when did graffiti start?

Answer 1

If you mean graffiti in the context of spraycan art (known as the Pioneering era 1969-1974) its very hard to pin point but you will find it hard to trace it further back then artists like TAKI 183.

TAKI was one of the originators of New York graffiti. He worked as a foot messenger and would write his nickname around the New York streets that he daily frequented in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Then after TAKI 183 you move onto the true pioneers of the art.like Blade, Cap, Cey, Crash, Crazy Legs, Daze, Dez, Dondi, Doze, Duro, Duster, Frosty Freeze, IZ the Wiz, Case/Kase 2, Kel First, Ken Swift, Lee, Mare139, Min One, Noc 167, Paze (Erni), Lady Pink, Quik, Rammellzee, Revolt, Sach, SEEN, Shy 147, Skeme, Tracy 168, and Zephyr Stay High 149, ect

Would really recommend watching the 1983 documentary “Style Wars”.

Also worth looking at the work of the fine artist Jean-Michel Basquiat who wrote "SAMO" or "SAMO ****" (i.e. "same ol' ****"). And made the transition from graffiti artist to fine artist in the 80’s and was famed for using ‘hobo code’ a form of graffiti code pre dating the 1800’s.

Hope this help and if you got any other questions about graffiti feel free to PM me.

PEACE

Answer 2

Where Did Graffiti Start

Answer 3

I don't think cave paintings were exactly graffiti - they were done with a symbolic and religious purpose.
Graffiti is something like a name or personal drawing - not really meant to be in that place. I was shown graffiti inside the great pyramid of Giza - done by the builders - and only discovered in recent times on the underside of some of the huge stones that built the vaulted roof.

Answer 4

It's been going since the dawn of civilisation - cave paintings are exactly that!

There are some great examples of graffiti in old Roman colloseums - El Djem for example in Tunisia, where you have some amazing examples of Roman graffiti lying alongside that of soldiers from the Germans and British Eighth army during WW2.

Answer 5

Graffiti (Italian 'scratching') is a name applied originally to the 'wall scribblings' found at Pompeii and other Italian cities, as the work of schoolboys, idlers and the like, many of them obscene and accompanied by rough drawings. A collection of graffiti of Pompeii was published by Bishop Wordsworth in 1837, and it provides a useful insight into the life of the early Romans. Modern graffiti are found on walls, in lavatories, on posters, and in other visible places. They are (sometimes) crude and erotic, but some are genuinely witty. One seen in Manchester in 1978 read 'If you hate graffiti, sign a partitiion'. Political graffiti were very common in the 1930s.
(I have an interest in graffiti because I think it says a lot about sub-culture etc but on visits to New York, for example, all graffiti is apparently washed away as soon as it appears, part of the idea of 'zero tolerance'. Why can it not be regarded as a form of art? Some of it is a lot cleverer and a lot more interesting than the stuff that makes its way into London galleries, for example).

Answer 6

this was a question in the game cranium!!! Graffiti is very old. it was used by cave men in their cave drawings. Those were the first forms of graffiti

Answer 7

Way back beyond the greek and roman times!
examples of graffiti have even been found in caves!

Answer 8

Pre history. Give a creative person a surface and they will make marks on it. Ring marked rocks are probably the oldest survivers.

Answer 9

Paintings on cave walls, over 10 thousand years ago.

Answer 10

Back in the times of the Egyptians with hieroglyphics (which is just the same as tagging) and even the cavemen did drawings on the walls. Basically - give a man something to draw with and he'll draw something on a wall. xxx