English 1B
Sept. 15, 2009
Today we watched the film, Piece by Piece. Write a minimally 3-paragraph essay about graffiti culture. What is graffiti and how is it emblematic of hip hop culture (clue: define hip hop culture).
What do the graf movement in San Francisco and New York share and where do the two depart? Make sure you define graffiti art from the perspective of the “crews” and the civic officials who perhaps do not like this art form. Talk about the legality of this art form. Are there any historic parallels. Are there any other instances where "the artist" was considered an outlaw?
The art form has a unique language. Do you recall any of those words? Define them in your essay.
Other Homework
Other homework is to identify analogies, consequences, testimony and definitions in the essay: The Politics of Graffiti.
Note: We have a library orientation on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 9 AM. We will meet in the library at the desks. Bring your questions about potential research essays.
Piece by Piece
http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/trulyca/episode.jsp?epid=192903
Piece by Piece documents the history of San Francisco's controversial graffiti art movement, with a fast-paced journey into the world of San Francisco street art, as seen through the eye of the artists. Chronicling more than 20 years of creation and destruction -- honestly, accurately, and critically, the film takes you alongside those who lived in what is arguably one of the most influential youth cultures of our time.
San Francisco's graffiti style arose in the period from 1983 to 1993. Piece by Piece starts by documenting what laid the groundwork for today's Bay Area graffiti: "Cholo" writing and the impact of PBS's 1983 documentary, Style Wars. The film includes not only San Francisco's graffiti originals, but also commentary from noted New York "writers" such as Seen, Cope 2, and Case 2. It also covers the tragedy of Dream One, a San Francisco graffiti pioneer and a vocal figurehead in Bay Area urban welfare activism.
From 1993 to 2000, San Francisco became an international magnet for ground-breaking graffiti styles yet to be seen in other parts of the world. The film elaborates on what it takes to establish credibility among the graffiti community, featuring classic works from KR and the horses of Reminisce; and documenting the creative expression of these and other "writers." The film also features well-known graffiti artists such as Grey, Buter, Joro, Norm, and Barry McGee (Twist).
While graffiti is largely considered an underground movement, it's no secret that this art form has provoked a huge response from everyday citizens. The final segment of Piece by Piece explores the wide range of public opinion towards graffiti by giving a voice to the citizens of San Francisco and the law enforcement officers who claim to represent their interests. The film also captures the artists' heartfelt confessions of their love of and addiction to graffiti art and typographic lettering, as well as their social activism, and the short life span of their works.
[Original air date: Sun, Feb 10, 2008]
Filmmaker Profiles: Nic Hill, director/editor of Piece by Piece.
Nic Hill graduated from the University of San Francisco's Media/Film Studies program, where he studied communication/media theory and documentary filmmaking. He was an assistant producer on various short films for San Francisco director Melinda Stone. His 2003 short film Diet took Best in Show at the Mira Costa DV Festival in San Diego. He currently lives and works in San Francisco as a director and editor, and is directing a feature length documentary about Wikipedia.
See http://www.piecebypiecemovie.com/site.htm
Piece by Piece: Crew & Credits
Directed by: Nic Hill
Coordinating Producers
Ed Walker Jr.
