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Does the commercialization of street art signal the gentrification of graffiti? A focus on the street art and graffiti in Los Angeles

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Does the commercialization of street art signal the gentrification of graffiti? A focus on the street art and graffiti in Los Angeles

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Content Copyright 2020 Shamara A. Carney
Does the Commercialization of Street Art Signal the Gentrification of Graffiti?
A Focus on the Street Art and Graffiti in Los Angeles
by
Shamara A. Carney
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR
COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements of the Degree
Master of Arts
Strategic Public Relations
May 2020
ii
Dedication
First and foremost, I would like to thank God for allowing me to take what I thought was
a random thesis topic and make it into this body of work with a clear conclusion. It took many
prayers and even more patience to endure the many pivots and adjustments I had to make along
the way. Additionally, I fully appreciate my family for encouraging me to do this project and
giving me the space, I needed to make sure I was focused. In the same way, I would like to thank
my graduate program cohort for always pushing me to do my best in all classes and to make sure
that I put my best work forward. Last, but not least, I would like to dedicate this thesis to the all
the graffiti artists who are not given the credit they deserve due to the lack of exposure. I see you
and I appreciate you, there should be credit given to each and every one of you in some way
shape or form, I hope this project clarifies why.
iii
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank the wonderful artist, Noni Olabisi whose art inspired me to
decide to dive deeper into the street art world. Thank you for allowing your bold and
unapologetic personality bleed onto your piece, so much so that I felt inclined to stop by and
learn more about it. Without your work, this would not have come to fruition.
To my thesis committee, I thank you for your patience more than anything. I work best
under pressure, but I understand that is not ideal for everyone so thank you for understanding and
working with my system. To my first chair, Professor Jennifer Floto, you have given me the
confidence in my writing skills that allowed me to complete this project successfully and I am
forever grateful. To my second chair, Jennifer de la Fuente, thank you for giving me the direction
and strategy I needed to finally begin this project. Lastly, to my third chair, Professor Laura
Castaneda, I appreciate you giving me clear and honest feedback regarding both, the big picture
of my idea, as well as the smaller details involved.
A very huge thank you to my amazing three interviewees who provided an immense
depth to the project by sharing their experience and expertise surrounding street art. Without
your input this thesis would not have been possible. I value each and every one of you more than
you know.
iv
Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Figures vi
Research Methodology vii
Glossary of Key Terms viii
Abstract ix
Preface x
Part One: The History of Graffiti in the U.S. 1
The B.C.’s 1
WWI & WWII 1
“Tagging” in the 1960s 2
Graffiti in New York 3
Graffiti Becomes a Subculture 5
Graffiti and Hip Hop 6
The War Against Graffiti 7
Protest Graffiti 8
Part Two: Street Art 10
What is Street Art? 10
Street Art vs. Graffiti 12
Street Art Leading to Fame 12
Part Three: Corporate Interference & Commercialization 13
Street Art Being Co-opted 14
Perceptions of “Selling Out” 15
Maintaining Political Impact in Commercial Contexts 16
v
A Conversation with Two Graffiti & Street Art Experts 18
History 24
Area One: Crenshaw 27
Area Two: Arts District 31
Area Three: Downtown LA 33
Area Four: Hermosa Beach 35
An Exclusive Interview with Viral Street Artist ‘Muck Rock’ 37
Conclusion 42
Bibliography 44
Appendix A 49
Additional Interview Excerpts: Professor Todd Boyd 49
vi
List of Figures
Figure 1.1- “To Protect and Serve” Mural by Noni Olabisi xi
Figure 1.2 - “Kilroy was here!” tag during the war 2
Figure 1.3 - Cornbread posing in front of his tag 3
Figure 1.4 - Phase 2 “Bubble Letters” on a New York Subway train 4
Figure 1.5 - Young graffiti writers in the Bronx area in the 1980s 6
Figure 1.6- “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love” by Dmitri Vrubel 10
Figure 1.7- A piece at the Buschwick Collective in New York City 11
Figure 1.8 – Banksy “Flower Thrower” piece 12
Figure 1.9 – Shepard Fairey “Obama Hope” piece 13
Figure 1.10 – Royyaldog IPhone commercial piece 16
Figure 1.11 - A piece professor David Hylton was commissioned to create for Create & 22
Cultivate 2019
Figure 1.12- SABER’s famous LA riverbank tag. Credit: Highsnobiety 25
Figure 1.13: MTA’s largest graffiti piece 26
Figure 1.14 - A piece of RTN’s “Our Mighty Contribution” mural 28
Figure 1.15 A popular Nipsey Hussle mural on the 3400 blocks of Slauson Ave. 30
Figure 1.16 An Instagram photo of a couple posed in front of a mural on 4th street in Arts 32
District
Figure 1.17 One of the first Kobe and Gianna Bryant Murals in Downtown LA by 34
@muckrock
Figure 1.18: A commissioned mural in Hermosa Beach 36
Figure 1.19 photo from my interview with Jules Muck while she painted her piece 37
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Research Methodology
My research methodology included qualitative primary research: a series of interviews
with former graffiti artists, current street artists/muralists, professors and graffiti experts to gain
both depth and breadth on the subject. Interviewees included Todd Boyd, University of Southern
California Professor of Cinema and Media Studies and Katherine and Frank Price Endowed
Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture, Anthony Acock; former graffiti artist, current
muralist and Cal Poly Pomona Professor in Graphic Design; David Hylton, former graffiti artist,
current street art designer and Cal Poly Pomona Professor in Graphic Design and social media
graffiti and street artist, Jules Muck, known as “Muckrock.” Additionally, I conducted a
thorough content analysis of three different documentaries made about graffiti, its origin and its
impact, as well as through visiting various graffiti sites to gain deeper insights on the styles in
certain areas. The three films I analyzed were Style Wars, Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence,
and Exit through the Giftshop. Extensive secondary research was also used in the form of
research articles, projects, blogs and social media commentary. All of my findings will be used
to inform my eventual conclusions about the gentrification of the street art form.
viii
Glossary of Key Terms
The reader will encounter the following terms throughout this document.
● Tag or tagging - a quick, stylized signature composed of letters and/or numbers
● Bombing - tagging or spray-painting multiple surfaces within a location often using
quick tags
● Bubble Letters- a lettering style where the letters look puffy and bloated kind of like
bubbles
● Buffed - when your graffiti art gets covered up by police or law enforcement
● Crew- a group of writers, or graffiti artists
● Pieces- large-scale, labor-intensive works of graffiti-style art
● Throw-up - a rapidly made statement piece that is not quite a piece but more than a tag,
often using one color
● Writer- an individual that practices or creates graffiti art
● Cholo - When used of a Mexican or Mexican American, the term usually refers to an
immigrant who is considered to be low-class and inferior.

