A friend of mine sent me a text message this past weekend: “Did you know that they make spray paint specifically for graffiti?” He is a police officer (and former teenage graffiti writer). I thought he was joking and replied, “That’s capitalism for you. I wish I had thought of that idea.”
Today I saw that he was actually serious. There is a company from Barcelona Spain called MTN (Montana) that makes specific markers and spray paint for graffiti. There’s even an online store called Art Primo where you can get spray caps. FYI, you need to throw away the stock caps and get specific caps for smooth or fat spray lines.
Graffiti is illegal in most (if not all) cities, so this is a bit surprising to me. In many ways it actually takes the fun out of graffiti. Part of the fun is using something that was designed for a pedestrian purpose (like painting a bike or chair) and using it to paint a mural. I guess I wouldn’t be surprised to see a graffiti store at your local mall in a few years right next to Hot Topic.
Can you think of any other niche businesses that surprise you?
Davide Di Cillo
on 16 Sep 09Hehe, they are really famous in Europe. I remember that 10 years ago I was spending all my savings in Montana spray cans and Felton’s (another brand).
Christophe Franco
on 16 Sep 09Graffiti is not illegal per se, it’s the fact of making any kind of degradation to buildings, walls, any kind of other people’s property. Not only with graffiti btw…
There are numerous examples of legitimate graffiti that have been ordered by the buildings owners (in some times, the state itself or any kind of public organization like a municipal council, regional government…).
However, there are many cities where local regulations may forbid painting graffiti on a building even with the approbation of the building’s owner, mainly for maintaining the aesthetic homogeneity of the constructions.
Dan Sinker
on 16 Sep 09They’ve actually been making replacement caps for paint cans for some time. I can remember a graffiti zine from the early 90s that would come packaged with a little baggie of caps.
The way you used to have to do it was pull off the caps of aerosol oven cleaner for fat lines. Can’t remember what product would get you the thin lines, but it was there.
And Christophe is right: graffiti is not illegal, just defacing public or private property is illegal.
JD
on 16 Sep 09Dan, I remember using Pam cooking spray for the neat caps about 15 years ago.
DRoss
on 16 Sep 09I was into graffiti as a teenager growing up in Los Angeles. Kind of a precursor to design.
Special caps/markers/streaks were big then…there. The German fat caps were the best. Very wide, smooth lines.
Yea you don’t want to use stock caps…they’re spotty, thin and rough.
Graffiti might be silly to you or most but there’s a seriousness about it very few understand.
Andion
on 16 Sep 09It’s like you were from other planet or something… :D i think it’s very common all over the world since the 90’s
killian
on 16 Sep 09Ultra Flat Black + Oven Cleaner Cap (used to)= lots of fun
Greg Jones
on 16 Sep 09Not really any different from shops selling bongs and pipes, and there are more and more places opening up where graffiti is legal.
BJ Clark
on 16 Sep 09I’m with Andion. I knew where to buy montana cans, in rural western Colorado, in the early/mid ninetiesn when I was like, 14.
nickd
on 16 Sep 09I think it’s worth reframing this and saying you can use spray paint for art. There’s very much a legitimate craft to it; it is not just for gangs to mark their territory, although that’s the most common reason why work gets buffed. (There’s also an entire scene of artists with Montana cans who paint and draw on hunks of salvaged plywood; many don’t even deface the urban landscape.)
I live in Chicago, so here are a few places you can check out right now:
1. The Violet Hour’s facade is usually done up by various steet artists. I don’t know who did their current one, but it’s just insane. Next time you find yourself in Wicker, check it out.
2. There’s an art gallery on Augusta/Wolcott that allows street artists to do whatever they want to the rear of their building. They call 311 and report that the police not buff their graf. The alley on Augusta between Wolcott and Honore is host to some routinely phenomenal work. It’s weird to recommend that you go and visit an alley, but seriously do so next time you find yourself in Uke. I often run into artists working.
