Tom's Graffiti Catalog

Tom Dobrowolsky, the Urban Archives

Table of Contents

Case Studies

Calligraphic Succession - Chipotle

-- evolution of landscapes and changes of marks over time observed at one location.

Protesting Commercial Intrusion -- Walgreens

-- protest commentary.

Official Propoganda - The Ave Is Back

examination of the doublespeak, hidden agenda, and additional marks on a city-sponsored mural.

Graffiti Walk

A walking tour taken one afternoon to photograph different types of graffiti.

Genres

Most people think of graffiti as illegal writing, usually in paint. But that definition is far too limiting... yadda yadda...

[Drucker and Gumpert quote]

Official Graffiti

Marks, made by official entities and agents, which deface the public landscape.

Public Billboards

Graffiti, piggy-back onto public signage, acts a public billboard

Survey marks

Marks, made by official entities and agents, which validate and map the public landscape.

Private Graffiti

Marks on private property that approximate official, and illicit, graffiti. Hermer & Hunt (see the Official Graffiti section above) would argue that this is actually official graffiti as well. We are not denying this; however, we split out private graffiti for the sake of a more highly detailed classification.

Sticker Graffiti

Marks written on stickers and subsequently attached to surfaces. The fine folks at Street Memes would call these, obviously, street memes.

Stencil Graffiti

Painted graffiti made with the help of a stencil.

Buff Graffiti

When the half-hearted attempt to cover up graffiti looks even more scarring and disfiguring than the original graffiti itself.

Tile Art

Painted tiles which mysteriously appeared around the Seattle's University District.

Basic Concepts

Substrates

Different surfaces covered in graffiti. Preserved here to somewhat address the deliberate thought and considerations made when writing.

Topics: [Dumpsters] [Mailboxes] [Mobile surfaces] [Pipes] [Poles] [Eponymous surfaces]

Placement

location location location

Branding

Tags, taggers... and establishing a recognizable name... or brand.

Typography

Typography and fonts/hands

Topics: [Arrows] [Block fonts] [Brush Strokes] [Colors] [Cursive Hand] [Jackson Pollack style] [Scrawl - Single line] [Shadow/3D effects]

Advanced theologies

Conventions

Graffiti following the conventions set up by its substrate.

* Themes

Some themes, questions, etc.

Conversations

Marks communicating with other marks

Calligraphic Aggression

Marks violating other marks

Humanizing Abandoned Places

Graffiti often serves to put a human signature onto places that have been abandoned by people.