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Abstract
Graffiti has provided color and culture to the City of Los Angeles for decades now but the use of
graffiti-like art for commercial purposes has become increasingly popular in recent years. This
transition from graffiti being done for recreational purposes, such as a means to protest or to
represent a certain culture or group, has turned into an entire professional practice, more formally
known as street art. Walking through communities in LA, you will still see traditional illegal
graffiti along walls and on street signs, but you will also see the same styles used for coffee shop
signs or Instagram walls near clothing stores. This paper will analyze the evolution of graffiti in
Los Angeles to expose the impact and implications of the recent increase in the use of street art
in commercial settings. The study begins by exploring the dynamic history of graffiti to reveal
the deeply rooted cultural origins of the practice. Moving forward, the changes in the perception
of graffiti over time will be analyzed to determine whether or not graffiti can be thought of as
synonymous with street art now being commissioned. Similar to the analysis of the perceptions
of graffiti over time, this paper will also explore the judgments over time of artists who
ultimately decide to sell their art for a profit. The study was heavily supported by primary
research conducted in interviews and content analysis as well as the secondary research
conducted through the review of several published research articles and discussions regarding the
subject of street art and graffiti.

x
Preface
I have discovered multiple routes from my apartment in Inglewood, California, to the
Jefferson Boulevard parking structure on the University of Southern California (USC) campus
where I attend graduate school. Due to the Los Angeles traffic, those routes rarely include
freeways so, I’ve had the opportunity to see my fair share of West and South LA culture on its
surface streets. On those routes were an array of different ethnicities and languages, the variety
of culinary options, types of fashion sold at strip malls, farmers’ markets, or, my personal
favorite, graffiti and street art. These last two were my favorites because they allowed for the
most interpretation in comparison to the others I mentioned. For example, seeing a certain type
of restaurant with specific offerings tells a complete story that is very easy to understand. You
can instantly determine where the restaurant came from, who owns it and the ambiance or
message it is attempting to send. When I saw a piece of graffiti or street art, I would not be able
to easily come to those conclusions. In fact, I was left with no answers to any questions that
came to mind. I would see the graffiti and wonder about the full story behind it, asking myself
some version of the same three questions: “1) Who wrote that? 2) What does it mean? 3) Is it
legal?” The thing that I would think about the most is the difference between what I was
considering graffiti and what I was considering street art. I would automatically separate the two
without a second thought; it was as if I had decided that graffiti and street art were mutually
exclusive entities based on my own preconceived notions.
One of my most frequent routes to campus was one that led me to a piece of street art I
became obsessed with at the intersection of 11th Street and Jefferson Boulevard on the outside
wall of a building that holds a cozy beauty salon and a convenience store. I saw the beautiful
deep red background covered by multiple generations of black men enduring both physical and

