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PIXACAO - SAO PAULO GRAFFITI -
03-17-2006, 10:41 PM
*Disclaimer: If you've been writing for less than 5 years and you've only ever painted freights - your opinion doesn't count. Thank you.
Pichação
São Paulo, the economic capital of Brazil, is home to a unique and unprecedented writing movement known as ‘pichação’. This Brazilian word for tag, literally meaning ‘trace’ or ‘stain’, represents an all-encompassing phenomenon that surpasses all known occurrences of graffiti in terms of sheer coverage – you see pichações [the Portuguese plural form of the word] all over the city. Pichação first appeared in its current form in the streets during the mid-1980s, and since 1990 has gradually colonised the façades and tops of a variety of buildings in the capital reaching a climax in the second half of the 1990s. Tags can be can be defined as a ‘parallel prestige economy’ organised by writing, where the act of writing one’s name and performing one’s signature in a public space is more about seeing than reading. Pichação is a rare formal innovation that breaks with the conventions of contemporary graffiti established since its origins in 1970s New York. The São Paulo milieu is unique because, unlike most other American, European and even Asian graffiti scenes, which reproduce New York letterforms more or less faithfully, the pichações have developed a totally different imaginary calligraphy (see inside covers).
Stylistically they were originally influenced by heavy metal and hardcore logos of record sleeves of the 1980s (e.g. for bands such as AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Slayer or the Dead Kennedys, whose aesthetic has been adopted by local Brazilian bands such as Sepultura or Ratos de Porão) that were characterised by the use of hybrid blackletter and historic letterforms such as runes. A key feature is the integration of the letter’s structure into the overall urban landscape. Pichadores [as the pichação graffitists are known] adopted blackletter to distinguish their signatures from the anti-dictatorship slogans and poetic messages that were prevalent in the streets of São Paulo in the early 1980s. These were generally sans serif capitals applied with brushes and rollers. The Portuguese language has always been principally used to create the names and pseudonyms. While stylistic variations are observable in each signature, pichações share an aesthetic unity and visual sensibility with one another. This is what differentiates them from other types of graffiti which lack such homogeneity. New York graffiti transformed the sides of subway trains into mass-media surfaces. In São Paulo, architecture seems to be the preferred target for the writers, from immense office blocks to suburban houses. To get to the tops of the tall buildings, the pichadores must gain access to the interior at night or climb up the outside of the structure. This is highly dangerous, even fatal sometimes.
São Paulo’s high rollers
Such written signs are a product of the capability of the human body and the architectural rhythm of the different façades, giving rise to a singular vernacular calligraphy. The pichadores have developed a ductus or sequence of strokes which is concerned with structure rather than outline. The method is the same whether they use a roller or a spray can. The form is conceived instinctively based on structural and proportional criteria above all else, like a segmented line that has been integrated into a frame. It exploits the potential of a given space to the maximum. Despite their unrestrained baroque forms, pichações are a realisation, in a way, of Adrian Frutiger’s ideas about the sign in three-dimensional space: in the field of signage, the letter can be seen as two-dimensional architecture. An awareness of this means writing can be used as an integrated element in the architectural context and not just an isolated element, applied by chance in space. The genesis of the scriptural forms is the product of a triple encounter: an unforeseeable collision between the structure of gothic with the scale of architecture, the mediating tool being the writer himself, equipped with a simple paint roller.
Originally posted by MartySchemeR@Mar 17 2006, 08:33 PM ITS like philly hands but with rollers and everywhere. they may not be good now but when a scene ids just startin who really is.
yeah i was definitally about to say this reminds me of philly, just a bunch of tall ass hands everywhere. that picture of the dude on his boy's sholders on a ledge from that book is probably one of the best graffiti pictures ive ever seen
Originally posted by Mr. ABC@Mar 17 2006, 09:37 PM i'm shaking my head in disappointment and disbeleif at how stylistically uneducated today's graffiti writer is.
if you can't see the originality and amazing style in those tags then you're blind.
I'm shaking my head in dissapointment and disbeleif at how many people jock bad graffiti these days. Yes it's origional. About as origional as every begining toy getting his first tags and has yet to develop style and coordination. If someone was writing like that anywhere other than Brazil it would be in the terrible graffiti thread.
Like I said to each their own, but you can't expect just pretend this shit is good and try and play anyone that knows better like they don't know what they're talking about.
liking the aesthetic or not, you have to appreciate craziness of the spots...
i've seen videos with these dudes straight scaling the fucking buildings to get 'em.