3. Montana has a store in Oak Park, right off the el, because selling spray paint is illegal in Chicago.
4. Rotofugi, on Chicago/Damen, is a gallery and shop that occasionally hosts street artists.
5. OhNo!Doom, on Sacramento/Lyndale, is host to a lot of great collaborative exhibits.
6. Some Flickrs of some Chicago graffiti.
I’m only an armchair enthusiast of all this – I know most of what I know because I’ve lived here a long time and many friends are active in the scene – so I’m sure I’m leaving quite a lot out. But hopefully this offers some context.
Anonymous Coward
on 16 Sep 09DRoss, aren’t we lucky to have your great story:
How is this different from defacing online property…hacking into system such as your 37s account and making it ugly and inaccessible to you? If condoning defacing others’ property is your precursor to good design, then you’re a seriously-deficient designer. And why does 37s think it’s a good thing to entertain this moronic discussion here? Kind of ironic coming off a serious breach in their security protocol…but, oh, wait, graffiti is only defacing public property…”that’s just givin’ it to the man!’ Certainly hacking/corrupting computer space MUST be different, right? Problem is, that’s a double-standard. Well, perhaps hackers see themselves this way, too…they’re just painting your applications with their art. DRoss, perhaps your own website will one day fall victim to hackers and you won’t think it’s so cool…LA doesn’t want your graffiti. Stay home and read a fucking book.
Martial
on 16 Sep 09More than a few years ago now, I saw some guerilla artists doing a wall.
About 1:30 am, I left a club in Allston (Boston) and was walking back to the car. At one corner, on the sidestreet, was parked a station wagon with the gate down and a boombox blaring hiphop. Leaning against the wagon watching me was a gigantic man in a long leather coat, sunglasses, and chewing on a cigar. Three wiry guys in sweatshirts and baseball caps had their attention on the wall, cans in both hands carving graceful curves across their canvas, never stopping or saying a word, moving so quickly it was hard to follow. Just behind them were neat rows of cans of presumably different colors. I saw a ladder alongside the wagon and a discard pile of cans in the gutter.
On my way to the club, the wall had been a typical urban brick wall: a few tags, maybe a poster. A few hours later it was well on the way to being art. I stopped at the corner and watched for a moment, the focus of the artists absolutely precluding any interruption, not to mention the glowering menace of the man in leather. I thought two words: pros and choreography. After no more than a minute of standing transfixed, I nodded to the watcher and continued. He nodded back, recognizing, I think, the smile spreading across my face.
Martial
on 16 Sep 09Graffiti doesn’t degrade the functionality of the physical property. Hacking does degrade functionality or it isn’t hacking.
If three wiry guys in baseball caps broke into my site, made my design rock, and left a calling card so people who thought it was cool could hire them, I’d actually be into that.
Rivera
on 16 Sep 09Wow, Martial, that’s a sublime tale you’ve woven, you’re quite a deep thinker. I’ve lived in Allston, it’s a shit hole full of people like you who don’t respect the property of others. And it’s not art unless someone wants it there. I love how you use words like “artists” and “canvas.” Perhaps you should go explore the work of a true muralist like Diego Rivera (he actually had to bust his ass to gain commissions from people who wanted him to express himself through large mural. Ah, but why bother with all the hard work of true art, it’s easier to just force yourself upon others’ space, right?
Dave
on 16 Sep 09@JD – right on. PAM caps for outlines, oven cleaner for fat caps – these kids today have it so easy…
Tattoo inks and guns are a neat niche industry. Some of the ink companies have really cool logos and bottle design.
GraffHead
on 16 Sep 09We used testor caps from model paints for thin lines.
Today, graffiti has become a big industry not only for paint suppliers but also for advertising, clothing lines etc..
33third.com
on 17 Sep 09There are alot of sites selling supplies and its not really that easy of a business. The paint is mainly focused towards artists who are looking for higher quality coverings. Taggers, gang members etc. aren’t really interested in spending the higher dollar amount on more expensive paint. In fact most of “hated” graffiti by the general public is done by the store bought Krylon or Rusto can.
It has a long way to go before its actually accepted by the public at large but you can see it slowly happening with styles, walls, and artists being used in advertising from Microsoft to Scion.
Sherwood
on 17 Sep 09Came across a niche business today in an AMEX ad: http://lusciousgarage.com , a garage specializing in hybrids in SF. Look through the site, and you’ll note that it’s not battery expertise they’re pushing here.
