Answering Questions-Vol2

In my latest post I answered to questions 1 and 2. So, this time I will answer 3 and 4.

3. When did it start in Japan?

There was no information which describes when the graffiti came into Japan. However, I found some information about the leading graffiti artists. KAZZROCK started his activity started his organization “VANGUARD”, which does various activities in the street scenes such as, graffiti and hip hop dance, in early 1990^th. Afterwards, he went to the United States for skill up, and joined a graffiti group in Los Angeles called “CBS”. After coming back to Japan, he hold a one-man show named “Graffiti Art is Not a Crime”, at a gallery in Harajuku. In the latter 90^th, he started collaborating with many other artists and brands, and in 1998, he established his own brand “KAZZROCK ORIGINAL”.

In the latter 2000^th, he was asked to demonstrate his art skill at the garage of Tokoro-George(所ジョージ), one of the Japanese most famous comedians, on a TV show.

TOMI-E is also one of the famous Japanese graffiti artists. When he was a teenager, he met the hip-hop culture. In 1991, when he was 16, he went to the US and the graffiti on a large wall shocked him. After coming back to Japan in 1994, he has been doing his activities in various places such as, street walls, CD jackets, company advertisements, and club tours to do live performances. Recently, he has been painting on Japanese papers called “Washi(和紙)”. In 2006, a movie called “TAKI-183” which sat him as the model was shown.

4. Is there some places that we can do graffiti legally in Japan?

              I couldn’t find any place that people can do graffiti freely, like the one in Venice Beach in California. However, there are some places that permit tacitly graffiti done by general citizens. For example, in Yokohama, you can see graffiti under the guardrail along National Highway 16. These graffiti are done illegally, but the city just winks at it. Some artists are even asked to paint on the walls or shutters by the local government.

In the graffiti world, they have a tacit rule not to do unskillful paint on a skillful paint. By using this rule, some local governments ask famous and skilled artists to paint first, to avoid people to paint unskillful graffiti which are less artistic. In 2005, an NPO in Shibuya draw graffiti made a legal wall of Miyashita Park. In addition, the number of shopping district which many shops are closing and many shutters are down is increasing recently in Japan. To make these “Shutter Districts” bright, there are activities to ask artists and students to paint on shutters. In Shimokitazawa Ichibangai（下北沢一番街）, a shopping district in Tokyo, they started the activity to ask for volunteers of university students and artists in 2003. The district’s association pay for the paint and cure and their youth group paint the basecoat. They say that not only their wonderful paintings helped to prevent scribbling, but also many people stops their feet to see them.

Bibliography (Sorry for all the bibliographies being Japanese. All of the questions were graffiti in Japan, so I couldn't find English ones. I hope you can enjoy them by their photos.)

KAZZROCK GRAFFITI SITE.Retrieved June 29, 2016, from http://www.kazzrock.com/profile.htm

グラフィティ・日本で活躍するアーティストまとめ | Graffical Market. Retrieved June 29, 2016, from http://grafficalmarket.com/artist-matome/

TOMI-E | official site. Retrieved June 29, 2016, from http://www.tomi-e.jp/biography_jp.html

 

Legalwall. (2005, November 9). Retrieved June 29, 2016, from http://legalwall.komposition.org/index.php?catid=88

下北沢一番街 公式ホームページ　しもきたイチバンどっとこむ | シャッターギャラリー. (2014). Retrieved June 29, 2016, from http://www.shimokita1ban.com/gallery

 

Answering Questions ②

Again, I would like to answer to two of the fifteen questions I have posted earlier.

3) Do famous graffiti artists get paid for their work?

Yes they do. Since I have introduced three famous graffiti artists in the last post, I would like explain how they get money from graffiti as an example.




Banksy is one of the most famous graffiti artists in the world. So many companies has offered him to collaborate with them. Although he has rejected most of them, he has accepted some of the offers. His works has also been sold at the auction and was sold for an amazingly high price. It’s not clear if Banksy himself had sold it but it has proved that his graffiti is worth paying.


Invader has held a solo exhibition of his graffiti in different countries such as his home country France, Japan, America, Italy and more. He has also published some books, so he earns money from holding events and selling goods.