xi
emotional trauma as well as the black men who decided to combat it. (see Figure 1.1) The main
subject of the mural was the two largest images of Black Panthers, one holding a gun and the
other wearing the group’s signature black beret and a stern expression. To solidify that the main
message of the mural was to praise the Black Panther Party, the artist, (who I later discovered is
Noni Olabisi), the painting included an image of an actual panther on the top right corner of the
mural. The piece also displayed images of the forces that the Black Panther Party was formed to
protest against including the KKK, the police, a judge wearing an American flag headband as
well as images of the free lunch program the Black Panthers created, including the powerful
women who helped make it everything it was.
Figure 1.1- “To Protect and Serve” Mural by Noni Olabisi
After seeing the mural, the first time, I wanted to see it anytime I possibly could even if
that route was estimated to take longer than alternative ones. I would see more details each time I
passed by it, making me realize just how much it stood for. I finally decided to get out of the car
one day to get a closer look at the painting and see the story written on the right side of it. The
title of the piece was “To Protect and Serve,” and it was, indeed, a tribute to the Black Panther
Party. The artist, Olabisi, is a muralist whose work deals directly with civil rights. The painting
was first meant to be a part of SPARC’s Great Wall Unlimited: Neighborhood Pride Murals,
according to the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC). But due to political opposition

xii
from the conservative City Arts Commission, that could not happen, and the painting instead
became an independent privately funded project. A more specifically detailed description of the
piece was provided by SPARC:
The left side focuses on personal and institutional racist violence toward African
Americans. Depicted are images of the Klan and Bobby Seale bound and gagged, as he
was during the Chicago 7 Trial of the late 1960s–above him is judge Julius Hoffman who
presided in that case. Huey Newton and Angela Davis are also portrayed. The right side
of the mural emphasizes the Panthers’ social projects, such as the Free Breakfast
Program. From the mural: We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and
MURDER of Black People! We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice
and peace. All power to the people!
The painting meant so much as I was able to tell by the way it drew me in day after day.
It fascinated me that a mural that essentially was street art held the power to completely slow me
down and gain my full attention. I love to look at all street art, including graffiti, but this mural
specifically made me want to more deeply investigate the major differences in the types of street
art, the influences that graffiti had -- and still has -- on paintings such as this and the ways in
which the sudden trend to commercialize it has affected its impact. Additionally, if one piece of
street art could influence me to take a longer route to my destination, I knew there was a
significance in examining the ways it can be used or is already being used, to influence others in
various settings.
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Part One: The History of Graffiti in the U.S.
The B.C.’s
Graffiti can be defined as “unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface,”
according to the Southern California Law Review (Welch & Kelly, 2011). The beginning of
graffiti goes back to the Stone Age. It was then that drawings and carvings were made on the
walls of caves to commemorate significant dates, names and leaders and to track records such as
how much livestock was owned. In the Roman Era, the practice was simply done with a rock and
a hard surface and it was mostly sketching and shapes that only the people who created it could
interpret. Graffiti inevitably evolved, and humans learned to manipulate different elements on a
variety of surfaces to create extremely detailed pieces of art that told stories about cultures,
organizations, cities and brands. However, what remained consistent from 78 BC to 2020 was
that at its very core, it was a form of expression. The common themes of early graffiti expressed
popular themes such as, “sex, alcohol, money and politics” (Falcon, 2016). Moving forward to
the 1930s and 40s, the recurring theme of graffiti had largely to do with the wars that were
happening at the time.
WWI & WWII
As a kid, you may have found yourself writing your name on stuff and saying “was here”
after it. This would be in yearbooks, on your desks, on your friend’s paper or just anywhere you
felt like writing it. This weird but common activity was first done during World Wars I and II.
During World War I, military personnel from Australia would draw a big-nosed cartoon, peeking
over a wall with no caption or words near it. It was not until World War II that a phrase began to
accompany this cartoon. “Kilroy was here” was most widely believed to be birthed sometime in
the 1940s in the peak of the second World War by an American soldier. It was one of the earliest

2
displays of something going viral. The long nose cartoon and “Kilroy was here” was on walls,
boats, fences and any surface a soldier could write on. It became something that these soldiers
would look forward to seeing during their treacherous journeys from battle to battle. (Figure 1.2)
Some called it a “morale booster” and an “emblem of pride” for American soldiers specifically
in World War II because it meant that “no place, and no country, was beyond the reach of
America’s might” (Strauss, 2019). The impact that one simple phrase had on these American
soldiers completely changed their perception of what they were going through. The small piece
of graffiti brought them peace in the midst of chaos.

