Answering Questions ④

I'd like to answer to question 7 & 8!



7) Why do graffiti artist paint over someone else's piece? Why do they accept that?


I always wondered why they accept it. There were no clear answer to this question but I'd like to introduce a possible answer.

Most of graffiti artists know that their piece of work is something that won't last forever. Battling and competition is part of graffiti culture. Artist could paint over someone else's piece only if they are certain to overcome its quality. It means that better you are, more accepted you become and piece remains longer. It also leads to the improvement of the whole graffiti quality.

However, not all go like this way. It was surprising to find out but many also hate to be painted over. This may be because many artists are an amateur. Also some graffiti has meanings. Such as gangs painting it to show it is their territory. In that case, the situation gets a little different. People get beaten up by bats, have someone broken into their house, or worse get hit by a car. Even with the culture, I felt that it is better not to draw on somebody's piece if it was in place you do not know much about. So as a result, it might be that it just seems to be accepted for us, but in reality isn't.

This got nothing to do with the question but it was very interesting when researching, that finding rules between graffiti artists in English sites was very difficult, but as soon as I changed into Japanese I found it straight away.



8) Do artists paint in groups or alone?


Many artists paint with 1~3 people. This is because it is easier for them to paint if they have someone who watches out for the police or gangs. When painting a big piece, it sometimes takes several hours for them to finish. Concentrating both on their painting and the police would be a great stress. Although, they do not bring too many people because then they get found more easily. so I thing they do not paint with more that 10 people.



＜Bibliography＞

"Graffiti Q & A." Graffiti Q & A. Ed. Susan Farrell. Art Crimes, n.d. Web. 10 July 2016.

"ヒップホップ・グラフィティの歴史と暗黙のルール～ヘタクソは上書き禁止." RSS. Global Information Site Silzou, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 July 2016.

"What's Graffiti?" What's Graffiti? WORLD OF STREET ART, n.d. Web. 10 July 2016. http://yachu-graf.com/street_art/what.html