GLOSSARY

Marta R. Bisceglia

3D style (litizi fengge 立体字风格) – A three-dimensional style of letters, used to add effect on basic letters (enhancing depth and allure in the piece), sometimes applied to wildstyle for an extra level of complexity. In graffiti writing, the most widely used technique for 3D is chiaroscuro. To implement it, the artist first chooses the direction or  vanishing point, then, starting from the edges of the letters, draws same-length guidelines following that same direction. Subsequently, the artist connects these guidelines, drawing lines that run parallel to the letter lines, and finally the area is filled with colour. The effect could be achieved by shadowing the letters, but this procedure is far more complex. This style was invented by Phase 2.

B-boy – Short for break-boy, or break-dancer. Over time, the term has been used to designate those who join the hip-hop culture. The female counterpart is b-girl.

Black book or book (shougaoben 手稿本) – The writer’s draft book.

Blockbuster or block – This is a kind of graffiti that is easy to execute. It is made of large, square or rectangular block letters. It is generally two-toned: one colour for the fill-in (using temper, roller or paintbrush) and one for the outline. Mainly invented to cover over other people and to paint whole trains easily, but they are effective on smaller walls for maximum coverage. Blade and Comet claim to have invented these.

Bombing (zhajie 炸 街 / beng 崩) – Filling walls and trains with illegal graffiti, typically throw-ups, tags, stencils or simple lettering pieces that can be executed quickly. This is the favourite practice of writers whose primary aim is quality, and who cover the city with their tag to attain the fame of king.

Bubble style (paopaozi fengge 泡泡字風格) – Rounded, old school style lettering, still extensively used in throw-ups due to its quick execution. The letters recall soap bubbles and are painted with great precision. The outline is usually thick, with a white inline to enhance the depth of the lettering. Phase 2 originally created this style.

Buff or buffing system (qinchu tuya 书法涂鸦) – The removal of illegal graffiti, but also the act of writers when they cover other artists’ tags with their own, or with any other sign.

Calli-graffiti or calligraphy graffiti (shufa tuya 书法涂鸦) – An urban art form that combines calligraphy and graffiti.

Cap (pentou 喷头) – The cap of the spray can (penqi guan 喷漆罐) is the interchangable spray-can nozzles fitted to the can to vary the width of spray. Its dimension may vary: fat, for large and quick spraying of backgrounds and thick lines; superfat, for ultra quick strokes and large surfaces; soft, or medium- sized, halfway between fat and skinny, for soft, versatile strokes perfect for backgrounds and edgings; skinny, for outlines; superskinny, for precision work and ultra-thin lines.

Character (tu’an 图案) – Animal or human figurative element but also a cartoon figure (usually, but not necessarily)  taken  from  comic  books,  TV  or popular culture to add humor or emphasis to a piece. In some pieces, the character takes the place of a letter in the word. At the early stages of graffiti, characters where corollaries of letters, but over time they have become a style in their own right (see Puppet).

Charactering – Term we have coined to designate the style of characters in writing pieces (see Lettering), or the use of Chinese characters in graffiti.

Contest (duijue 对决) – Competition or legal battle between breakers, djs, mcs or writers, the most important of which in China is the Wall Lords Graffiti Battle, or simply Wall Lords (Zhanqiang 战墙).

Crew (tuandui 团队) – In hip hop culture, a circle of people collaborating on artistic or cultural projects, e.g., a group of writers or dancers. In graffiti writing, a crew is an organised group of writers who paint together to create pieces. They are usually friends, meaning they share mutual esteem and respect. A writer may belong to more than one crew over time, or even at the same time. The name of a crew is normally an acronym of two or three letters, possibly having multiple meanings. Like tags, crews’ names are often written on the side of the piece, or they form the very core of the piece, with the name of the crew members dotted all around.

Crossing over (gai 盖) – Covering other writers’ pieces with one’s own or drawing crosses on other people’s tags.

Fill-in (tianse 填色) – A painted area within the letters on a piece or throw-up.