Figure 1.2 - “Kilroy was here!” tag during the war

“Tagging” in the 1960s
To comprehensively study graffiti, it is necessary to define the act of tagging. Tagging is
a form of graffiti that acts as a personal branding method for its writers. A tagger is someone
who earns a nickname that they then write on various surfaces to gain fame, show artistic
expression, rebellion or notoriety. In 1967, fame and notoriety as a motivation for tagging were
exemplified through the actions of a young black man in Philadelphia named Darryl McCray,
more commonly known as “Cornbread.” (See Figure 1.3) Cornbread is widely believed to be the

3
world's very first graffiti artist, starting by simply writing his nickname on as many surfaces as
he could throughout the city. He quickly gained the attention of the media, which only fueled
him to create more. He was obsessed with giving them something else to write about him and his
tagging. Friends of his who later became graffiti legends, Cool Earl and Kool Klepto Kid, joined
Cornbread to cover the maximum number of surfaces. His style was seen as reckless due to his
tendency to tag on surfaces that were going to be highly publicized. For example, he would tag
on planes, police cars and once he even tagged on the body of an elephant at the zoo. He knew
what he was doing was illegal, but he found a thrill in the fact that he was being seen and highly
sought after. He was most wanted by the police who eventually arrested him. It was Cornbread
who began the complex story of graffiti. His way of tagging is one of the main reasons graffiti is
perceived negatively by most, especially law enforcement. (Shea, 2014)

Figure 1.3 - Cornbread posing in front of his tag

Graffiti in New York
During the time that Cornbread was spreading his name on live animals and vehicles, a
similar movement was developing in New York. In the 1970s, Bronx artist Lonny Wood, known
as Phase 2, had one of the most significant impacts on graffiti through the creation of his own
style called “Funky Nous Deco,” and through that, he developed one of the most prominent
styles, “bubble letters.” (Darville, 2019) That style is known as a foundation to graffiti as it

4
influenced a majority of the artists then and now. The bubble letters began as large puffy letters
that were also sometimes called “softies” because of their resemblance to marshmallows. Over
the years, the appearance of the bubble letters has evolved but the overall concept has remained
the same. (See figure 1.4) Phase 2 was one of the first artists to place an emphasis on what is
called “style writing” rather than simply graffiti. “Style Writing” refers to “the entire public form
of art that was slowly emerging globally from the subways of New York City.” (Gallard, 2014)
He was adamant about that label for himself because he was fully aware of the negative
connotations that came along with the term graffiti.

Figure 1.4 - Phase 2 “Bubble Letters” on a New York Subway train

Later, in the 1980s, a new name in New York took over as “Taki 183 was the first to turn
[tagging] into a 24-hour-a-day job,” according to Complex (Pape, 2013). Similar to Cornbread in
Philadelphia, Taki 183 would specifically choose the surfaces that would catch the most eyes. He
was most known for choosing to write on subway cars so that his name would be spread across

5
different cities in New York. In 2015, Taki mentioned to Street Art NYC that he “liked the
feeling of getting (his) name up and the idea of getting away with it.” There was a point when
you could see his name all the way up to the Upper East Side. His fame was mostly created by a
profile in the New York Times in 1971, which earned him respect among his graffiti peers.
Being the first New York graffiti writer to become famous for his work, Taki started a movement
among New York’s young writers to dedicate more time to their tagging. These young writers
had a goal of “going all city,” as mentioned in the very popular graffiti documentary Style Wars.
(Silver 1983). This meant dominating a large part of all the boroughs in New York when it
comes to graffiti. In other words, these writers had ambitions of their names and their work being
spread across New York, like Taki successfully did.
Graffiti Becomes a Subculture
The sudden surge of young graffiti writers with a desire to have their work seen by the
masses led to the creation of an entire subculture. A subculture can be defined as a cultural group
within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests that differ from those of the larger
culture. Much like the parts of Philadelphia that Cornbread and his friends started their writing
in, New York’s graffiti was birthed in the inner cities where incomes were low and activities
outside of school were often dangerous and illegal. Graffiti writing was also dangerous and
illegal but to these young kids, it was less of a risk because they knew that there were too many
of them doing it to be truly stopped. “You could be on the basketball team, you could be in a
gang, or you could go out here and write on the walls,” said Bama, a Bronx writer from the early
1970s. (Pape, 2016) Writing on walls was an escape from much worse and it was a way for them
to gain fame, which was otherwise rarely achieved. A common assumption made about this
subculture is that it was predominantly black and Puerto Rican men; however, often white young

