Broadly speaking, I’ve noticed 2 “styles” of tag graffiti: Serif-y line signature-like tags and big bubble writing. This is broadly speaking, there are of course subtleties, but as an outsider, graffiti can look very similar and does feel like they mostly fall into these 2 groups, whether it’s in North America, Europe, etc. You don’t usually hear “that is European style tagging”, I just see bubbly text no matter the location, and they not noticeable different to an outsider the way, say, American food looks different than Chinese food.
Was tagging a thing everywhere and they happened to look similar? Did styles in different places converge? Was there a cult of bubble taggers and the leader told them to spread the gospel around the world? Am I wrong with a biased dataset (noting of course there can be lesser seen visual styles)? ELI5.
Flairing as “other” as this is sort of a sociology topic, probably.
In: 362
Spray paint is a hard medium to work with. While some actual artists can make beautiful things with spray cans, the average hoodlum can only make a few kinds of shapes/strokes. Add that to the fact that graffiti often has to be done quickly, you get similarities out of necessity.
I am sure there is SOME degree of copying more famous tags’ style. But it is physically difficult to get too far from the common style without a great deal of practice and skill.
Latest Answers