Claw&co collaborating with Sweet Chick

Claw Money was a female graffiti artist but has become a designer using her graffiti style. She now has her own fashion label Claw&Company. The claw mark is one of the representative of her design. Her brand has collaborated with many world famous companies such as Nike, Converse, Ugg Australia, Calvin Klein and has made a huge success.

They earn money within different ways but I thought that it is all impossible if they weren't famous. They are just a small percentage of the whole graffiti artist populations. Most of the graffiti artists get money by selling their work drawn on canvas.




4) Do you think graffiti could affect the society? If so, how?

This is just my opinion but I think it could affect the society both in good and bad ways. As I have explained before artists like Banksy draws graffiti that has strong message. It gives opportunities for people to stop and think about it through art. However, despite some professionals, most graffiti artists are amateurs and sees graffiti just as a way of expressing themselves. Also, I've heard that graffiti is sometimes related with gangs. They use it to show that it’s their territory to other gangs.  Many people still do not have much good impressions with graffiti and is a great fear for them. Drawing on somebody's property is vandalism. If the town gets filled with graffiti it might also reduce the population of the tourist, which could be a serious problem for some places. I can't decide weather it's good or bad but I'm sure it has a great effect to the society. 

＜Bibliography＞

"Street Art and Contemporary Art Auction." 2016. Juliens Auctions, 30 Apr. 2016. Web. 27 June 2016.

"Invader - Home." Invader - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 June 2016.

"LOOK IT'S THE CLAW." Claw & Co. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 June 2016.

Answering Questions ①

Like Azusa, I would also like to anwer to 15 questions I have posted earlier on this blog. Some of the questions are quite difficult so I am not sure if I could really find the answer, but I would like to try my best.


1)Why do graffiti artists paint on walls and not on the canvas?


I was always very curious why they had to paint on walls. I've made a research and found out that they do it for different reasons. Some people are motivated by strong feelings such as angers towards the society and they wand to show it towards people. Some feel isolated and want themselves to be recognized by someone. I think it really depends between each artists but I realized that graffiti artists that got famous often had some kind of message in their works, such as political message. So I think the main reason for this question is that because they have something they want to tell.



2) Are there any famous graffiti artist?


There are. I was surprised to find out how the styles of graffiti differ within each artists. I would like to introduce three of the famous.


First is Banksy. He is one of the most well-known graffiti artists in the world, yet not much is revealed of him. He is believed to have been born in Bristol and mainly works in London. His work is often political themed. He also has sneaked in to famous museums such as British museum, and displayed his work without any permission. From these acts and his art style he is sometimes called “art terrorist”. I felt that his work is different from any other graffiti artists. Message hidden in is piece drags peoples hearts and I think that is why it is loved by many people. 

Second is Invader. He is a French graffiti artist born in 1969. He took his name from the game "Space Invader" and his work is strongly inspired by it. His work is seen in many different countries from his home country France to China.  He started to draw these because he wanted to "bring the virtual world into reality". His work is all very cute and it was different from what I thought graffiti would look like before the research.

Lastly,  Claw Money. I chose her because I was interested in the fact that she was a female graffiti artist. She began writing graffiti in New York. She is deeply influenced by other graffiti artists such as Dondy, Sharp and Revolt. After she became famous for her works she used her graffiti style and made her own fashion label Claw&Company. She now works as an designer. Compared with the two artists above, I thought her works is the most typical graffiti. I like how she uses the colour.

It was very interesting looking at different graffiti artists and I loved all three of them's art style. It was fun to research.



＜Bibliography＞

"GRAFFITI Everywhere." Anti Social Graffiti. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2016.

Biography.com Editors. "Banksy." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 23 June 2016.

"About Space Invader - Artist Biography." N.p., 2012. Web. 23 June 2016.

"Claw Money." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Apr. 2016. Web. 23 June 2016.