Graffiti writing (tuya shuxie 涂鸦书写) – A worldwide social, cultural and artistic phenomenon born in the 1970s in New York ghettos as a spontaneous expression, with no declared intent, of a heterogeneous group of young people belonging to the hip-hop subculture. The etymology of the word graffito derives from the Latin gràphium, or “style of engraving”, which in turn stems from the Greek gràphein (γράφειν, to scratch, to hollow, to draw). The English term “writing”, instead, stands for the act of creating one’s tag in public spaces using spray paint or markers. It entails a study of lettering, namely the style of the characters that make up both simple tags and pieces. In China, the term “graffiti” does not only refer to the writing of letters or characters as in writing, and thus graffiti is also called tuya yishu 涂 鸦 艺 术 (lit. graffiti art), implying a wide range of artistic expressions on public soil (making it much closer to street art). Another term used is tuya huihua 涂 鸦 绘 画 (lit. graffiti painting), which refers to graffiti containing puppets.

Hall of fame (tuya qiang 涂 鸦 墙) – A space where graffiti writing is (more or less) legal. Halls of fame are mainly popular with writers who aim to create artistic, sophisticated pieces, favouring quality over quantity and constantly searching for original styles.

Hip-hop (xiha 嘻哈) – A cultural movement that emerged predominantly in the Afro-American and Latino communities of the Bronx in New York, in the late 1970s. The four main aspects or elements of hip-hop culture are speech, music, movement and sign: MCing (shuochang 说 唱), or rap music introduced by Afro- Americans (MC is the acronym of Master of Ceremony); Djing (dadie 打 碟), introduced by Jamaicans; graffiti writing (tuya shuxie 涂鸦书写) and breakdance (diban wu 地板舞 o pili wu 霹雳舞), introduced by Puerto Ricans.

King (wangzhe 王 者) – A sort of leader for other writers. Generally, the king is the best skilled writer most respected by everyone. A writer is deemed king only if another king recognises him or her as such. Factors taken into account for this title are the number of pieces made in a city, style, originality, and experience.

Lettering – The style of the letters, and the pivotal concept of graffiti writing. Writers first and foremost paint letters, which may differ in size and style:  block consists of large, square or rectangular letters, usually filled with one colour; soft consists of round, soft, cloud-like shaped letters, usually of one colour within an outline; in bubble style, the  letters look like soap bubbles, very precisely coloured and with a wide outline; in wildstyle, the letters are composed of intersecting three-dimensional arrows, which give the idea of movement and confusion. In the case of Chinese graffiti art, since many writers also use characters in their pieces, a new term was coined to indicate the style of the characters: Charactering.

Marker (makebi 马克笔) – The pen used to paint tags.

Masterpiece (dafu de zuopin  大幅的作品) – A piece  of excellent  quality, a particularly successful graffiti.

New school (xinxuexiao 新学校) – As opposed to old school, this term refers to the generation of writers that appeared after the 1980s. In China, it is also used to designate a particular style of lettering that aims to modernise the old school styles.

Old school (laoxuexiao 老 学 校) – “Slang” term referring to the subcultures of a discipline or school and its past generations. It is used to compare the current state of a discipline, subculture or movement with a previous stage. In graffiti, it refers to the early years of graffiti writing in the United States (more specifically, the mid 70s to 1983), when numerous styles were invented, making the first writers famous. The expression “back in the day” also relates to this period. Also may refer to hip-hop music of this period. Old-school writers are given respect for being there when it all started, and specific writers are remembered for creating specific styles. For example, Blade and Comet created blockbusters, Phase 2 created bubble letters, clouds, Skeme’s “S”, and so on.

Outline (lunkuoxian 轮廓线) – The letter outline, the contour line of the piece that defines and shapes its structure: the outline put on the wall and then filled, or the final outline done around the piece to finish it. Can also refer to the drawing done in a piece book (see Black book) in preparation for doing the actual piece (see Sketch).

Piece (zuopin 作品) – A graffiti painting, short for Masterpiece. It is also considered an enlarged tag executed with spray cans, composed of multi- coloured letters (it’s generally agreed that a painting must have at least three colors to be considered a piece). The term is generally used to distinguish graffiti from simple tags. The piece is the third stage in the evolution of letters, after the tag and the throw-up.

Poster art (haibao 海 报) – A form of street art created by joining sheets of printed paper together to compose a large advertising-style image that can even fill entire building facades.

