek Le Rat's last print that was released in London sold and was changing hands for double the money at the same show,' he says.

Although some might accuse the artists of betraying their underground roots, Syrett doesn't see a conflict between the two channels of expression. 'If people who've started out on the streets can move into the galleries and make a living from it, then that's fantastic,' he argues. 'There are plenty of people who claim to be artists and host exhibitions who are, quite frankly, talentless.'

Photograph Graffiti

There are a few basic things to remember when taking pictures of graf. First of all, you are documenting an art form, and not creating art on your own--don't be creative with your shot. Get as big an image of the piece as possible, disregarding other interesting things that might be close to the piece. If you are interested in showing where a piece is located, fine, do that, but if you are interested in getting the most info out of the piece, only consider it when you are taking your flix, and get as close as you can to the wall, billboard, train, or whatever it is you're taking the picture of.

Use 100 speed film. I don't know anything about film, but this is all I use. From what I understand it is for still things (not action shots), and allows the most richness of color to be captured. You will notice a difference when you start to use 100 speed as compared to 200 or 400.

Stand directly in front of the piece you are taking pictures of. This is one of the most important rules. If you are standing on the side, not directly in front, you get a weird perspective and miss the full impact of the piece. Sometimes it is necessary to take a shot from the side, but most times taking more than one picture of the piece from right in front will alleviate these problems. (see cheesy diagram, below.)

If you need to take more than one picture to capture the whole piece, then make sure you stand at the same distance from the piece with each photo.


___W_A_L_L______
\ x x x x / Illustration of taking more than one
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ photo of a single piece. 1-position of photographer
1 2 3 4 5 in first shot, 2-position of photographer in
2nd shot
\/--view of camera

Using this technique, it's possible to get all the details in a piece and get a bigger image of it.

(Susan says) Make sure the photos overlap a little when using the technique Brett describes. That way you can put them back together later easily. Also, if you have to take pictures at night, remember to point the flash up or down, or at an angle other than straight on the wall, so it won't make a glare spot on the piece.