Answering Questions Vol1

In my present post, I made15 questions regarding to graffiti. From today, I would like to answer these questions. In today’s post I will answer questions one and two.

http://graffiti-controversial.blogspot.jp/2016/06/questions-regarding-to-graffiti.html

1. What do you think is “ART”?

In my guess, “ART” is paintings, acts, music, sculpture, etc. that is shown to other people. This is still my guess, so I searched it on different dictionaries. I referred on these dictionaries because I think they are one of the most famous dictionaries in the world and they have long history, so they should have done many researches to provide correct information to people.

Oxford Dictionaries said that it is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”.

Collins School Dictionary and Thesaurus says it is creation of works of beauty, especially paintings or sculpture. It also says when it is “arts”, literature, music, painting, and sculpture are considered together.

In Japanese dictionary Kojien, I researched the word “GEIJUTSU” which means art in Japanese. It said art is the activity and effort by people who create things, such as paintings sculpture, construction, poetry, music, or acts, which has appreciable value by using their techniques, body, and materials.

Thus, according to these definition it is clear that it should be creative, impressive, imaginative or beautiful and created to express important feelings or ideas. My guess was true in that paintings and sculptures are included in art. In the Japanese dictionary, it also included all of the other things that I mentioned first. From these definitions, I think graffiti can be accepted as art because they are paintings and they have strong feelings and ideas to express.

2. When and where did graffiti come from?

To find out when and where graffiti came from, I used three sources used for education. They all have the way to contact and basically had same information.

According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5^th Edition, the definition of graffiti is “rude, humorous, or political writing and pictures on the walls of buildings, trains etc.” Referring to this definition, it can be said that graffiti existed since thousands of years ago when people started to writing things on caves. In the Ancient Rome and Greek, people wrote their names and protest poems on buildings. The term “Graffiti” also came from the Greek word “graphein”, which means to write.

The modern graffiti, which usually use sprays to paint, seems to have appeared in Philadelphia in early 1960s and reached to New York in late sixties. In 1971, an article about one of the graffiti writers was published by New York Times. The term “Graffiti” was also used for the first time by them. In the early 70s, Art Galleries started to buy graffiti. In the late seventies to early 80s, hip hop culture emerged. At that time, Keith Haring, one of the most famous graffiti artists started his activity to put black paper on blank advertising walls and paint on the paper. Graffiti became to be abandoned at this time but at the same time, they also became to be respected as art, especially by young people.

I discovered that paintings on buildings itself have quite long history. I am now also curious how writing names or poems on the buildings was thought at that time.

Bibliography

• Art - definition of art in English from the Oxford dictionary. Retrieved June 22, 2016, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/art

• Collins school dictionary & thesaurus (First ed.). (2009). Glasgow: HarperCollins.

• Shinmura, I. (2008). Kojien. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.

• Lifer. Birth and Evolution. Retrieved June 22, 2016, from http://csdt.rpi.edu/subcult/grafitti/Birth_and_Evolution.html

• Artcrisis. (2014, September 20). Graffiti History. Retrieved June 22, 2016, from https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/graffiti-history-6022612

• The history of graffiti. Retrieved June 22, 2016, from http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading-skills-practice/history-graffiti

News related to graffiti

I found a news related to graffiti so I would like to tell you about it from three different articles.

This news is about anti-Muslim graffiti.

All of the article mentioned mostly the same thing for the brief story of the news. It said that last Thursday, when one women went on the Red Line she recognized anti-muslim graffiti written near the window. It said "Muslim Trash go home". She took a picture of it and posted on Twitter. MBTA official quickly responded with a reply by writing "Could you please forward us a car number so we and [Transit Police] can have this taken care of ASAP?" They removed the subway car and after the evidence was documented by the police it was cleaned and made back to service. All of the article also had the actual tweet of the passenger with it.

Article of Boston.com had more specific information than the others and it was easy to fully understand the situation.

Although article by Steve Annear only told about the story, rest of the two also mentioned about the shooting which recently happened in Orlando where 49 people got killed. They say that they were being especially careful because of this incident.



＜Bibliography＞

"Police Investigating Anti-Muslim Graffiti Discovered on the T." Boston.com. Ed. Kristi Palma. Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC, 17 June 2016. Web. 22 June 2016.

