writers connection

Alcuni consigli sulle tecniche e gli strumenti di Graffiti Writing, Stencil, Street Poster Art e Defacing Billboards dalla fanzine punk degli anni ’70 Search & Destroy – Re/Search Pubblications

GRAFFITI
fonte: "SEARCH & DESTROY: Rebel Youth Culture No. 10 1978" edizioni Re/Search, San Francisco.

MAGIC MARKER: Heavy Industrial Type. Buses, restrooms, walls (interior & exterior). Good for everything. People seldom bother to paint out small areas defaced with marker, so it lasts a long time. Very safe.

SPRAY PAINT/STENCILS: spray paint/stencils made of thin-glossy cardboard. Sidewalks esp!, walls of buildings, traffic signs. Fast, Catchy – Lasts forever on sidewalks. Rarely removed Fairly safe, but a lot of equipment to handle.

SPRAY PAINT freehand: anywhere you can get away with it. Versatile – heavy adrenalin rush. Not much equipment, but time factor make it not safe.

POSTERS: poster, paint brush, wallpaper paste. Telephone & Light Poles especially. People like to peel this off. Make sure they are pasted down on edges. Night is best, to allow drying time before viewing. Relatively safe, cops don’t care unless you are obviously defacing property. Can be done in broad daylight.

DEFACING BILLBOARDS: paint-filled eggs (plastic bags don’t always burst). Any billboard you cannot reach by hand. Nice effect, long range for those hard-to-reach places. Does not really deface billboards unless you throw a lot. Fairly safe due to time factor.

COMMENTS AND TIPS

1) 3:00 to 5:00 AM Sunday thru Thursday is best time, least amount of potential observers
2) Shake your spray paint WELL BEFORE leaving the house
3) Tile walls are especially good surfaces/hard to remove graffiti from
4) Some concrete is very porous & absorbs paint quickly without showing up well. Needs several coats, not always worth it. Painted concrete is less porous
5) Stencils stick togheter after being used once. Carry a newspaper & stick them between the pages
6) Need i say – "Dress inconspicuous". A good drag is hippie street person. Looks like you belong there!
7) Groups of two people is best: one to paint & one to look-out. 3 or more looks to much like a gang
8) It’s hard to see cop cars until is too late. A good rule is, if a car comes, stop and wait. walk away, or just stand there and be cool. Graffiti is not very visible at night, and probably no one wil notice
9) Some buildings are better exposure — pre-existing graffiti is a good sign that your message will still be there tomorrow. Some locations, particularly city property (streetcar waiting stations, blue BART stations, freeway underpasses) get painted every few months and are prime spots for longlasting messages. private homes are Not a good idea. Non-residential welltrafficked areas are best if you want it to last, although Bank of America & Fox Plaza etc. are short but sweet….

SECTIONS 594 & 594.5 Of The PENAL CODE relate to vandalism & defacing of private property with spray paint. Both carry a maximum penalty of $500 and/or 6 months i jail.
If you get caught defacing private property, it is often likely that the charges will be dropped if you agree to make Civil Restitution. This entails meeting with the owner(s) of aforementioned defaced building, and coming to some agreement about Restitution. This could be in the form of cash or painting the building yourself (most likely cash). When you appear again in court with a receipt for damages, case should be dismissed. You will have an arrest but not a conviction.

original article scan (hi res – click to enlarge):

Graffiti SEARCH and DESTROY Rebel Youth Culture No 10 1978.txt