Lewisohn, who has "hip-hop DJ" on his resume and is an accomplished situational artist himself, has penned a book that doesn't just chart unexplored territory, but does so in a way that raises issues that extend far beyond graffiti: the distinction between high and popular culture, the tension between public and commercial art, and the value of "culture hacking" practices such subvertising. So my query to those working in media literacy education and youth media production is, "Can we please start talking to more to people like this?"

But wait a minute, some may caution. Isn't graffiti mere vandalism? Why should that be a topic for discourse on any level?

Actually, such a question itself betrays a certain ignorance of graffiti's history and particulars. That is, it's the kind of question I might have asked until reading Lewisohn's book, which was published by Abrams last month. Described on the back cover as the "first account of this visual revolution to trace its history from cave painting through to the vibrant art emerging today," Street Art initially held interest for me, but not much promise. Which means that I was expecting a middlebrow, lukewarm apologia geared to layfolk such as myself that would probably provide a few pretty pictures along the way.

Yet what Lewisohn has accomplished is so much richer than that: he's crafted an intellectually rigorous and challenging text that would be rewarding in its own right, apart from the tremendous photos he has culled from places such as Madrid, Managua, Sao Paolo, Bethlehem, and (extensively) London. What's wonderful about Lewisohn's work is that he lays the issues out clearly but at a high level of engagement. On almost every page connections to "new media literacies" leapt out at me... globalism, ethical practices, and the fruitful intersection of play, communication, and art to name just a few. Not to mention that graffiti is in some ways the most open and participatory meaning-making practice that youth can engage in--no Web connection needed.

The design of the book is terrific, with photos of large pieces spilling over to the other side of spreads, a layout that one might want to avoid with fine art but whose unruliness and expansiveness somehow fits the subject matter. Although he organizes the text around critical profiles of individual artists, Lewisohn's intention is not simply biographical or even historical: in many ways he's too polemical for those approaches. And that tone is set as early as the foreword by urban culture documentarian Henry Chalfant. Yes, "Draw on the walls that surround you" is a powerful, manifesto-like call-to-action, but one which also seems very, um, 1991. In other words, neither in his comments nor in all of Lewisohn's far-ranging analyses is there the sense that youth today have myriad other ways of announcing and affirming themselves as artists and their communities as "cultures" than existed two or three decades ago. For example, Chalfant does acknowledge that many of the graffiti artists of the '70s and '80s have become Web designers, but doesn't take this a step further and ask what this means--either for graffiti or for the Web.

To be fair, though, maybe asking such questions is our job, not theirs. So with this in mind, I went directly to a couple of graffiti artists to learn more about the art form and how it might serve as an entry point to the wider conversation about new media literacies.

Pierre Greene brings NYC to Taipei, Taiwan.

Twenty-five-year-old Pierre Greene (aliases: Hefner, Sinatra, Brando) was one of the co-founders of New York City's "Smart Crew" back in 1997. Self-described as an unemployed "Jack of All Trades" and "Aspiring Lounge Performer," Green has a degree in English, a feat which doesn't stop him from being able to recite entire Seinfeld episodes from memory.

His colleague and contemporary Victor Rhames started "painting" in 2001, and has done so in Montreal, San Francisco, Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, London, Taiwan, Orlando, and Key West, not to mention "all around" the Northeast U.S. He works a 9-5 office job in marketing, which he strongly compartmentalizes away from his "hobby"; as he himself comments, "I almost feel like a Clark Kent-type."

Victor's work in Taipei; note Greene's at the left edge.

Please describe your ethical practices as a graffiti artist. How important to you are they? How have they evolved for you personally?

Pierre Greene: There are many places I will not mark with my graffiti and there are specific reasons for this. First, I never write on clean surfaces. If my graffiti is to be the first graffiti on a wall, I won't be doing it. I feel that once a wall is "ruined" with graffiti, then my adding to it can only make it more pleasing, or at least it doesn't make it worse. I always use the example of, once a rock is thrown through a window, the window is broken. If I were to come along and throw another rock through the same window, perhaps breaking a bit more glass, the same amount of repair is necessary. This is how I rationalize the issue; technically, I did not add to the problem. Second, I will never write on private property such as cars and houses or any house of God.

