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STREET ART VS GRaffITi 10 WAYS TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STREET ART AND GRAFFITI Written By Lindsey Bartlett & Ariana Palafox S an Francisco spends $20 million annually cleaning up graffiti. Complaints are made and what one person may think is beautiful another may see vandalism. The term “graffiti” has a negative conotation associated with it, yet the term “street art” gets praised. So how exactly do you distiguish street art from graffiti? Public Works works under the common assumption that the presence of graffiti “creates an environment that breeds bigger crimes.” But to the untrained eye, graffiti is not so far off from street art, a hot commodity in the city — and for that matter, trained eyes often don’t separate the two, either. “To me, it’s like asking what’s the difference between two different forms of art,” says graffiti and street-art photographer Gary Glasser.”We see art in all forms. I shoot murals, large and small. Colorful and not so colorful. Some of it may be considered graffiti.. all of it is art.” “What I feel is that street art is basically gentrified graffiti,” says another artist. “I used to be obsessed with graffiti, but I didn’t have anyone to do it with so my efforts fizzled out pretty early. I used to spend hours looking at graffiti online and in books. Now that I paint on the street, I think that traditional, letter-based graffiti is too constricting for me — but I still really love and respect it. Those guys risk everything for what they do.” “To me, they are all the same, honestly,” says artist PJ Sierra. “But graffiti is more so a ‘name/ tag’ skill which involves crews and rattlecans. Street art is a hybrid of what graffiti is today. The difference, in my opinion, is the times. Because eventually, graffiti and street art will both be known as self-expression. And whether you’re a graff writer or a street artist, your goal is the same: To prove we existed on this earth by leaving our mark.” Still, that leaves a dilemma: Some residents of the city view these marks as vandalism, while many consider them art. But there are ways to distinguish the difference — and least legally, historically and culturally — and here are ten of them. “In essence, they are both the same,” says street artist Victoriano Rivera. “Each realm is a vessel that acts against the establishment, illegally applying paint or medium to an urban landscape. The difference being that one is a cultural movement; the other, a derivative of that movement, is now a commodity.” 4
10) Graffiti Artists Have Crews Most graffiti artists crew up. In “Tagging Up,” Westword explored the complex relationships within the graffiti world, as well as the massive size of the community: An estimated seventy-seven crews are working in San Francisco; a couple of the largest are TMF and TWS. But then again, there are graffiti writers who don’t identify with a crew at all. Rogue writers who tag on their own include some of the most prolific graffiti writers in San Francisco. Unlike graffiti writers, street artists don’t tend to work their way up the hierarchy of a crew; they often come straight from the studio into the street-art scene. 9) Graffiti Is Harder to Read There are many types of graffiti. Wildstyle is the most difficult graffiti signature to read; it has its own language. Then there is the tag, a signature using just one color, and the most common type of graffiti seen in San Francisco. A throw-up is a signature that uses two or three colors, but is still done quickly. There are also wheat pastes, stencils, slaps (stickers), bubble graffiti, block busters and “bombing,” which refers to the speed with which the work is done and focuses on quantity over quality. 8) Graffiti Gets “Dissed” The hierarchy within the graffiti world is also a factor, reflecting years of conflict that include instances of artists tagging over other artists, or “dissing” the graffiti on the wall, because of long-standing rivalries between their respective crews. Sanctioned murals are less likely to get dissed: When murals are authorized by the city or businesses — particularly on “problem walls,” places where graffiti tends to pop up the most — 99 percent of the time graffiti writers will respect the art that is put there. If it’s beautiful and complex, taggers leave it alone. 7) Street Artists Use Different Modes of Painting, Graffiti Artists Use Aerosol Aerosol is one of the major factors that separates graffiti writers from other artists. Although street artists may use aerosol, they also employ everything from acrylic and oil paint to projectors, wood or metal, and multimodal materials. Graffiti is all about the freehand use of aerosol. That’s the art’s defining factor, and as most aerosol artists will tell you, it takes years to perfect. “To me, it’s like asking what’s the difference between two different forms of art.” 6) Street Artists Paint in Broad Daylight If you see artists painting during the day or early evening hours in San Francisco, they are probably creating street art. Street artists are also sometimes given lifts by the company that hired them. Graffiti writers almost always paint in the middle of the night or early morning to insure not getting caught. 5) Street Art Is Abstract Many local street artists have the ability to move from the studio to the street without limitations; they simply consider themselves artists. Similarly, street art is often called urban art, public art or outdoor art, all politically correct terms that attempt to distance street art from graffiti’s bad reputation. 4) Street Artists Use and Sign With Full Name A great sign that you’re looking at street art rather than graffiti is the signature on the bottom right corner of the piece. Often including an Instagram username or the creator’s full name, it is like a modern version of an artist’s signature on a canvas. Graffiti writers in San Francisco work under pseudonyms, often “Super Hero” identities. Street artists who were once graff writers usually pick a new name or begin working under their real name. 5
Page 1 and 2: + The DrawBridge Street Art, Graffi
Page 3: Contents n August Down the Rabbit H
Page 7 and 8: This is an insult. -hack/dis/cap: i
Page 9 and 10: San Fransico San Francisco Vallejo
Page 11 and 12: Street Art or Graffiti? Tenderloin
Page 13 and 14: 5. Olive & Polk 4 6. Austin & Polk
Page 15 and 16: 15
Page 17: A Poem: If you’re scared to check
Page 20: Fin Thank you, come again.

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