Tom Quickel
Noah Tsusui
Editors
Nic Hill
John Murillo
Assistant Editor
Adam Hazard
Narrator
Senor One
Cinematography & Audio
Nic Hill
John Murillo
Vu Pham
Mike Mattson
Noah Tsutsui
Caroline Cho
One Werd
Mike Tran
Susan Ali
Sect
Joey Alone
Devon Huges
Akasha Rabut
16mm
David Stucky
Justin Lawrence
Chris Osborn
Graphic Design
Brishen Mahoney
Mike Tran
Damon Anderson
Adam Hazard
Titles & Motion Graphics
Adam Hazard
Credits
Chris Sanchez
Technical Assistance
Noah Tsutsui
Nixon Hazard
Audio Mastering
Dominique C. Toulon
@ Capp Studios
Videography
Jason Gigs Ed Walker
Norm Demon Dement
Check Awe Diet
Giant Maseo Eskae
Deen Twick Skrag
Crayone Igni Vegan
Gigs Jorone Estria
Vogue Apex Sibl
Skrag K2 Tryal
Kasper Phresk Gabe
Krupt Renos Haze
Nate DJ Rise Brock
Neon Shady Essec
Heis Lanes Abhor
Norm Reyes Asia
Shuman Orfn Bles
Jason Vaughn Charo
Malicios Mischief
Josolin Superstar
Patrick Nelson Barnes
BayAreaGraffiti.com
Contributing Writers
Alone India Cope2
Ader Erupto K2
Estria Cyme Krupt
Vogue Kode MQ
Skew Dalex Dement
Renos Sac Eskae
Bisaro The MUNI Deat
Chief Bus Hoppers
Fury Diet BST
Heis Doper Pastime
Kasper Rolex Naka
Orfin Dare Werd
Oven King Yern
Sect Delux Bask2
Seen Nez Onset
Skrag Apex Tryal
Awe Iz the Wiz Case2
Breakdancers
BeatsNpieces Crew
Thanks to
My family -- for the support
Deen TMF -- for the trust
Sean -- good lookin out
All the writers who put it down in the bay
FE, ETC, 2SR5, 340
Dr. Melinda Stone
Shelby Ulibarri Dr. Kidd
Katie Argurie Anni Tran
John Rogers Nick Nack
Niles Tucker Tin
Nixon Hazard Sarah Quickel
Slick Ricky Sherri Brenner
Gibran soto USF Media Lab
Jake Kozel Jennifer Morgan
Niko Coucouvanis
The Mac Addict Staff
FTC
Thank you to Society
Sergeant Nevel, SFPD
BART Police
James Prigoff
DJ Qbert
The people of San Francisco
KTVU Channel 2 news
Found Footage
Internet Archive (at archive.org)
"Boy in Court"
"Act Your Age"
"Vandalism"
"Saint Paul"
Music Contribution
"War Night"
by A.A. Kertz
"Untitled"
"Untitled"
by TD Camp
"Razorblade Alcohol Slide"
"Invasion of the Octopus People"
by DJ Qbert
"Lit Up and Protruding"
by Electric Company
"Off the Block"
by R Clothing & Music
"You Just Don't Understand"
by Kid 606
"Silly", "Havana", "Take Over"
by Archetect
"Catharsis"
by All Bets Off
"Bad Bender"
by B Student
"A.C.P.P.F.G.", "Trapture"
by Ika Dry (Gus & Dryhump)
"Straight Outta Frisco"
by D-Styles
"Electosynthesis"
by Bas1
TMF Section
"Untitled"
by Unknown
"Cleanrok"
by rundown
"H.T.s Mist"
"Interrupted Silence"
by Josh Hertel
"Are You With Me"
"That's How It Was"
by Ink One for Bhrn Poppie Music
"SF Mafia"
by Angelo Shadik
"Random Thought"
by Kool DJ Rize
"Evacuate"
by Baligerance
"Untitled"
by Wash House Music
"Untitled"
by Morgan Tucker
"Untitled"
by Dystopia
"West Side," "Misbehaving," and "SlooShea"
by Chris Fox
"Roko"
by Crayone
"Move to the Left"
by Board Stiff
"Lost"
by Crash Faster
"Lil J Says Wus Up"
by Equipto
"San Francisco Knights"
"Slow Bullet"
by The People Under the Stairs
"Taste Your Own Medicine"
"Population Birth Control"
Dystopia
"Fifteen"
by Stab1
written/produced by Jason Foote
"DWA"
by TOPR
written/produced by
Dick Nasy & Bootleg
"White Film"
by Tujiko Noriko
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13 comments:
In the short film we watched today in class was “Piece by Piece,” this was a great movie. I really enjoyed it because there were many different kinds of artwork shown in this particular video. Artists define the word graffiti as their creative discussions, their work of art. They group together and tag as many things and places as they can. There are many times those artists’ tags over each other.
There are many legal places and illegal places to graffiti. People find places that are legal to tag. For example the wall in San Francisco where people abandoned it, that was a place where creative artists can tag legally. It was really bad that they made it illegal and blocked it off for artists because then everyone started to tag the buses, munis in San Francisco, and walls all over the place in the city.
I believe that there should be laws against taggers but they should not ban it everywhere because people have to express their feelings somewhere. This art form does have a unique language. It is like where people always want to do better than the artist before, or make the piece of art more unique. There are many different artists that distinctively show their differences with their art because it is so special that nobody can graffiti like them.