Some graffiti writers love to destroy simply to destroy. I spoke with a guy who told me he would get the same feeling using spray paint and painting a nice piece of graffiti on a train as he would by simply throwing a gallon of latex paint on the same train. Either way, he is causing a problem for the city/government to deal with and that is what he loves the most. That is where he and I differ. Since I have been writing graffiti since I was 13 my ethics in life have gotten much better, but I can't credit graffiti for that... just life.

Victor Rhames:  I definitely try not to write on private (non-business) property such as cars, houses, etc. When I first started writing, I would look at places where I saw existing graffiti and feel that it was okay to write on them as well. As I grew older, I became more conscious of what I was doing and started to pick better spots to paint that would last longer and not anger property owners.

Also, graffiti has a strong link to shoplifting because kids are not allowed to buy spray paint if they are under 18 (now 21). Nor do a lot of them have enough money to buy a continuous supply. As kids, we either had to ask people old enough to buy it for us or just take it into our own hands and steal or "rack" the paint. From this, a lot of graffiti artists move on to becoming full-time shoplifters and even support themselves through it. I have been guilty of "racking" paint in my life, but now that I work and have the money to buy paint, I definitely don't need to do that. However, there are still graffiti writers that are adamant about only using "racked" paint as part of the culture and refuse to pay for any of their supplies.

Do you see a distinction between graffiti and other forms of street art? Why or why not? How do those who create graffiti tend to view others who use public spaces for their art?

Pierre Greene: Graffiti is the less accepted less mainstream form of street art. Street art really came from graffiti for the most part. Graffiti is Coney Island and county fairs, and street art is Disneyworld and Universal Studios. It is true some graffiti writers have attended some sort of art school at one point in their lives (never have I), but I would say 99% of street artists have formal art training. They are doing this "art" probably to somehow better their future by creating a "street" persona that they can eventually market and make money off of. After all, that is what art school teaches, isn't it? As an "artist" myself I feel we should all respect our public art space. If I see some wheat-paste poster on a wall, I will not put my graffiti over it; and if I spent time doing graffiti on a wall, I expect a "street artist" to respect my work in the same way.

Victor Rhames: First off, the term "graffiti" is something negative that the media created to label kids writing their names in the 70's. These "writers'" focused on writing their names/tags in a stylish manner throughout the city. Decades later, these stylish "tags" evolved on the subway trains into the big colorful filled-in letters that we may see today that include designs, 3D, characters, etc.  I feel that what is labeled "graffiti" has to involve tags that consist of letters. A graffiti writer may still do simple tags as well as elaborate pieces that include backgrounds and characters. As long as the element of letter-form is the basis of the artwork, I would consider it graffiti.

Graffiti writers tend to be offended when "street artists" treat graffiti as part of the environment/canvas and do their work right over it. I'm sure the opposite is true as well. I personally think that street art appeals to the masses much more than graffiti does. The average person is much quicker to dismiss graffiti as art as opposed to a stencil, poster, or some kind of character done by a street artist. Street artists also have close ties to the art world where they can easily have shows and sell their work. Graffiti, on the other hand, is right there in your face and it's not meant for profit in the end.

With that said, there are some who dabble in both graffiti AND street art as well. For example, the Smart Crew from Queens, NY has been known to paint letter-form graffiti, but they are also involved putting up ironic and humorous stickers/posters throughout NYC that many would consider street art in a sense.

Over the last decade how has the Web and new media in general changed the graffiti world? For example, do you think some who may have become practitioners in the past now gravitate towards other media or forms of expression instead?

Pierre Greene:  The Web has actually made graffiti writers out of those who may have never picked up a spray can, and in fact is responsible for many talented graffiti artists in remote parts of this world. With access to the Internet, people not only can view what graffiti is happening all over the world, but now people are influenced by others' work that they have never seen in person. Growing up, I was saw graffiti around Queens, and it influenced my style and was a direct motivation for me to start writing. This is not how it works anymore. With all the present-day media that chooses to include graffiti as backdrops, people who have never had direct exposure to graffiti now do. Then all they have to do is Google "graffiti" and a world of graffiti is right there before their eyes.

Victor Rhames: The Web definitely had a strong impact on the world of graffiti. Before the Internet, pictures of pieces painted held a lot more value to writers. In the past, you could not just log onto a Web site and see the graffiti being painted in another borough (or the other side of the globe). You had to travel and get the pictures yourself or trade them with others all over the world. Graffiti magazines and videos also seemed to hold more value before the Web came along.