Post-graffiti – A modern evolution of the graffiti culture. This first break away from tradition evolved into the graffiti-logo style trend, with artists associating their name to a logo reproduced in series in public spaces through stickers, stencils and posters. Subsequently, more innovative techniques and art forms were introduced, including painting, sculpture, graphics, design, illustration, fashion, photography, architecture, video art and calligraphy. Post-graffiti is the brainchild of a global world, living and spreading over the World Wide Web.

Puppet (tu’an 图 案) – Figurative elements alongside the graffiti. These may be human figures, animal-like monsters, or comic or cartoon characters (see Character).

Sketch (shougao 手 稿) – The draft of the piece. Usually, every writer has a sketchbook in which they practice before painting on walls.

Stencil art (mubanhua 模 版 画) – A widely used street art practice that allows shapes, symbols and letters to be reproduced in series by means of a stencil, cut in such a way as to form a physical negative of the image to be created. In short, it is a technique characterised by the use of a pattern cut out on cardboard (the stencil) that can be quickly reproduced on the wall with a spray can.

Sticker art (tiezhi 贴纸) – A form of tagging through computer-printed stickers that may contain only the writer’s signature and/or logo or be more elaborate, including small fonts and decorations. Sticker art is quick to execute, cheap, and easy to disseminate, and is considered a sub-category of graffiti art, although some writers believe that this type of art is only for those who are afraid of using markers or spray cans.

Street art (jietou yishu 街头艺术) – A mass media term that tries to define all the art forms performed in public places, often illegally and using the most diverse techniques. Born from graffiti writing, it has developed and evolved into different practices over time: sticker art, stencil art, poster art, video projections, sculptures, installations and performances.

Tag (qianming tuya 签 名 涂 鸦) – The pseudonym, stage name, or code name that every graffiti artist, mc and breaker uses to distinguish themselves, to stand out and highlight their presence in the city. Being the most basic form of graffiti, created with spray cans or markers, the tag is the backbone of the writing phenomenon. The evolution of the tag represents the personal style of its author. All pieces, even the largest, most colourful and elaborate ones, remain, in essence, signatures. The activity of marking a surface with a tag is called tagging-up, while tag bombing is the reproduction of one’s tag on a large scale in a certain area of the city. Tags can also be representative of entire groups. Different writers or mcs who join together can decide to use one comprehensive tag, as a symbol of the group (see Crew).

Throw-up (kuaisu tuya 快速涂鸦 / outu 呕吐) – The first evolution of the tag; a stylised drawing of one’s signature, quickly executed but on a large scale, with few colours that are usually sprayed roughly, even without fill-in. The throw-up is an art of its own: the style is immediate, often very simple and “rubbery”, yet never banal. It only consists of an outline with a monochrome fill-in, but the term can sometimes also indicate any kind of bubble style, thus not necessarily monochrome. This technique is scorned because it is deemed unesthetic, but achieving a good throw-up, quickly and with a precise outline, is no easy task. The throw-up is also known as a flop. Throw-ups can be from one or two letters to a whole word or a whole roll call of names. Often times throw-ups incorporate an exclamation mark after the word or letter.

Toy (xinshou 新 手) – A derogatory term referring to an underappreciated or novice graffiti artist, but also used to offend writers for reasons that are not strictly related to their activity. One old definition of “TOYS” is that it stands for “trouble on your system”.

Wildstyle (kuangye fengge 狂野风格) – A complex composition of letters assembled to give a unique shape and dynamic to the piece. In this style, the letters are distorted and superimposed, and sometimes enriched with three- dimensional arrows, tribals, pikes, puppets and other decorative elements that give an idea of movement and confusion. This style can be straight or soft: the first is symmetrical, and the arrows forming the letters draw sharp angles; the second is asymmetrical, and the angles are replaced by curved arrows with rounded points. To increase the perception of depth, in addition to inserting junctions between characters, the entire word structure can be turned into a three-dimensional element. This complicated construction of interlocking letters is considered one of the hardest styles to master and the lettering of the pieces done in wildstyle is often completely undecipherable to non-writers.

Writer (tuyazhe 涂鸦者 / penzi 喷子 / tuya yishujia 涂鸦艺术家 / xieziren 写字人) – An artist who executes graffiti mainly based on lettering.