These articles and video were insightful in their attention to the social histories that led to and were reciprocally produced by the contemporary graffiti movement.
An interesting juxtaposition to note is the way in which graffiti materializes concerns of the self/the intimate, and concerns about contemporary culture and events. Macdonald attends to the motivations and meanings of name “tags.” Within this framework of “dynamics of friction and dispute” (Macdonald 312), the graffiti artist reifies an alter-ego through marking their pseudonym with attention to style, placement, and content. This process is self-reflexive, and, as such, is a way to state: “I am” (314). Through making marks that represent the self, or the ideal double, tags enable graffiti artists to become more than themselves – to leave ripples and a legacy of their presence – because they can “escape the need to represent yourself” (313).
In contrast, but also contingent on the same gestural process of appropriation of space and reliance on spectatorship, the article by Phillips addressed the globally-minded graffiti by Keith Haring. Focusing on the influence the Jesus Movement had on Haring, this article illuminated the way in which Haring’s work addressed large-scale issues, were apocalyptic in tone and nature, and made accessible commentary on contemporaneous anxieties and concerns.
The “Desire for possessions, for belonging, for a public name, for property and protection…” (Nandrea 113) are produced by, and perpetuate, the American imaginary. Graffiti artists enact agency and authorship by forming communities, responding to large-scale concerns, representing and defending the self, and leaving a legacy: “They can only watch as it thunders past to its next destination… like the train, the name or virtual self is going places” (Macdonald 319).
By appropriating space in view, the graffiti artist redefines communication. Nandrea argues that “Graffiti might teach a child something about spatial potential, about the ways a margin can become a frontier” (112). Thus, contemporary graffiti at once enables place-making and ideal self-representation while making possible social commentary on contemporary culture and politics.