Ilene Lee
English 1B
Professor Sabir
TTH 9-10:50
Today, we watched Piece by Piece, a documentary about the lifestyles and ideals of graffiti culture. The film provided a glimpse into the secretive lives of graffiti artists and focused on the motivation of the street artists. Graffiti culture can be described as a “creative destruction”; a way for artists to express their unique sense of style through various forms of writing on public surfaces. It embodies the essence of hip hop culture through its rebellious and bold ideals. The hip hop culture started a revolution and transcended into a phenomena for minorities. Hip hop culture began as a movement for minorities to establish their names and to express their abilities with a new approach such as dance, rap and graffiti. Graffiti became the prized hobby for many to showcase their artistic knowledge and creative juices. Communities and people joined together to present their graffiti as a means to identify themselves in their city- it was their method of contributing to the community.
The graffiti movements in San Francisco and New York shared the same passion and enthusiasm from the artists. These artists devoted their time and efforts into creating a masterpiece on walls and public buildings. The two also shared similar techniques like tagging and graffiti with images to display the art. These two cities revolutionized the graffiti world by sparking talent and skills in the art of graffiti. Artists continued to set trends and styles as they displayed their works throughout town. San Francisco and New York had the best graffiti works from the very beginning and continued to expand as more artists became influenced by past works.
The graffiti movements of San Francisco and New York shared many qualities, but differences also arose from the two areas. The main separation was the laws and regulations passed to prohibit graffiti from each city. In New York, the mayor and officials felt it necessary for the city to create anti-graffiti programs to stop the continuation of vandalism in public property. People changed the rules and increased the punishment of graffiti artists who were caught. The bills and efforts that went into stopping the graffiti movement cost millions of dollars and only further proved the failed system in the city. Despite the funds that went into stopping graffiti, people continued to express themselves. In San Francisco, regulations and restrictions were not as tough. In the beginning, people had set locations where they could draw and graffiti as they pleased. It was a community for people to share their techniques and go over the works of others. Eventually this area was closed and left many artists without a place to work. This ended up increasing the areas of graffiti in public locations and sparked rage within the community. The key difference lies in the way each city took care of the situation politically.
Today we watched the film Piece by Piece, which reflected on the history of the graffiti culture and how it came about. After reading Craig Castleman’s “The Politics of Graffiti”, I felt in the dark about the Graffiti movement. The knowledge I gained from this essay was not about the movement itself, but rather an understanding of the laws and actions against graffiti. Piece by Piece lightened the darkness for me, and gave me some background on the culture that I had been lacking when reading “The Politics of Graffiti”.
Because graffiti is controversial, the definition often varies. Some one against graffiti may agree with the New York Times defining graffiti as “day-glo bright and multicolored, sometimes obscene, and always offensive.” Though I would agree that graffiti is day-glo bright and multicolored, I would defiantly argue that it is always obscene. So would those who support the art form. As one man put it in Piece by Piece, graffiti is “creative destruction”. While one is defacing property, he is also creating a piece of art at the very same moment. So who is to judge who’s definition is right or wrong.
Graffiti is emblematic to the hip hop culture. It’s a way for an artist to express themselves and to reach out to inspire others. Much like hip hop, graffiti became a lifestyle. Graffiti artists were dreaming of their possible next piece of art, while MC’s were stirring up some new beats In many cases both of these cultures offered an escape from poverty stricken streets, and an opportunity to become something great. . In my opinion, anything positive that can keep teens and young adults occupied instead of partaking in violent crime, is worthy of some respect.
It’s possible to consider New York as the home of the foundation for graffiti arts. Crews from San Francisco admired the art work created on the sides of trains, and in the subway yards. Inspired by the New York writers, but no subways to serve as their canvas’, San Francisco writers began to plant their pieces of art work on virtually everything. Buses, buildings, fences, trucks, just to name a few.
The San Francisco Graffiti Movement took off and existed roughly twenty years. Unfortunately, many opposed the movement and laws were set to classify graffiti as a felony, a charge often given to murderers and rapists. Graffiti went from a beautiful, time consuming art, to tags that were created as quick as possible before one was caught. To me, this was the turning point where graffiti became destructive rather than respected and beautiful.
