Graffiti: A Visual Taxonomy
Taught by Sam Holleran
Sam Holleran is an urbanist, interdisciplinary artist, writer, and design educator. He works at the intersection of art, urban design, and civic engagement. He has researched design labs, flag culture, 19th century political cartoons, and medieval marginalia.
Sam works as a Design Educator at the Center for Architecture and the 92nd Street Y in New York City, and previously worked at the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP). In 2015, he was the Participatory Design Fellow with the Design Trust for Public Space, working with the Queens Museum of Art and the NYC Parks Department to engage communities surrounding the Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The practice of writing on things that don’t belong to you stretches back centuries—you can find sayings scratched into the walls of many ancient cities. Graffiti in its modern, aerosol form is only fifty years old but in this relatively-short period myriad styles, cliques, and tactics have taken form. Understanding this specialized community and deciphering its loopy, calligraphic styles can be tough. This talk offers a pictorial survey of the language and style of graffiti ‘writing’ in New York City and beyond.
The focus of the evening will be on how tags and larger ‘pieces’ take their visual form. We will investigate the material and aesthetic choices that inform the creation of both legal and illegal graffiti, and discuss landmarks in the form.
This class can also be taken in conjunction with Graffiti, Street Art, Advertisers, & the Future of Urban Visual Space on May 9, though each can be taken separately. Please note this is a talk and not a walking tour.
