It's not uncommon to walk around the cities and be impacted by colorful, interventionist street art, and often with social and political criticism. This is the case of Grafite, an urban art that is becoming increasingly stronger.

However, there is still a lot of prejudice and controversy surrounding Graphite. Is it art, is it vandalism? Is it different from graffiti?

In this article we are going to talk a bit about the origins of Graphite and its characteristics. But first, let's take a step back and understand what Urban Art is.

Urban Art and its impact on the city and on people

Urban art is a Artistic event characterized by intervention in public environments, such as walls, squares and street signs.

Because of this, urban art interacts directly with the people who pass through or use these public spaces on a daily or occasional basis.

The most common manifestations of Urban Art are:

• Graphite;
• Artistic performances (music, theater, etc.);
• Living statues;
• Lambe-lambe posters and stickers;
• Projections on walls or buildings;
• Artistic installations.

So it's almost certain that you've ever been impacted by some type of Urban Art in your city.

The importance of these manifestations is precisely to make art more reachable for all people, taking it away from galleries and private places. In addition, urban art brings many social and political reflections, which creates great identification by the public.

In this article, we will give more depth to Grafite, one of the urban arts that has gained the most attention and which has internationally recognized Brazilian artists.

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What is Graphite?

Graffiti is one of the most growing manifestations of urban art in the world. It is present on walls, facades, walls and various public roads in cities.

As a rule, Graffiti uses many colors, images and refers extensively to social and political issues, coloring various walls and even entire facades of buildings around the city.

Today, in large cities, it's difficult to walk the streets and avenues without bumping into colorful, fun, intriguing art that incorporates urban aspects into its features.

However, although Graphite has gained proportions and worldwide recognition, it wasn't always like that. There are still places where this type of art is prohibited and even mistaken for vandalism.

Therefore, first of all, it is important to understand what are the main differences between Graphite and Graffiti.

Graffiti is not Graffiti

Graffiti can still be a bit strange for some people, and may even be confused with graffiti.

It is important to make it clear that these two concepts are Very different, despite the fact that they seem to share the same principles.

As mentioned, Graffiti is a type of urban art that proposes interventions on public or private roads, and its main characteristic is the colorful lines.

In turn, graffiti also occurs on public roads and is also interventional. The difference is that the Graffiti is done without consent of the person who owns the wall or wall, in cases of private property, or of the government, in the case of public roads.

Because of this difference in authorization, graffiti is considered an act of vandalism and environmental crime, punishable by a fine and even detention.

Another difference is character. marketable of Graphite. Today, individuals and companies hire artists to graffiti their walls and walls, fueling an artistic market and increasingly valuing the people who work with it.

On the other hand, graffiti is not something that is sold as a service and, therefore, its purpose is not to commercialize and expand art as a work. In this sense, graffiti has different objectives, such as a protest, an identification of groups, or the vandalism itself.

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History of Graffiti

If we take it to the letter, the activity of drawing and painting walls has existed since the time of prehistory even going through the Roman Empire.

However, Graphite as it exists today appeared between the 60s and 70s, but it is difficult to say precisely in which place or at what exact time, precisely because it is a marginalized type of art/activity.

In this sense, there are groups of people who believe that art appeared in France in 1968, and others who believe that it appeared in the USA in the early 70's.

Graffiti in France

It is said that it was in the Political Movement May 68, in France, where Graphite as we know it appeared.

This movement was mainly marked by student strikes and demonstrations who called for the renewal of French values, at the time, classified as conservative.

Although this movement had no concrete and objective achievements, its impact on culture was quite significant, mainly because of the slogans and phrases graffiti on the walls of the universities participating in the demonstrations.

From this, the idea emerged that Graffiti was born during this period of revolt in France.

Even as a curiosity, the Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso composed the song “It's Forbidden to Prohibit” inspired by Graffiti from the 1968 movement.

Graffiti in the USA

The graffiti demonstration in the USA took place in the 70s when groups of young people began to draw their marks on the walls of New York City.

Highly influenced by Hip Hop, American graffiti took on great proportions, with the main artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, responsible for giving Grafite worldwide visibility.

Basquiat graffiti symbols of diverse cultures, including famous works and icons of American consumption, always in a format critical to politics and society. Its theme involved topics such as racism, genocide and oppression. It was even sponsored by Andy Warhol, but sadly died prematurely at 28 years of age.

The first exclusive Graphite exhibition took place in 1975 at the Artist's Space and in 1981 the art was enshrined in the New York/ New Wave exhibition, in one of the most important artistic spaces in the city, PS 1.

Graffiti in Brazil

In Brazil, Graffiti began to gain strength in the early 80s — in the midst of the military dictatorship — through the artist Alex Vallauri.

Alex was an Ethiopian living in Brazil and graffiti simple images amidst the chaos of the city of São Paulo, but which had a great political and protest content, in the face of the authoritarian moment that Brazil was experiencing.

During the era of the dictatorship, Graffiti was hard censored, making Brazilian graffiti artists inspired by art from the 60s and American graffiti.

Over time, the traits and identity of Brazilian graffiti art took shape and today it is recognized worldwide, being a reference and influence in several countries for many artists.

Despite this, Is Graffiti still suffering prejudice and discrimination, both on the part of the population and on their own government.

In the city of São Paulo, many graffiti walls were erased at different times, by different mayors. As much as this art is growing and getting stronger, the fight against prejudice and even against certain levels of censorship still exists.

Although there are so-called specific places for the application of Graphite, such as Batman Alley, in São Paulo, the idea of urban art is to be everywhere, in an accessible way and impacting all audiences. Restricting, even geographically, the places where it is possible to reproduce an art goes against the principles of Graffiti itself.

As long as the necessary permits exist, artists should be free to graffiti anywhere.

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Graffiti Artists

In the beginning, one of the characteristics of Graphite was the anonymity, largely because of censorship and because it is viewed as a crime or vandalism.

However, as this art expanded and gained space, many artists began to have their names as world references.

Despite this, anonymous artists, famous or unknown, still exist. Here is a short list of artists recognized by Grafite.

Eduardo Kobra

Kobra is from São Paulo and his art is recognized worldwide, with graffiti in several countries such as the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, Italy, and others.

In addition, Kobra is in Book of Records as the owner of the largest mural in the world, with an art of 5,742 m2.

The Twins

The brothers Gustavo and Otávio Pandolfo are the artists known as The Twins.

Brazilians, born in the city of São Paulo, The Twins, like Kobra, conquered the world with their Graffiti, with art exhibited in Chile, England, Japan, Spain, Germany, Lithuania and several others.

Skull

Fabio de Oliveira, the Skull, is another Brazilian recognized worldwide for his Graffiti.

Cranio's arts have the indigenous as the main character and have strong political and social critiques.

Banksy

Banksy is the pseudonym of a mysterious English graffiti artist. But despite his anonymity, Bansky is an artist highly recognized for interventionist arts around the world.

His most famous work is the “Girl with Balloon” and its arts can be found in several countries such as Australia, Spain and even the Gaza Strip.

The impact of Graffiti on art

Graffiti has changed a lot throughout its history, from being a criminalized activity to a globally recognized art.

Despite its growth, it still maintains some characteristics, such as colorful features and the possibility of social and political criticism.

The big issue with Graphite was to make more accessible and more palpable art for all audiences. Interventions on public roads are viewed by anyone, without having to pay to enter a museum or art gallery.

In addition, Graphite is important as means of communication and expression of ideas of a community and group of people from other spheres of society.

Graffiti, in addition to being a visually appealing art, carries with it a unique essence, of intervention, of criticism, of accessibility, and this is extremely relevant to the arts as a whole.