"T Police Investigating Anti-Muslim Graffiti - The Boston Globe." BostonGlobe.com. Ed. Steve Annear. N.p., 16 June 2016. Web. 22 June 2016.

"Anti-Muslim Graffiti on MBTA Prompts Investigation." Metro. Revcontent, 17 June 2016. Web. 22 June 2016.

Resent News story about graffiti

Today, I want to share a resent news in the United States about graffiti and compare three articles.

It is a news story about Casey Nocket, a 23 year old women who was sentenced for probation for two years.

All of the article explained that a 23 year old woman who did graffiti on rock of seven U.S national parks in 2014 was sentenced for probation for two years and that she was also ordered to do 200 hours of community service and pay the fee for the damage.

             

According to the article by Mercury News and Inforum, she did it during September to October that year. In the Artnet News article, it is also mentioned that she posted her paintings on Instagram, although Inforum and Mercury News article doesn’t mention which social network service she specifically used.

Mercury News and Artnet News named the parks that she did it, while article by Inforum only mentioned the states she did it. Mercury News also mentioned what kind of materials she used and how it is being removed and what kind of names she gave to her paintings. They also said that her community service include removing graffiti removal and she must also write an apology letter to National Park Service.

Artnet News also stated that she is not allowed to visit national parks or lands administered by the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Army Corps of Engineers, during her probation.

Bibliography

Reuters Media. (2016, June 14). Woman sentenced to probation for graffiti at 7 U.S. national... Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.inforum.com/news/4054580-woman-sentenced-probation-graffiti-7-us-national-parks

Cascone, S. (2016, June 14). Instagram Graffiti Artist Gets Probation - artnet News. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/casey-nocket-national-park-graffiti-sentenced-518453

Gafni, M. (2016, June 14). Yosemite vandal sentenced for defacing rock formations in national parks. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_30014558/woman-sentenced-defacing-yosemite-other-national-park-rock

Presentation 〜AGAINST GRAFFITI〜

I've made a presentation as Wilson Goode, who is against graffiti.


 I'm Wilson Goode, a mayor. I have combined four anti graffiti programs and formed an anti graffiti network.

 Graffiti appears on bridges, billboards, and signs. Most people who accepts graffiti usually consider graffiti as a part of "ART". But is graffiti really "ART"? Most graffiti artists do not get permissions when drawing. So in towns or cities where graffiti is considered illegal, local governments spend a great amount of money removing graffiti. Estimated $12 billion a year is spent in the states for removing graffiti, which is just a waste of time and money. 

 Also, graffiti is mainly drawn on walls or signs in public spaces. It could have bad influences on children if they see something inappropriate. More over, it causes dangers in many ways. By drawing them on signs, it would confuse the drivers and could lead to some accidents. Artists climb or even hang themselves down from high places to draw on highway signs and billboards. With one wrong move and they can get seriously injured, so it is also dangerous for the artist themselves. Graffiti does not worth these risks. 

 Something illegal with some risks of dangers should not be called artistic. It is not "ART" and therefore we should ban graffiti. 




＜Bibliography＞

"The Problem of Graffiti." Center for Problem-Oriented Policy. Ed. Deborah Lamn Weisel. N.p., 2002. Web. 8 June 2016.

http://www.popcenter.org/problems/graffiti/print/

"Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network." Government Innovators Network. HARVARD Kennedy School, n.d. Web. 8 June 2016.

https://www.innovations.harvard.edu/philadelphia-anti-graffiti-network





"The Dangerous Life of a Graffiti Artist." STREET ART BLOG. N.p., 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 8 June 2016.

https://streeetart.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/the-dangerous-life-of-a-graffiti-artist/

Questions regarding to graffiti 2

I also came up with some questions for graffiti.


1. Why do graffiti artists paint on walls and not on the canvas?

2. Are there any famous graffiti artist?

3. Do famous graffiti artists get paid for their work?

4. Do you think that graffiti could affect the society?  If so, how?

5. Are there any laws for graffiti?

6. What is the definition of "Graffiti"?

7. Why do graffiti artists paint over someone else's piece? Why do they accept that?

8. Do artists paint in groups or alone?

9.  If graffiti was legalized, would it still be considered as a vandalism?

10. How did graffiti spread around the world?

11. Do styles of graffiti differ within the country?

12. Has graffiti changed within times?

13. Are there any rules between graffiti artists?

14. Why do some places have more graffiti than other?

15. Does graffiti have copy writes?

Questions regarding to graffiti

Here are some questions that I an curious about regarding to graffiti.
 

