The Introduction

The Introduction

Over the past twenty to thirty-five years, developments in the field of stencil graffiti have led to a renewed interest in street art. (MacPhee, 2004) It is enjoyable to observe the evolution of human's behaviour via movements or revolutions. Somehow similar consequences can be found in different actions or movements, and various thoughts provoke a sequent result. The collective unconscious which was explored by the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, indicated that 'there was a myth-creating level of mind, common to both psychotics and normals, and common also to people of different times and different cultures.' which is explained by Dr. Storr. (Storr, 1973 a p. 35)

This introduced the concept that the behaviour of human beings is not entirely personal; that a compelling progress follows after the unconsciousness, and then obtains an analogical result. The analysis can be proved giving influence in numerous spontaneous productions of mentality, e.g. myths, visions, religions or dreams, which act on physical reflexes. Those productions were common to different cultures and periods of history. (Storr, 1973 b) Therefore, an implication of this is the possibility that the collective unconscious can provide a common result in different cultural movements. Besides, in the processes of movements can be discovered a similarity which follows the human unconscious.

' Each generation attempts to resolve collectively experienced structural problems, and time has passed sufficiently that through mass media records, youth is able to respond to its own subcultural history ' indicated by Professor Michael Brake of Carleton University School of Social Work. (1985 p. 27) He also defined subculture as:

Subcultures are the meaning system and modes of expression developed by groups in particular parts of the social structure in the course of their collective attempts to come to terms with the contradictions of their shared social situation. More particularly subcultures represent the accumulated meanings and means of expression through which groups in subordinate structural positions have attempted to negotiate or oppose the dominant meaning system. They therefore provide a pool of available symbolic resources with particular individuals or groups can draw on in their attempt to make sense of their own specific situation and construct a viable identity. (Brake, 1985 p. 27)

One of the functional positions of graffiti within subculture can be seen as a rebellion against the control of the status quo, a counteraction to the hierarchical system from a particular section of society, especially the middle-class. One particular example is that graffiti of the punk movement which took place in the East Village in New York in late '80s, because most of the punk rockers were white and came from the middle-class. (Robinson, 1990) It had been discussed that in fact the main reward for graffiti activists is the derivation of a psychological or emotional way to satisfy the desire for expressing personal values through action. (Brake, 1985 b)

As a contemporary phenomenon within subcultures, the graffiti movement tends to revive its popularity and organic growth in several areas, such as Brazil where the graffiti movement, influenced by politics and music, divided into several forms and has become more mainstream since the mid-20th century. (Tristan Manco et al, 2005) The results of this research support the idea that there is a potentiality in each alternative culture to motivate itself by connections with the mainstream.
Aside from stencil technology, the phenomenon of a great impact is provided with graffiti movement, which is alternatively named as writing movement. 'Today the world of digital graphics and design cannot be imagined without the influences of the writing movement.' pronounced Ata Bozac (Toast. Atalier) in 2007, who is an online game designer and graffiti artist in Switzerland. The point that the progress of graffiti movement is continued and rebellious, because of 'Countless variations and combinations are now possible through the fundamental elements of design and graffiti that already exist.' supported by Atalier. (Schlee, 2005 p. 66)

This dissertation locates in the reformulation of a branch that has a specific format within graffiti, which is stencil graffiti, further to analyse the observation of how it transmits the position of notion from subculture to mainstream, and the contradiction of the outcome transgress its original conception. The aim of study is to evaluate and justify the explanation that there are several qualified elements of stencil graffiti that cause it easily been involved in mainstream. They can be divided into four chapters respectively, which are the origin of stencil graffiti, the context provides it transmits from different areas to popularity, the tendency of intentions and the influences of form changing by computer technology. Consequentially, the popularity of stencil graffiti is permeated by its essential elements.