Wikipedia

Character (graffiti)

Characters, or karaks,[1] are an integral part of modern graffiti culture.[1] Characters are "creatures or personas” that feature in graffiti works.[2] They may be taken from popular culture (especially cartoons and comic books) or created by the writer as a signature character.[3] Chararacters are found in almost all forms of graffiti, including ancient graffiti and the earliest forms of modern graffiti.[4]

An example of a signature character by KEOB. The character is seen four different contexts: a tag (in the O), throw up, character painting, and sticker.

Usage and form

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While characters are found in all forms of graffiti, they are most common in stickers and pieces.[5]

Signature characters function in the same way a writers chosen word or tag does.[5] Characters may be as simple as a logo, and these forms are often done with stencils[5] such as Blek Le Rat's rats. Some characters are more complicated, but they are still generally stylised, easily replicatable by the artist, and easily recognised by viewers as being the same character.[6] This recognisability can allow characters to become informal mascots of their local area.[7] Some artists make monikers out of characters from popular culture, but draw them in a unique style which still allow them to serve as a signature.[8]

Some artists start off with characters[7] or develop them in tandem with a word they write, such as someone who writes CROAK developing a frog character.[9] Some graffiti characters evolve from drawing faces inside letters, which then develop into more complex characters.[9] Characters may be used as substitutes for individual letters.[5][10] There is usually a clear connection between a writers handstyle and the way they draw their character(s).[9]

History

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A classical style bboy character.

Early monikers on freight trains usually included characters, such as the cowboy character of Bozo Texino.[4] The character Mr. Chad, as seen in the Kilroy was here meme, was drawn by multiple artists and originally designed by British cartoonist George Chatterton.[1]

Cartoon and comic book characters were drawn in the earliest modern graffiti pieces on New York Subway.[4][5] Characters by Vaughn Bodē, such a cheech wizard, were especially common.[11] Bodēs characters are still popular with graffiti artists today considered a significant part of graffiti culture and history.[12][4] Original characters in early modern graffiti were often b-boys, drawn to show the connection between graffiti and hip hop culture.[3] They were often drawn breaking.[11]

In 1984, Jace was one of the earliest writers to completely replace their tag with a character, called Gouzou.[5] In the 1990s, Barcelonian writer PES replaces their tag with a fish logo.[5] The street artist Invader began placing pixel art style mosaics in 1998 based on the computer games Space Invaders and Pac-Man.[5][13]

Notable signature characters

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c McDonald, Fiona (2013-06-13). The Popular History of Graffiti: From the Ancient World to the Present. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-62636-291-8.
  2. ^ Ross, Jeffrey Ian (2016-03-02). Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-64585-6.
  3. ^ a b Javier (2021-07-22). "Why are the graffiti characters important for some street art artists?". Street art tours in Madrid by Cooltourspain. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  4. ^ a b c d Gastman, Roger; Rowland, Darin; Sattler, Ian (2006-06-01). Freight Train Graffiti. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0-8109-9249-8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Waclawek, Anna (2008). From graffiti to the street art movement : negotiating art worlds, urban spaces, and visual culture, c. 1970-2008 (phd thesis). Concordia University.
  6. ^ Schacter, Rafael (2013-09-01). The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti. NewSouth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-74224-653-6.
  7. ^ a b "H-Foot: The elusive Newcastle street artist providing an alternative to 'the tough-guy graf scene' - ABC News". amp.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  8. ^ DeVito, Lee. "The guy who spray-paints 'Beavis and Butt-Head' characters all over Detroit". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  9. ^ a b c Iqbal, Muhammad; Kasman, Selvi; Fajri, Emzia (2023-08-12). "Graffiti Culture As Playing Media for Youth In Batang Anai Subdistrict". Journal of Scientific Research, Education, and Technology. 2 (3): 1284–1295. doi:10.58526/jsret.v2i3.225. ISSN 2962-6110.
  10. ^ Rosen, Matthew (2023-12-25). The Ethnography of Reading at Thirty. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-031-38226-0.
  11. ^ a b Snyder, Gregory J. (2011-04-15). Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-4046-0.
  12. ^ Harmanci, Reyhan (2010-07-02). "In Finishing Comics, a Son Completes a Legacy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  13. ^ "About". Space-invaders.com. n.d.
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