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The Extraction of Subway Graffiti: The Late 1960s to 1989

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The Rise of Legal Graffiti Writing in New York and Beyond

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Abstract

Drawing on previous scholarship, this chapter provides a brief history of graffiti writing as it developed in New York City throughout the 1970s and the 1980s. It maps the prolonged “war against graffiti” that was orchestrated by public officials and the mass print media, and eventually ensured the demise of subway graffiti. However, the chapter concludes by suggesting that state opposition to graffiti, combined with appreciation from the art world and cultural industries, merely forced the art form “above ground,” compelling it to find new avenues of expression.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Powers, Art of Getting Over (1999).

  2. 2.

    CORNBREAD quoted in Stewart, “Subway Graffiti,” 157 (1989).

  3. 3.

    For filtering of other cultural forms, see for example Becker, Art worlds (1982); Gitlin, “Movies” (1991); Hirsch, “Fads and Fashions” (1972).

  4. 4.

    See Cooper and Chalfant, Subway Art (1984).

  5. 5.

    “‘TAKI 183,’” 37; Cooper and Chalfant, Subway Art, 14; Austin, Taking the Train, 49; Stewart, “Subway Graffiti,” 232.

  6. 6.

    Cooper and Chalfant, Subway Art, 34; Stewart, “Subway Graffiti,” 239; Castleman, Getting Up (1982).

  7. 7.

    Stewart, “Subway Graffiti,” 261–273.

  8. 8.

    Ibid., 292.

  9. 9.

    Cooper and Chalfant, Subway Art, 70–71.

  10. 10.

    CAP quoted in Silver and Chalfant, Style Wars (1983), emphasis added.

  11. 11.

    See Cooper and Chalfant, Subway Art, 74; BUTCH 2 quoted in Miller, Aerosol Kingdom, 123; Lachmann, “Graffiti as Career,” 241; DOC TC5 quoted in Austin, Taking the Train, 244.

  12. 12.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 115.

  13. 13.

    The article (Bernard Weinraub, “39 ‘Don’ts’ Listed in Subways’ Code,” New York Times, February 17, 1967) is cited by Stewart, “Subway Graffiti,” 160.

  14. 14.

    Stewart, “Subway Graffiti,” 267.

  15. 15.

    See Austin’s discussion, Taking the Train, 78–84.

  16. 16.

    Stewart, “Subway Graffiti,” 268–269.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., 386.

  18. 18.

    See Chap. 4. See also Halsey and Young, “Our Desires” (2006).

  19. 19.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 128.

  20. 20.

    Cooper and Chalfant, Subway Art, 99.

  21. 21.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 130–132; See also Silver and Chalfant, Style Wars (1983).

  22. 22.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 131.

  23. 23.

    Richard Ravitch quoted in Silver and Chalfant, Style Wars (1983).

  24. 24.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 131.

  25. 25.

    DEZ quoted in Cooper and Chalfant, Subway Art, 32, emphasis added.

  26. 26.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 143–144.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., 135, 136. See also Daley, “City Subways on the Mend,” B1 (1985).

  28. 28.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 144.

  29. 29.

    For the supposed social, political, and economic significance of graffiti see Herman, “Vandals Take Psychological Toll,” A1 (1971); Levine, “Transit Authority Proclaims,” B1 (1986); Editorial, “Gaining on Graffiti,” A26 (1986); Butterfield, “New York Walls,” B1; Pollack, “Islip Moving,” 20 (1985); Bass, “For Graffiti Artists,” Section 11CN, 2 (1986); Whitney, “New Plague,” A9 (1988). The idea that graffiti is responsible for the economic decline of cities and/or regions is preposterous given the sociological literature on the subject. Such accounts stress the importance of deindustrialization, taxing policies, competition between cities, banking practices, and state policies in explaining the economic (in)stability of cities. See, for example, Logan and Molotch, Urban Fortunes (1987).

  30. 30.

    Wilson and Kelling, “Broken Windows,” 29–38 (1982).

  31. 31.

    See Wilson quoted in Hurley, “Scientists at Work,” F1 (2004). See also Cohen, “Pie Chart is Half-Baked,” B7 (2000).

  32. 32.

    Castleman, Getting Up, 146 (1982); Goodman, “Dogs To Patrol,” A1 (1981a).

  33. 33.

    See Koch interviewed in Silver and Chalfant, Style Wars (1983).

  34. 34.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 209.

  35. 35.

    The Koch quote is from Silver and Chalfant, Style Wars (1983). For the other points and information supplied see Smothers, “Koch Calls For,” B3 (1980); Goodman, “Pits of Barbed Wire,” B1 (1981b); Haitch, “Thwarting Graffiti,” Section 1, 42 (1982).

  36. 36.

    Levine, “Transit Authority Proclaims,” B1 (1986); Douglas, Connelly and Mansnerus, “Wondering Where,” Section 4, 7 (1986). Of course, “cleaning” in this context should be taken in the anthropological sense of correcting “matter out of place.” See Douglas, Purity and Danger (1984).

  37. 37.

    The safety and reliability of the subway did not begin to improve until 1987/1988. However, by this time the subway was generally “cleaner.” See Douglas and Connelly, “Riding Cleaner,” Section 4, 7 (1986).

  38. 38.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 219 (2001); Hays, “Transit Agency,” A1; Butterfield, “New York Walls,” B1.

  39. 39.

    Mincer, “War On Grime?” 24 (1985).

  40. 40.

    Schmidlapp and Phase 2, Style Writing, 112; Bennet, “New Arsenal,” Section 4, 2 (1992).

  41. 41.

    Editorial, “Man Who Saved,” A16 (1990a); Editorial, “New York Transit,” A22 (1990b); Strom, “Transit Official Outlines,” 21 (1991); Miles, “In the Subway,” Section 4, 24. Yet this latter article also reveals that despite the absence of graffiti, the number of robberies and assaults in the subway increased. A point later acknowledged in Kelling and Bratton, “Declining Crime Rates” (1998), who are proponents of the theory.

  42. 42.

    Farrelly, “Light of Day,” Section 1, 26 (1989); Licata, “Midnight Writers,” Section 12LI, 32 (1989); Berger, “Uphill Battle,” 27 (1990).

  43. 43.

    Castleman, Getting Up, 117–126.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., 126–133.

  45. 45.

    Austin, Taking the Train, 190–191.

  46. 46.

    See Austin, Taking the Train, 186–192; Hager, Hip Hop, 59–79; Miller, Aerosol Kingdom, 158–160; Schwartzman, Street Art (1985).

  47. 47.

    Ahearn, Wild Style (1982).

  48. 48.

    Belafonte and Picker, Beat Street (1984).

  49. 49.

    Silver and Chalfant, Style Wars (1983).

  50. 50.

    Mailer, Faith of Graffiti (1974).

  51. 51.

    Author’s interview with SONIC.

  52. 52.

    Author’s interview with LADY PINK.

  53. 53.

    Author’s interview with PART TDS.

  54. 54.

    Miller, Aerosol Kingdom, 162–167.

  55. 55.

    Rose, Black Noise (1994); Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop (2005); George, Hip Hop America (1998).

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  1. Sociology and Criminology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Ronald Kramer

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Kramer, R. (2017). The Extraction of Subway Graffiti: The Late 1960s to 1989. In: The Rise of Legal Graffiti Writing in New York and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2800-7_2

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