1. What do you think is an “ART”?
2. When and where did graffiti come from?
3. When did it start in Japan?
4. Is there some places that we can do graffiti legally in Japan?
5. What is the difference between Graffiti and Street Art?
6. What kind of legal actions are taken if you do it without permission in Japan?
7. Is there any country that graffiti is not illegalized?
8. What do you do if someone does graffiti on your house?
9. How much does it cost to erase a square meter graffiti?
10. Is there some communities that their public security became bad because of graffiti?
11. What kind of measures are done by government or communities to prevent people from doing graffiti in Japan?
12. When do people do graffiti?
13. What is the most common place to do graffiti in Japan?
14. Is there any graffiti museums?
15. What city is famous for graffiti in the United States?

Opinions To accept Graffiti

In my previous class, I did a presentation to introduce people’s opinion to accept graffiti. So, I would like to share them. Please see the links below to check the articles that I used.

Some people say that any kinds of graffiti are bad because it tries to own our public space. If it is true, I think advertisements are bad. They are everywhere and at its worst, they sometimes exist trying to let us use money we don’t have to things that we don’t really need. On the other hand, graffiti at its worst, is mildly insulting. Also, graffiti is using materials and methods that are used in “Paintings”, which are usually accepted as art. Some people say that it is not accepted as art because it is vandalism or too simple, but if it is vandalism and simple, there are many music that are simple and vandalism. Thus, if graffiti is not accepted because of these reasons, there are many other things that cannot be accepted.

I also think graffiti is form of expression. Buildings that are “tagged” have more personal feel than those without paintings. If you see it without the viewpoint of it being vandalism, you will find out that great amount of skills are needed. It is helping to avoid violence for many people by expressing their feelings as art.

Bibliography

1. Delavari, S. (2013, October 31). Graffiti should be recognized as art, not vandalism. Retrieved May 24, 2016, from http://chscourier.com/opinions/2013/10/31/graffiti-should-be-recognized-as-art-not-vandalism/

1. Miller, L. (2015, March 27). Not all graffiti is vandalism – let's rethink the public space debate. Retrieved May 25, 2016, from http://theconversation.com/not-all-graffiti-is-vandalism-lets-rethink-the-public-space-debate-38972

1. LaBossiere, M. (2011, September 30). Is Graffiti Art? Retrieved May 24, 2016, from http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=3109           

What I know about graffiti

I would like to tell you what I know about graffiti so far.
I learned about graffiti during class when I was in primary school. My teacher taught me what graffiti was and introduced us some of the famous graffiti artists and their works, such as Banksy. She also showed us a site where you could design your own graffiti. But because the teacher was only showing the positive side of graffiti, I actually never had much bad impression on it. I used to live abroad and although we don't see much in Japan, graffiti is quite common in Europe.
However, as I make a research about it, I found out that it is illegal in some places and therefore towns are made to spend a lot of money removing it. Also, I learned that because some graffiti artists draw on traffic signs it's confusing the drivers, causing danger. I now understand that graffiti is a controversial issue. I could understand both for and against opinions for graffiti, so I hope I could post lots of information and opinions seen from various points of view through this blog!

My current understanding on GRAFFITI

I've seen graffiti, which is some times also called street arts, not only here in Japan but also in all over the world. I know that it is usually drawn by  using sprays or paints. They also tend to be vandalism or tagging. It is illgalised in most places, but there are some places that people can draw graffiti freely, for example the graffiti wall in Venice beach in California. In the cities or countries they have legal places for graffiti, it is illegalised to do it on things for exmple signs and trains. However, it is still a huge problem in all over the world. I think the current issues on graffiti are whether it is art or not and it should be banned in any place or not. Through out my blog I would like to introduce basic informations about it, people's opinions on it, and what I think about it.

Thank you for reading:)