Victor's tag on a NYC train (not a subway)... via Flickr

Graffiti writers used to have a lot of innovative and original concepts in the past, before being hit with an overload of worldwide graffiti pictures at their fingertips. You used to be able to tell where a writer was from (down to the borough and neighborhood) just based on their style since they were influenced by the other neighborhood kids. It is much harder nowadays to be "original" and to push the envelope, which very few are able to do.

I think that graffiti used to be much more of an "underground" culture created by the youth.  (Possibly the ONLY form of art created by the youth.) As a kid growing up in NYC, everyone had a tag at one point. Today, you see graffiti everywhere "re-packaged" on product labels, in video games, being used as designs, etc. This may influence kids to want to do graffiti in the hopes of one day being paid to do this kind of work. I personally feel this is the wrong reason to get into it. However, there are still other young kids who do it to see their names up and to impress their peers. Although they may not be doing it as "art," this is the same (childish) mindset that the kids had in the '70s creating this whole art form in the first place. In a sense, we need that kind of root-thinking for graffiti culture to stay alive.

What are some major differences you've noticed in graffiti culture from country to country or region to region? Or is it more of a global culture than one might expect?

Pierre Greene: Graffiti is very global. The culture is SO similar wherever you may travel. What differs most is the laws of each country. I have done some traveling that brought me to Brazil and Asia. There was not much graffiti culture-shock. Places like Sao Paolo and Bangkok have a similar deal. If a wall is old, run-down, or possible defaced already, you can most probably go up to that wall during broad daylight and start making an elaborate colorful piece of graffiti. If police stop you, all you have to do is explain you are an artist and making the wall look better. Of course this only works if you are a native speaker. Sometimes in places like that where the rules for graffiti are gray, you may have to bribe an officer.

The artist at work in London: Greene demonstrates graffiti culture's globalism

Is creating graffiti inherently more attractive to youth than to other age groups? Why or why not? Could this ever change?

Victor Rhames: As I mentioned before, the idea of getting your name up illegally to impress your peers is generally more appealing to the youth. The love/addiction for graffiti grows from there. As you get older, you are more in tune with the artistic aspect of it. However, everyone starts as a "toy" or beginner. As you get older, many of your peers may see graffiti as very childish and view you as being very immature for still doing graffiti. If you are still doing it at that point, then you have obviously grown a passion for it and don't care what other people think anymore.

This is very unlikely, but one of the only ways I could ever see graffiti being more attractive to the older crowd is if it resulted in a generous legit income. (Because when you grow up, all of a sudden everything around you is about money...) If there was a sudden increase in the demand of graffiti writers being hired as artists/designers and they were paying them 6-7 figure salaries, you would immediately create an influx of people trying to learn to do graffiti at an older age.  There would be graffiti classes, tons of discussion, books, etc... and it would become more widely accepted in society. However, that would never happen because of all the legal issues. 

Pierre Greene: Graffiti is something an immature person is attracted to. Most people who write or wrote graffiti started off between 13 and 18. Not many people start after 18. "Civilians" (those who do not write graffiti) assume young kids are responsible for graffiti, but they would be surprised that the biggest and most elaborate pieces of graffiti are done by men over the age of 21. Some people outgrow graffiti. Others end up making graphic art or getting paid for graffiti and it becomes a profession. There are still others who keep it as their hobby, which they do in their free time.

What advice would you give a high school student who is considering becoming a practitioner?

Victor Rhames: Practice on paper and keep trying to improve your style before going out and painting. If you take graffiti seriously, chances are you will end up getting in trouble for it at one point or another in your life. I've never heard of a long-time graffiti writer that has never gotten into any legal trouble at least once in their life. Are you willing to take that risk? The culture is not for everyone and it will most likely end up changing your life. Through "graffiti," I've made some of the best friendships, been to some of the craziest places, and had some of the worst moments, but I would never take back any of it. Most of all make sure you have fun doing it and be smart about it.   

Pierre Greene: I have no good advice. My life now has no direction. Graffiti is a great distraction. It has pros and cons like anything. Consider graffiti a hobby and don't take it too seriously. No one wants a criminal record. Pick up a guitar, join a band. I traded in my guitar at age 12 for a spray can and regret it. I'm not saying that there would have been a definite future in music, but it's much harder to have a future in graffiti. So yeah, take it lightly, enjoy yourself, but study hard as well, leave your options open.

Great, thank you so much for all your time, both of you.