Chapter I The Origin of Stencil Graffiti

Chapter I The Origin of Stencil Graffiti

Murals

To begin a discussion of the origin of stencil graffiti, it is preferable to trace back murals, graffiti within street art, and stencil graffiti severally. Drawing on walls has always been a spontaneous behaviour, the meaning of leaving some evidences on the walls to prove the existence of human beings. Painting the interior or exterior of buildings is an ancient activity in human history that took place in numerous areas. (Cooper G., Sargent D., 1979)

According to the research of the importance of wall decoration, murals used for decorative semblance in public places or used as a landmark dates from prehistoric times. The example of murals provided as historical attestation is that of the Cave of Lascaux discovered on 12 September in 1940. It was an entrance into the past when humans were less developed socially and technologically, and lived in underground dwellings or caves. Little information about the prehistoric era exists excluding the findings of Cave of Lascaux. i1 (Aujoulat (N.) et al, 2007)

The iconography of the cave is three basic themes, which include animals, human descriptions and signs. The rudimentary figures and symbolic ideograms, 'a cave painting created a precedent for nature.' described by Richard (Freeman, 1966) 'If these marks are authentic, then they are the oldest graffito ever discovered in the British Isles.' However, the graffiti photographer David Robinson (1990) explained the discrimination between graffiti and murals on the observation. He found out that ' a further distinction between murals and graffiti is based on style and medium.' (Robinson, 1990 p. 6)

Graffiti within street art

GRAFFITO (graf, fīto) P1.-ti 1851 (It., f. graffito, a scratch).
A drawing or writing scratched on a wall or other surface, as at
Pompeii and Rome. Also, a method of decoration by
scratches through a superficial layer of plaster, glazing, etc.
on a ground of different colour; chiefly attrib., as in g.-pottery, etc.
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary

There is a broad range of graffiti within our surrounding. Examples of exterior painting of built surfaces such as the murals outside of temples in Asia, or the drawings that children scribble on school desks. Those experiences express the instinct of human beings to attempt to improve our environment by the deconstruction of drab and lifeless surfaces, the façades are camouflaged with diverse pictures and colours. (Cooper G., Sargent D., 1979) Besides, the action within graffito verifies the conception of defending the territory via various genus of graffiti styles, devised both from the physical region and mental states.

Moreover, a wide coverage contained graffiti represents a variety of formats, they are distinguished by styles or production methods. For example, the dimension of letters separates the difference between two types of signature writing Tags and Throw-up 2, which is the font size. In general, 'people who practices graffiti prefer to be called writer rather than artists.' (Michiko, 2002) That is basically because the original form of graffiti is to scrawl on surfaces. Writers take advantage of occasions offered by the urban landscape. By extension, the use of stencils renders spraying of symbols on the surfaces of dwellings much easier. (Mangler, 2006)

A stencil graffito requires few simple elements. In the opinion of Louis Bou, (2005) the three essential elements are idea, stencil and a bottle of spray can. Although it gives the impression of low technique to compare with an art form, but from different point, stencil is an effective and reproducible medium. Different from the traditional hand drawing, using stencil extends practitioners a convenient method to produce a graffito; furthermore, the speed of creating images is expedited by using stencil, which means the danger of arrest for artists working within time limits is diminished.

Stencil graffiti

According to The history of stencil graffiti, (Manco, 2002 p. 9) the origin of stencil graffiti is ordinarily related to the Latin countries of South Europe and South America, where it was a tool of the propaganda of II Duce painted by Italian fascists during the Second World War. In addition, the Basques in Spain and France, and the Mexicans of Mesoamerica had used it for protest purposes by 1970. Subsequently, the combination of protest art and Art Deco took place in Paris in the early 1980. The purpose was to create a form out of the ordinary.

One of the originators and innovators was Blek le Rat, who was influenced by the finely detailed wall paintings created by Ernest Pignon. Blek and his friend, Gérard first attempted to use spray cans as brushes and outside surrounding as canvases in Paris. Blek le Rat's high motivation and enthusiasm for stencil graffiti speedily attracted other practitioners who incorporated it into the graffiti movement across Europe and New York from 1980.

Before the expandsion of the graffiti movement, the style of graffiti was described that 'The modern concept of graffiti was conceived in New York and the term is still most strongly identified with "hip-hop" or "New York style" graffiti.' (Manco, 2002 p. 9) During the development of graffiti evolution, meanwhile, the art school, new wave and punk movement had arrived. The intergradation of conceptions influenced the graffiti movement, the images were not only limited to innovative letterforms and images, but also broadened in subject matter, especially in sociopolitical issues.

Although graffiti and stencil graffiti are consisted with individual distinctions, e.g. elements and production methods, they influence each other within the movement. As stated by Manco '… the pieces and messages of both genres develop and expand beyond recognizable boundaries, much of today's work is best described in more general term as street art.' (Manco, 2002 pp. 9-11)