Dexter English
9/16
A Lesson on Graffiti
As I drive by many streets, through many districts of the bay, I can’t help but notice cement malls, bus stop signs, and countless other standing objects stained with lively words and vivid art. Only driving and never taking the time to look in depth at what many city officials and councilmen call vandalism, a crime, pollution to our homicide, prostitution filled, but nevertheless beautiful cities. Luckily a film dedicated to graffiti art and artist, “Piece by Piece,” filled in the gaps to the history and roots of an art form frowned upon by many, but cherished by those behind the fifty foot tall mural located in the center of your town.
Graffiti has been apart of California’s history for years and was highly influenced by the subway markings in New York. California and New York, however, were not the first to leave their marks on walls; read a history book and see that early man in the B.C. ages would draw on walls, and now glorified for such achievements, but punishable by law now. New Yorkers had their own style, the creators of graffiti you might say, from their lettering to tagging was considered a genus. As the latest culture made its way to San Francisco it was welcomed with open arms and taken to another level. Graffiti blossomed as a new culture right around the time Hip Hop was also making a major splash; as a one two duo they swept the streets with break dancing, beat boxing, scratching, free styling, and the first art form developed by the youth, graffiti.
As graffiti grew, different forms submerged and further distinguished the art from anything seen. Graffiti was no longer graffiti, it was “tagging”, it was “throwing up,” it was a brotherhood, it was alive. With the arrival of tagging and throwing up there was no denying that San Francisco had taken its place as the meca of street art, surpassing New Yorkers with its letters, their bold outlining, tagging, which was a signature in most cases, and their creativity. With the new forms of art also came crews. Crews were a group artist that shared the same passion of tagging and throwing up, usually no more than three members in each crew. Crews didn’t see their art work as vandalism or a crime but more of an outlet from the reality of the real world, it was art, nothing more nothing less, how they expressed it was, illegally, just provided an extra thrill to go along. City officials didn’t see it as such and cracked down on the art arresting those caught and punishing them with community service, fines and time behind bars. This wouldn’t stop these artist and still haven’t to the day. As much as you try to sweep it under the rug graffiti culture is as American, as baseball, and has been in our blood since the beginning of time.
Dexter English
9/16
A Lesson on Graffiti
As I drive by many streets, through many districts of the bay, I can’t help but notice cement malls, bus stop signs, and countless other standing objects stained with lively words and vivid art. Only driving and never taking the time to look in depth at what many city officials and councilmen call vandalism, a crime, pollution to our homicide, prostitution filled, but nevertheless beautiful cities. Luckily a film dedicated to graffiti art and artist, “Piece by Piece,” filled in the gaps to the history and roots of an art form frowned upon by many, but cherished by those behind the fifty foot tall mural located in the center of your town.
Graffiti has been apart of California’s history for years and was highly influenced by the subway markings in New York. California and New York, however, were not the first to leave their marks on walls; read a history book and see that early man in the B.C. ages would draw on walls, and now glorified for such achievements, but punishable by law now. New Yorkers had their own style, the creators of graffiti you might say, from their lettering to tagging was considered a genus. As the latest culture made its way to San Francisco it was welcomed with open arms and taken to another level. Graffiti blossomed as a new culture right around the time Hip Hop was also making a major splash; as a one two duo they swept the streets with break dancing, beat boxing, scratching, free styling, and the first art form developed by the youth, graffiti.
As graffiti grew, different forms submerged and further distinguished the art from anything seen. Graffiti was no longer graffiti, it was “tagging”, it was “throwing up,” it was a brotherhood, it was alive. With the arrival of tagging and throwing up there was no denying that San Francisco had taken its place as the meca of street art, surpassing New Yorkers with its letters, their bold outlining, tagging, which was a signature in most cases, and their creativity. With the new forms of art also came crews. Crews were a group artist that shared the same passion of tagging and throwing up, usually no more than three members in each crew. Crews didn’t see their art work as vandalism or a crime but more of an outlet from the reality of the real world, it was art, nothing more nothing less, how they expressed it was, illegally, just provided an extra thrill to go along. City officials didn’t see it as such and cracked down on the art arresting those caught and punishing them with community service, fines and time behind bars. This wouldn’t stop these artist and still haven’t to the day. As much as you try to sweep it under the rug graffiti culture is as American, as baseball, and has been in our blood since the beginning of time.