Originally posted by BAN-THIS!!!+Mar 18 2006, 12:24 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BAN-THIS!!! - Mar 18 2006, 12:24 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Mr. ABC@Mar 17 2006, 09:37 PM i'm shaking my head in disappointment and disbeleif at how stylistically uneducated today's graffiti writer is.
if you can't see the originality and amazing style in those tags then you're blind.
I'm shaking my head in dissapointment and disbeleif at how many people jock bad graffiti these days. Yes it's origional. About as origional as every begining toy getting his first tags and has yet to develop style and coordination. If someone was writing like that anywhere other than Brazil it would be in the terrible graffiti thread.
Like I said to each their own, but you can't expect just pretend this shit is good and try and play anyone that knows better like they don't know what they're talking about.
you're a dickhead who doesn't know what he's missing. keep painting those freights and ignoring the rest of the world. like i said, if you can't see the style and originality in their tags then you're blind.
Originally posted by BAN-THIS!!!+Mar 17 2006, 06:24 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BAN-THIS!!! - Mar 17 2006, 06:24 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Mr. ABC@Mar 17 2006, 09:37 PM i'm shaking my head in disappointment and disbeleif at how stylistically uneducated today's graffiti writer is.
if you can't see the originality and amazing style in those tags thenÂ*** you're blind.
I'm shaking my head in dissapointment and disbeleif at how many people jock bad graffiti these days. Yes it's origional. About as origional as every begining toy getting his first tags and has yet to develop style and coordination. If someone was writing like that anywhere other than Brazil it would be in the terrible graffiti thread.
Like I said to each their own, but you can't expect just pretend this shit is good and try and play anyone that knows better like they don't know what they're talking about.
what you are not seeing, is that this is a foreign country that ISNT basing their graffiti off america. In this day an age regional styles, wherever that may come from, are so sacred. the internet has destroyed so many regianl forms and styles, ans has made it damn near impossible to lay credit to anyone or anything anymore. These guys have balls like you wouldnt belive. painting their names in tar on the sides of whole buildings then lighting them on fire just so people will see it. this is not something you can really compare to our way of doing things and our level of grading handstyles or control. its different motivation and a different process. its like comparing original cholo writings to what you see in manhattan today.
its just different. try to look at it like that. not how it compares to who ever you think has the best handstyle, but as it stands on its own. it doesnt exist to impress you the same way that say...TWIST or DASH do. try not to be so thick headed about things like this. its not the same thing as someone doing like a naive style to be cute, or to "buck the system". its something different entirely here.
What King of Hell said pretty much summarizes my thoughts.
The internet is what's mainly to blame for graffiti homogony.
Much of Brazil can't even afford the internet, leaving their regional dialects intact. (this is a good thing)
This thread is long overdue
Good intro too
Originally posted by KING OF HELL+Mar 17 2006, 11:21 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KING OF HELL - Mar 17 2006, 11:21 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>
Quote:
Originally posted by BAN-THIS!!!@Mar 17 2006, 06:24 PM <!--QuoteBegin-Mr. ABC
Quote:
@Mar 17 2006, 09:37 PM i'm shaking my head in disappointment and disbeleif at how stylistically uneducated today's graffiti writer is.
if you can't see the originality and amazing style in those tags thenÂ*** you're blind.
I'm shaking my head in dissapointment and disbeleif at how many people jock bad graffiti these days. Yes it's origional. About as origional as every begining toy getting his first tags and has yet to develop style and coordination. If someone was writing like that anywhere other than Brazil it would be in the terrible graffiti thread.
Like I said to each their own, but you can't expect just pretend this shit is good and try and play anyone that knows better like they don't know what they're talking about.
what you are not seeing, is that this is a foreign country that ISNT basing their graffiti off america. In this day an age regional styles, wherever that may come from, are so sacred. the internet has destroyed so many regianl forms and styles, ans has made it damn near impossible to lay credit to anyone or anything anymore. These guys have balls like you wouldnt belive. painting their names in tar on the sides of whole buildings then lighting them on fire just so people will see it. this is not something you can really compare to our way of doing things and our level of grading handstyles or control. its different motivation and a different process. its like comparing original cholo writings to what you see in manhattan today.
its just different. try to look at it like that. not how it compares to who ever you think has the best handstyle, but as it stands on its own. it doesnt exist to impress you the same way that say...TWIST or DASH do. try not to be so thick headed about things like this. its not the same thing as someone doing like a naive style to be cute, or to "buck the system". its something different entirely here.
Now that I can respect. I'm just saying, it's mad confusing when someone posts these flicks and calls it dope or fresh or whatever like it's skillfull and shit. Just say these niggas got balls of steel and bomb harder than most. When you say it's dope or stylish that's where the confusion comes in.
PIXACAO - SAO PAULO GRAFFITI -
03-17-2006, 10:41 PM
