graf art

I deeply enjoyed reading this article by Chaz Bojorquez and really - for pretty much the first time - learning about the craft of graffiti art from someone with quite an intimate relationship with it. Often, I think these discussions are filtered through lenses - biased towards "city cleanliness," official disdain or otherwise - that undoubtedly cloud the issue and temporarily mar one's perception of the actual work. what most interested me was his explanation of the differences between New York and Los Angeles/Cholo styles. Having spent time in both places and observed the graffiti in each, this section of his essay was an incredibly valuable one for me as it assisted me with articulating to myself the reasons I am more comfortable with Los Angeles styles or simply more interested in the familiarity of them.
Though Bojorquez's focus is graffiti, he also inherently addresses grand social issues, and longstanding civic developments; such is the nature of the practice, afterall. His claim that, "if the city was a body, graffiti would tell us where it hurts" was quite striking and conjured up an image of a dynamic, voiced city, rather than the official conception of a graffiti'd city being beaten down and shut up.