Great example of a service business breaking its typical mold, and a “technology” company that doesn’t push the technology.
Marc Tiedemann
on 17 Sep 09Whoa, don’t wanna feed no trolls, but I have rarely read a comment where the name “Anonymous Coward” was better placed than on the prime example above.
teddy
on 17 Sep 09When you’re a 15 year old kid doing illegal graffiti there is a certain culture of rebellion that you are participating in which is mostly aimed at corporations. An analogy might be found in hackers that only attack government websites.
I used to order NY Thins and Rusto Fats in bulk in the late 90s. Surprising how many ex graf writers seem to read this blog / have careers in design now.
heist
on 17 Sep 09http://www.ivinyl.com.au/
“Australia’s first internet cafe and music lounge lets you buy vinyl or MP3s from around the world. Find the latest, rare or deleted tracks at the click of a mouse.”
so it’s like a record store but made up of all the online record stores.
or possibly just an internet cafe with a unique angle. either way it surprised me.
Joris
on 17 Sep 09Shooting people is illegal in most cities, too. But you can still get your hands on a shiny new handgun pretty easily, in the US.
Joe
on 17 Sep 09Montana is really really famous. Its not all for illegal stuff granted in the heyday people just used to steal the cans from art shops.
A lot of this stuff gets used in murals and commissioned pieces nowadays
Mihael Konjevic
on 17 Sep 09I owned a graffiti shop few years back in Zagreb, Croatia. It was cool job, but it’s not that profitable if you eat your own dog food :)
Thiago
on 17 Sep 09In Brazil, we have two different words for the English “graffiti”: “pichação” for vandalization, “grafite” for the art of using spray. :)
masone
on 17 Sep 09Graffiti does not have to be vandalism so it does not have to be illegal. Actually there are thousands of artists painting legally all over the world. There are also legal spots all over the world (see http://legal-walls.net).
DRoss
on 17 Sep 09@Anonymous Coward—
We can only wish we were all as smart as you. If you ever need those glasses smashed into your face let me know.
Anonymous Coward
on 18 Sep 09wow, man, no need to get violent. Truthfully, I was probably asking for it and may just deserve a good ass kicking, but at least I would have been asking for it. all I was saying is that creativity can, if someone works hard enough, be channeled into positive, requested work (like at Interactive). no hard feelings dude
Hamranhansenhansen
on 18 Sep 09These are just art supplies. If you paint on a wall with them, it’s called “muraling” and it is not illegal. It also goes back to when we were in caves, it’s one of the first art forms.
If you paint on a wall that you either do not own or have not been given permission to paint on by the owner, then that might be graffiti. Graffiti is the rare illegal use case for all art tools. You can also stab someone in the eye with art tools but that does not mean a magic marker is a niche weapon product.
Similarly, you can legally carry a 4-inch pocket knife with you where I live, even though it is “made for stabbing.” The assumption is that you will use the tool in one of its 100,000 legal ways, not its relatively few illegal uses. Same with art supplies.
You can also buy a pencil and write a threatening letter to the President with it, and that is illegal. But the pencil is not a niche President-threatening product. You can use the same pencil to plot out a bank job, but that doesn’t make your local stationery store a bank-robbery supply store, catering to the niche needs of armed robbers.
What I hate about your use of the term “legitimate graffiti” is that’s like calling driving under the speed limit “legitimate speeding.” Painting on a wall is called “muraling” and there is not only nothing illegitimate about it, it’s a high art form, it’s fine art, it’s something to show some respect for.
Mark Eagleton
on 19 Sep 09Hamranhansenhansen is 100% correct. Vandalism is illegal. Grafitti is not. Check your local laws. When you get busted for spray painting something you shouldn’t, they charge you with vandalism. Big difference.
Whole Train
on 20 Sep 09http://www.molotow.com/
Pam
on 21 Sep 09Saw a website called Just Gloves a few years ago selling nothing but disposable gloves. Latex, vinyl, disposable, sterile etc. Surprised me because if you’re buying gloves for your business then you probably need tons of other janitorial supplies. They seem to have branched out into selling other items, so maybe all niche sellers end up doing the same in the end.
This discussion is closed.