Erica Williams
September 16,2009
English 1B
Assignment: Graffiti; Reflection on the film “Piece by Piece”
According to the American Heritage dictionary, graffiti is “a drawing or inscription made on a wall or surface to be seen by others.” In my opinion graffiti is an art form that is under the umbrella of what defines hip hop culture. Hip hop culture embodies several elements that include and are not limited to music, djaying, dancing, and the art of graffiti. Some would classify graffiti as garbage and in no way a form of art, but according to one of the artists in the film “Piece by Piece”, it is “the last true free speech”.
In the film “Piece by Piece” many of the artists refer to graffiti as a means of expression. It is a beautiful piece of art that’s canvass happens to be the plain and unpainted surfaces of the community. There seemed to be a large amount of passion that the artists in the film possessed. One of the most captivating points for me in the film was that one of the artists felt that tagging was his way of prayer meditation and release. Just as many aspects of the hip hop culture, graffiti is a form of expression that is seen from the eyes of the developer. The community should be thought of as an art gallery as we travel around the city. Works of art to be admired and interpreted with a level of sophistication, just as if we were inside of an actual gallery. It is an abstract form of art that should not be put down or scrutinized because of its origin. Both New York and San Francisco are the birth cities of graffiti and they both share the appreciation for the art and creativity of it, but one noticeable difference was there actual style. From coast to coast they both have their own unique flavor, but it should never be underappreciated or overlooked.
However, there is a more serious and political side to the art of graffiti. According to an article entitled “The Politics of Graffiti” by Craig Castleman, in 1972 New York’s city council president at the time Sanford Garelik said to reporters,” Graffiti pollutes the eyes and mind and may be one of the worst forms of pollution we have to combat.” In my opinion, his comment was a bit over the top and not representative at all of what graffiti is, but this seems to be the opinion of many politicians even now. It is currently illegal to draw graffiti in public places, and is punishable by fines and time in jail. Punishment for such a thing as graffiti is over the top. Graffiti is a form of art, not a form of a crime. Should we have placed artists like Picasso in jail? No. Picasso was an artistic genius of his time and even to this day. Although Picasso is not to be compared to graffiti artists, but to compare the ideals of what art is. I feel that just as many societies have created skate parks for skaters, there should graffiti parks for graffiti artists.
Work Cited:
Castleman,Craig, ”The Politics of Graffiti”.article
Hill, Nic (Director).(2008). Piece by Piece, Underdog Pictures. DVD
In class, we watched the documentary, "Piece by Piece." Piece by Piece was focused on the arts of graffiti. Graffiti is an expression of an ego. Taggers tag their tagging name in as many places as possible, to leave there mark and further influence different styles. The art of Graf is worldwide. Styles that are commonly seen in San Francisco have traveled as far as Paris. There are many different styles of tagging, and ways of doing it. Some people are very artistic and intricate about their work, and some etch on glass, and scribble everywhere. Some people are against, and some people are pro-graf.
There are spots where graffiti is legal, but it defeats the purpose of leaving your mark because it limits where you get to put your work. Not only does it limit where you can put your pieces, but people can just come up and paint right over your piece, and it will be gone. The life of a Graffiti artist can be difficult and dangerous because they can suffer lots of consequences if they are caught "damaging" or "defacing" public or private property.
Authority figures think of graffiti as buffoons trying to express their selves in cowardice, through graffiti. They think that some of the material is offensive to the public eye.
I think graffiti should be limited to serious artists. It all depends on the purpose of the art. If someone is just going around defacing places, it can get out of hand, and annoying to see. There are appropriate places to tag, they just aren't designated or officially legal to tag.
The art of graffiti is unique, and I grew up around it. I was excited and shocked to see Dream's work in the film. I knew Dream (Mike) and his family personally because my uncle used to tag with him all around the Bay Area. He was really humble about his work and he was always all about the passion. He was such a wonderful person. He did not deserve to get shot. He even influenced me to do graffiti myself, although I keep my work in a black book dedicated to him. RIP Mike.
