THE VISUAL LANGUAGE

In the graffiti realm, a crew (or krew or cru) refers to a group of artists who identify with the same name and often paint together, like any other group of friends sharing a common interest and style. 

Crew Tag painted by
several crew members

Graffiti artists are known to develop and express their own unique style, with distinctive letter formations, color palettes and design elements within their tags and larger pieces, making them easily identified as individuals within the graffiti community.

Crew tags are used to sign larger pieces, especially if made by multiple members of a crew.  (see right)  Pieces are the more detailed compositions with characters and backgrounds.  

A oner is a graffiti artist who doesn't work with a crew, but rather works alone. 

From the minimal research I've done, it's obvious there is much graffiti information related to criminal gangs.  Numbers and letters have hidden meanings, but I'm not going there.  Anyone wanting to learn more about gang graffiti will have to do a solo search.  My endeavor here is to simply familiarize myself and my readers with the basics of the traditional and elusive form of expression.  For years, I've silently watched this art form pass by when we were stopped at a railroad crossing.  My silent thought always was, "wow, whoever did that is a real artist......I wonder what those drawings mean."  Despite whether we like, or dislike, graffiti, we gotta admit that the artists have to possess a strong sense of design, color theory and spatial awareness.  They also have to be proficient with a can of spray-paint. 

Over time, graffiti was constantly being taken to higher levels.  A burner is a piece of graffiti that's so over-the-top good that it burns the other pieces out.  It's the best of the best.   

On the outset of this adventure, we briefly touched on wild style graffiti.  Because of its complexity, the wild style can be difficult to read for those of us unfamiliar with the form and process.  It is considered the most difficult style to master.

Throw-up Style

The opposite of wild style is the throw-up.....simple and fast.  This style generally consists of a one-color outline and one layer of fill-color.  The name comes from the way they are designed to be 'thrown' onto a surface as quickly as possible so they don't get caught.   

Stencil graffiti uses paper or cardboard stencils to create an image or text.  The design is cut out of the paper or cardboard, then transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.  The Father of Stencil Graffiti was Blek Le Rat (born Xavier Prou in 1952 in Paris)  He was one of the very first graffiti artists in France.  

One of the most offensive words in graffiti is biter.  Biting is when a writer copies letters, parts of letters or whole-letter combinations from other writers and then uses them in their own works.   

Shoplifting of supplies used either directly or indirectly in the production of graffiti is called racking.  Graffiti artists gained more respect for using stolen paint.  Spray paint dries quickly, making it the choice for covering walls and subways. 

I've wondered, too, how these artists get so high up to paint on buildings and walls.  Come to find they often use portable ladders or build spur-of-the-moment scaffolds to reach the high places.   

A snitch is someone who reports a writer to the authorities, leading to arrest.  One of the unwritten rules of graffiti is:  Do not snitch.

Another unwritten rule is that throw-ups go over tags, pieces go over throw-ups and burners go over pieces.  If you can't do something better than the last person, leave it alone.  It's also etiquette to bury the piece if you're going over it.  That means leaving no sign that there was a piece under yours.

We've now stepped into the year 2025......who can be surprised that Digital Graffiti is replacing traditional spray paint cans with infrared spray nozzles that interact with large format screens.  Users are able to digitally spray paint their designs and display them on screen.

Sure wish over the years I'd have paid closer attention to the box cars that zipped by in front of us while we waited for trains to go by.  What were the personal motivations behind the movable feast of graffiti?  It's that business of not knowing and not taking the time to learn. 

A crazy idea just popped into my head......are tattoos a form of graffiti?.....instead of on a box car, it's done on a body.  Hmmmmmm......