Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Style Wars

Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's historic PBS documentary Style Wars tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the peak of its popularity, graffiti was as much a part of B-boy culture as rapping, scratching, and breaking.



Very fancy Official Site

Wikipedia says
Wildstyle is a complicated and intricate form of graffiti. Due to its complexity, it is often very hard to read by people who are not familiar with it. Usually, this form of graffiti incorporates interwoven and overlapping letters and shapes. It may include arrows, spikes, and other decorative elements depending on the technique used. The numerous layers and shapes make this style extremely difficult to produce homogeneously, which is why developing an original style in this field is seen as one of the greatest artistic challenges to a graffiti writer. Wildstyle pieces are also known as "burners", meaning "hot" as fire. Wildstyles are seen as the one of most complicated and difficult tags and are often used to get an artist's work seen (rather than to put a political message or any other kind of message across).


An interview with Zephyr at The Streets Are Saying Things
Zephyr's site

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