When pne is a fan of lyrics firing over beats exploding perspectives and annihilaating competition, one way beconfused as to why graffiti is a located as one of the five elements of hip hop. Especially as hip hop has become more estranged from its home beneath the radar and above conformity to the status quo, graffiti was become less and less intimate with hip hop music's peritioners. However, when one comes to understand that graffiti was created by the youth, like hip hop music; that graffiti draws a crowd, like hip hop music; that graffiti is a form of expression, like hip hop music; that graffiti is una pologetic by nature, like hip hop music, there is no question as to why graffiti is viewd as one of hip hop music's kin.
Originating in the early '70s in the in the streets of New York, graffiti emerged as a form of expression that forced to be reckoned with. Hitting the city along with rival neighborhoods in the pockets with each blow, graffiti declared the presence of the youth on every building-made-canvas. Graffit as described by its artist's is something you "do for yourself," a means to get noticed. With little to no hope in getting famous, it is a means to be appreciated in the cities from which they hail. It, as an art form, has the potential to make statements, focus youths attention on something positive, and beautify the plain, monotonous city landscape. Politicians look at it as a pollutant in the city to be eradicated at all costs. In fact, many attempts have been made to do just that ranging from community clean-ups to more strict protection of property to special paint solutions that are cleaned with ease. Hands down, nothing has ultimately been effective and graffiti has become a world-wide phenomena.
Given "exposure" by some newspapers, some news channels and some filmmakers, graffiti was expanded from one city to almost every continent. The production os such films as Wild Style and Style Wars did a great deal to popularizing this grimy art form. The spray painting of freight trains that traveled from state to state also spread the word to other artists looking on. San Francisco graffiti artists received much coaching from New York artists on how to paint graffiti, and thanks to great ingenuity they were able to establish a culture of their own. San Francisco formed more of a culture around tagging "throw ups" that allowed them to "write their signature" wherever they went and leave the scene as soon as possible. This is as opposed to the elaborate paintings that take place in the dead of night taking hours to complete.
Graffiti, like emceeing, has become an elaborate art that is often used with less potential than it has. With the ability to educate, it often agetate; with the ability to beautify, it often agonizes, and with the ability to gather, it often alienates. This is not a call forall graffiti artists to join a cause, but it is an invite to feed the art to grow into a tree that houses, feeds and protects many and not neglect the power they have.
Robert Flores. English 1b TuTh 9-1050.
Today we watched a short filled called, "Piece by Piece." This is a movie about graffiti. The movie defined graffiti as creative destruction. This movie is important because graffiti is one of the four legs of a chair that describes hip hop culture. The other three legs would be break dancing or bboying, MCing and DJing. I thought the whole film was about how people were against it because they just saw it as vandalism and defacing of property. They did not see the aesthetic and artistic side of it all.
The film started out in San Francisco. San Francisco's graffiti style absorbed New York's basic style of graffiti. New York's styles was mainly based on letters. San Francisco expanded that idea, adding creative letters, burners and later on pictures.
One of the first graffiti crews were called TMF; Three Mellow Fellows. I believe they were the "founding fathers," that started graffiti in the bay area. They were influenced on New York style and influenced many artists to come out. TWS was the next big crew and they expanded TMF's style by using images and less or not even letters. The San Francisco style emerged again when Twist, KR, Shok and Reminisce came out. Twist used nothing but giant screws and reminisce used nothing but big horses.
After the quake of 1989, this opened many areas for graffiti artists. Many people were against it. The mayor of San Francisco, bart officials, store owners, bus commuters, officers and many citizens. Graffiti got so bad there were punishments for getting caught. You were given a misdemeanor which was community service, a fine and/or some jail time. This did not stop these artists. This lead to the city passing out proposition 21. Prop 21 stated that if you did graffiti over $400 of property it was a felony and it stated that if three or more people were together, it was considered a gang.
Overall, people did not like the idea of graffiti. It was only a negative idea which lead to punishments. I see graffiti as creativity and self expression. This is an art form in which you can say what you feel without really putting any specific words down. I disagreed with the film because the film was about people vs graffiti and I am for graffiti.
Itzel Diaz
English 1B
Response to Piece by Piece Film
The film “Piece by Piece” by Nic Hill shows the reality of graffiti art in the Bay Area from graffiti artist point of view; the film Peace by Peace aloud the viewer to see graffiti as a form of expression if identity and alternative writing. Graffiti has often seen as vandalism committed by young people against private property; graffiti is a misguided art, meaning an art that has no direction. The graffiti has not been encouraged or support by any means that is the reason why it has exploded into the walls of cities around the world. Piece by Piece does not encourage young people to write in somebody’s property, but it suggest that if graffiti was given a place to live or in other words a space in which artist can express their creativity; the government would not have to spend so much money getting rid of graffiti around the city.
