Every day, all around the world commuters and city explorers have the pleasure in discovering a new addition to their concrete enclosures as graffiti artists scour walls for their next canvas. Through the ever-changing and evolving styles of these 'street artists', the labyrinth of barriers that define metropolis, escape the category of construction and transcend into the realms of fine art. Melbourne is no exception, boasting perhaps one of the greatest urban landscapes in the world.
Modern Graffiti originated as a subculture to underground hip hop in New York during the late 60's. The movement began as a reaction to the political and social climate, including pressures from the end of the Civil Right Movement and the Vietnam War. The medium evolved as a way to make a cultural mark, responding to an environment that gave kids no avenues to have their creative needs met. Teens used permanent markers to tag or write their names, followed by the number of the street on which they lived, first in subway cars and later on walls. "Taki 183" was one of the first to tattoo New York street-scape. The advent of spraypaint allowed for these tags to develop separating those with real talent from vandals. Color, form, and style could be emphasized with this new tool to produce tags as a part of an overall artistic production. The piece, short for masterpiece, appeared next, and captured detailed and often large multicolour work, incorporating shading and dimensions. Common today are 'productions' which are pieces, sometimes on the scale of a mural, involving original or familiar cartoon characters in a context suiting the style of the artist.
Graffiti is a pillar in defining Melbourne both nationally and internationally. Surfacing over 40 years ago, the culture has continued to grow rapidly and has matured in terms of its style and content. Peaking in 2003 was the boom in stencil art by which local artists including Meek, Phibs, Sixten, Meggs, Psalm, Dlux, Rone and Sync started transforming Melbourne's city laneways. Today, stencil art has evolved into a more free-form art style, with many of its leading proponents combining stencil work with other techniques. One such artist is Meggs, who takes his moniker from the classic Australian comic book character
Ginger Meggs.
Much like the split personalities that dominate Meggs work, the attitudes towards graffiti are diverse and divided. Over the last decade the age old debate of art versus vandalism has been magnified through the Government's intervention and the various laws that have come into effect. With the sudden policies comes the sudden change of landscape. In a bid to polish the city, the Government washed the city walls with grey paint, replacing some heritage graffiti pieces. The ambiance of the environment and the 'look' of the walls, became dull, destroying the spirit of the art form, and the spirit of the city.
Perhaps the reason for these negative outlooks is due to the lack of understanding of the art. Some graffiti artists with ill intent have smudged the name of street artists, and have made it dangerous for artists with morals to follow their dream. Moreover due to the nature of how most graffiti is conveyed through public spaces, graffiti art is often confused for tagging. Both utilise the raw landscape of suburbia and spray paint as materials but tagging must be separated from graffiti because the aims of each are different.
Negative connotations of graffiti can be linked through its connection with the troublesome side of the hip hop culture. Connected with gangs, graffiti is most often thought as a past time for the rebellious and those who burden society through their reckless destruction. The false notion that the more graffiti spreading across Melbourne translates to a higher crime rate needs to be challenged and defeated. Governments have used the situation to instill a fear in the community which in turn generates support for their policies of a 'cleaner Melbourne'.
What the authorities fail to see however, is that public exhibitions of Graffiti transforms the traditional idea of the city, suits, business, crime, traffic, into a maze of aesthetic pleasure, available to all, regardless of societal restrictions. Graffiti is art for all and the limitations proposed will only damage the identity of vibrancy of Melbourne.