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Aerosol Kingdom: Subway Painters of New York City

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Aerosol Kingdom: Subway Painters of New York City by Ivor L. Miller has served my purposes perfectly: I required an introduction into the realm of street art, or, what Miller rightly terms, aerosol (or graffiti) culture. This book does not represent a comprehensive history of graffiti art -- that would be difficult to do as the movement and "period" of this form of art is hardly finished and can hardly be evaluated from beginning to "end" -- rather, this book represents a touchstone of investigation into the subject of this movement, importantly, in the terms of a self-contained culture and not just a style. It should also be expressed that "graffiti art" is not synonymous with a far more general heading "street art" -- rather "street art" is a recent phrase to signify, among graffiti, a plethora of varying styles and concepts "performed" on the streets.

It is difficult now, in 2009, to think of graffiti as anything but art. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring are artists that have helped make the notion of graffiti a well-recognized form, if not a mainstream consciousness, of painting (and even personal style) and it is difficult to look at such dazzling and creative visuals in an art historical context and not consider it, intrinsically, an incredibly important artistic movement. However, Miller reminds us, by tracing the roots of the New York City street art scene to the mature stages we now find the once-rare, now-popularized, art form in, that it was not initially received (in fact, not received for a great deal of time) as legitimate or creative -- it was once nothing but a nuisance to transit authorities and an "eye sore" to busy business men and women (not that it still, shamefully, isn't perceived in that way today). Miller informs us that even from its first wave (its first "generation") graffiti was entirely about expressing the views of the oppressed and, as a gathering force all its own, actually caused a graffiti culture to be born that people around NYC could identify with. Indeed, it was a culture with its own language (both visual and semantic) and message (frequently political, occasionally personal, and sometimes a markedly unique blending of both).

Miller writes: "My project follows the culture from its emergence in the frontier days of early signaturing, to the golden age of whole-car murals and letter technologies, and to its global status" (9).

Miller's book is important because it focuses an eye on the beginning stages of a culture that has, over the course of nearly 40 years, manifest itself into dozens of sub-categories and sub-cultures in every cranny of the globe. The globalization (and I use that term so affectionately) of graffiti art is a remarkable aspect to follow. What began as an incredibly isolated and specific visual and textual rhetoric of borough (and "ghetto") life in NYC has become a means of expressing and orienting oneself to very universal ideologies of political subjugation, capitalistic tyranny, and the residue of colonial oppression that exist virtually everywhere people do.

Though I am fresh to the subject, a unique examination found in Miller's book appears to be the careful consideration of graffiti's ethnic roots. The culture, according to Miller, is deeply submersed in a hip-hop mentality that features significant aspect of African, African-American, and Caribbean traditions. Tethering graffiti so closely to these ethnic traditions is, in many aspects, irrefutable, though some of the artists interviewed for the book appear to resist the implications. Some view their roots in aerosol culture as something indicative and loyal to NYC life rather than outside or "foreign" ethnic forces -- though Miller does well to steep NYC history itself in African-American and Caribbean tradition (the city as a melting pot). Great comparisons ensue, like the references of graffiti to jazz, blues, and gospel music as art forms intrinsically American. In a far broader sense, Miller eventually asserts that an understanding of graffiti is, "central to a contemporary dialogue on issues of race and class" (14).

In addition to the visual and textual rhetoric of graffiti, Miller frames his research with important examination of the technology used and -- crucially -- developed by the early street artists. Custom spray can tops; the appropriation of words and language and the creation of new words and meanings; the reinvention of the signature, of the name, as crucial expression of identity; the use of city technologies (such as the train systems) act as canvas, metaphor, and vehicle for transporting the artwork to multiple segments of the population. Every aspect and technology used by the graffiti culture helped to frame and further their concepts to a broader and, ultimately limitless, audience.

The book is rich with many interviews with first- and subsequent generations of graffiti artists. Because so many of the artist are still alive, still active, and still eager to communicate the story of how the movement began, Miller's book is greatly enhanced by a tender and compassionate interest in receiving first-hand information and critique on the subject from those who lived -- and created -- it. The book is filled to the brim with great images, great quotes, and great analysis of graffiti art as it progressed from the early 70's to the early 00's. A must read for the novice art historian, like myself, for a foray into the world of graffiti. It will be impossible to understand great artists like Basquiat or Banksy without an understanding of street art's roots. Miller takes us there.