In the film different stories of graffiti artist are presented. One of the stories that had the strongest impact was the one of Dream, a young graffiti artist who spent most of his time tagging everywhere he went; Dream was recognized for his own interpretation of funk graffiti style. One night Dream was in an old building preparing to do one of his graffiti on one of the walls of the building when he heard someone screaming at him; Dream turned around to find a grown man pointing a gun to his face. Dream said, “Don’t shoot”. But the man seemed not to responded to Dream, so the boy started running down the stairs of the building; the grown man shoot Dream on the back of his head, leaving Dream lifeless at the end of the building’s stairs. Any charges were presented against the grown man because Dream was consider to be attacking his property, but all Dream was trying to do was to leave his mark on that building by tagging his name on it.
Dream was only one of the many young men and women who were victims of society who does not recognized a new way of art. Graffiti is the way in which young writers express themselves and their personality with spray cans and bright colors. As a part of hip-hop culture, graffiti is emblematic because it represents freedom of youth’s writing expression.
Kwan, Eugene
“Piece by Piece” movie review
Nic Hill’s documentary opens the discussion of graffiti as an art movement that demands respect, support, and guidance. The film in unfolds graffiti as a art form through its birth in New York and notably San Francisco. The context of graffiti is freely express one’s idea and belief visually through paint as it’s chosen medium. Since there are social, legal and environmental deterrents that sometimes impede on expressing yourself freely in a crowded urban metropolis, like San Francisco, graffiti becomes the visual sibling to what hip hop music expresses vocally.
A skillful graffiti “pieces” is visually stunning even when compared to professional art because it has color coordination, form, and hyper-creative artistic form. The conflict is when private property is used as a canvas for the art piece without permission. Graffiti does not always have to be a creatively destructive process. San Francisco’s graffiti haven “Psycho City” -a Mecca that place SF on the map for graffiti artist world wide- contributed in unimaginable ways in sharing talent and collaborating with the state’s policy against vandalism. Then came the stupid idea of eliminating “Psycho City” without the foresight of the consequence of increased vandalism.
The style of graffiti is as unique as its history because it is the only art movement created, driven, and dominated by the youth. Its unique nature is also a problem because it is a art movement lacking in leadership. The potential of graffiti has yet to be reached
Nicole G gave a really structured essay in review of Graffiti as a art movement. The flow from what defines graffiti morally, to how it relates to hip hop because it is a rebellious ideology that is expressed boldly was well written.
Jose Vasquez
English 1B
Movie review
Today we watched the documentary called Piece by Piece, which was about the history of graffiti and how it started. Most of the graffiti artists that were in the movie are from the San Francisco bay Area a place were graffiti became a really big part among young people. Graffiti in the Bay Area was a really popular movement in the nineteen seventies and early eighties among high school students who had a passion for art. Graffiti in the Bay Area was really different from the Graffiti from New York City, each city had a very unique way o graffiti writing.
When Graffiti started in New York City by a young man who called himself “Taki 183” he started writing his nickname all over the city on surface or wall that he could. The reason why he started writing his nick name of ‘Taki 183” was because during the early nineteen seventies the city of the Bronx was going through a period where people were almost forgotten and the government seem to not to not care for them. The city of the Bronx was becoming a place that seem like a landfill, where people that lived their seem to lose hope and many started doing graffiti as a way to demonstrate that they lived their. Many wrote their name on walls to show people that they lived their and that how graffiti started.
In the Film the Graffiti crews talked about how they started in the graffiti movement and the reasons why they became Graffiti artists. Many talked about way that they developed their unique graffiti, and how they started creating their crews. In the San Francisco as well as in New York Graffiti became a big issue because it became a problem due to the fact that it became very popular. Graffiti was becoming so popular that artists started doing graffiti in any surface, which to many people became an issue because they saw it as vandalism. When the government started fighting against graffiti by penalizing people who were caught writing on property many graffiti artists started doing their graffiti on train tracks or abandoned buldings.
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