The Clashing of Culture and Capitalism in Graffiti
Source: wrt-intertext.syr.edu
Topic: Graffiti
Sort Desciption: The surfacing of subcultures and art influenced by graffiti reveals the alterna- .... romanticized graffiti art, supplying the mainstream with souvenirs and ...
Content Inside: T he seemingly indecipherable messages and images freneTically published on unconventional surfaces are, in fact, multilingual. Graffiti writers translate their inherited worlds in fragments, often wherever fresh architectural mediums become accessible, aiming to reach no one and everyone in particular.Taggers and muralists communicate through graffiti, as if to say, “I dare you to understand.” The transition of graffiti from an underground subculture to U.S. popular culture—from subway cars to art gallery canvases—had compromised the founding principles behind graffiti. Evidence of the subculture’s oppression within hegemonic culture appears in the transition, highlighting deviations of thought and subsequent practices while posing a threatening construction of normalcy. The surfacing of subcultures and art influenced by graffiti reveals the alterna- tive forms of interaction emerging from marginal ethnic and age groups, illustrating an undertow of social cohesiveness against dominant cultural LOSERS: LOSERS: The Clashing of Culture and Capitalism in Graffiti By: Mindy Tadai Beautiful Losers INTERTEXT 2007 10 realities (Lachmann 231). Graffiti writing “interrupts” the homogeneity and predictability of urban life, yet stimulates interplays among those sharing the urban environment (Ferrell 176). It is difficult to specify to whom this subculture is considered “normal” or “abnormal,” because the categories are inherently relative and continuously evolving. For instance, the public audiences most influenced by imagery and literature—city youth, media critics, filmmakers, and art gallery curators—may have once considered graffiti writings as vandalism and signs of urban decay, but now indulge in their unrefined and eccentric qualities. Even graffiti artists sometimes find themselves painting in subsidized art studios, re-imaging the nights they gambled and risked life and arrest for a tag, mural or “throw-up” (Ferrell 83). ...
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