6
men from the upper east side of Manhattan would join in on the graffiti going on in the Bronx,
Harlem and Queens areas. However, the presence of white men within these neighborhoods and
on the train yards did not mean that there was complete integration happening between black and
white graffiti writers. In fact, in 1982, a graffiti writer named Skeme stated, “I hate to use the
term segregation, but it’s not true that train yards were integrated. Some were black and the
others were white… it may not have been intentional.” (Chalfant, 1983) Whether it was
intentional or not, the separation further proves how graffiti had become a full society of its own
with its own racial and class differences.
Figure 1.5 - Young graffiti writers in the Bronx area in the 1980s

Graffiti and Hip Hop
It is nearly impossible not to think of hip hop when discussing graffiti culture. Almost
every documentary made regarding graffiti includes a soundtrack filled with rap and hip-hop
music and the sounds of artists like Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel and The Furious
Five. “As hip-hop grew in prominence during the late-1970s, it drew graffiti writers closer to the

7
music and dance that was coming to define New York street culture,” according to Complex.
(Stowers, 2012) New York was one of the first places in which the rise of hip hop took place,
causing it to be deeply rooted in its culture. As noted earlier, graffiti was also very deeply rooted
in the New York culture, making the relationship between the two inevitable. In 1983, there was
an entire film made by Charlie Ahearn about this complex relationship between hip hop and
graffiti titled Wild Style. It was about a graffiti artist who becomes so well known that he is
commissioned to paint a background for rap and breakdance concerts. It was called the best and
first hip-hop film ever made because of its ability to combine all four characteristics of the hip-
hop culture, including graffiti, DJing, breakdancing and rapping. Set in South Bronx with the
lead characters played by actual graffiti artists, rappers, DJs and break-dancers, its technical
downfalls were overshadowed by its cultural significance. The making of this movie solidified
that graffiti was considered an element of hip-hop culture. But, the relationship between the
music and the graffiti changed over time as more “rappers came out and people saw it as music,
they knew it was something they can sell, something they can monetize and so (the music) part
of (hip hop) grew, while the rest of it stayed in place,” stated Todd Boyd, a professor in the
University of Southern California Cinema and Media Studies program and Endowed Chair for
the Study of Race and Popular Culture. Rap music quickly outgrew graffiti for a period of time
because the music was legal and made money, while graffiti was illegal and cost cities money.
The War Against Graffiti
New York Times journalist Heather Mac Donald, expressed her strong opinion regarding
graffiti with her (2014) article titled “Graffiti is Always Vandalism.” (Mac Donald, 2014) In her
piece, she directly targets those who glorify graffiti stating that they only celebrate it because it is
not spread onto their property. The piece was written in response to the question, “When does

8
graffiti become art?” and it was accompanied by other articles both sharing her opinion and
disagreeing with it. An opinion like hers was not the first; in fact, in 1972 there was an entire war
declared on graffiti by then New York Mayor John Lindsay. The declaration led the city to spend
$300 million dollars over the next 17 years in an attempt to ensure that commuter trains were
free of graffiti. The dramatic attack on the act of graffiti became more of an attack on those who
wrote it. The city would often categorize the writers as being “black, brown, or other, in that
order and vilified them as sociopaths, drug addicts, and monsters.” The aggressive attack on
graffiti artists, break-dancers and street rappers of color was like a prequel to the racism that was
to follow as shown through the zero-tolerance policies, war on drugs and three-strike laws. In
1982, The Broken Window theory was introduced by criminologists George L. Kelling and
James Q. Wilson. “Kelling and Wilson suggested that a broken window or other visible signs of
disorder or decay – think loitering, graffiti, prostitution or drug use – can send the signal that a
neighborhood is uncared for.” (Vedantam et. al, 2016) During the war on graffiti, these writers
were being charged with offenses that rarely matched the crime of vandalism in order to create a
criminal record that would follow them for life. The city failed to recognize that their fight
against graffiti was only giving these young writers more inspiration to create pieces. Graffiti
was always a way for writers to not only show their skills and creativity but also to vent and
protest against the oppressive systems they faced daily.
Protest Graffiti
Graffiti is often studied “as a reaction to injustice and disenfranchisement, a cry for
revolution, a way to create awareness of socio-political issues, an expression of hope for the
future, an effort to reclaim public spaces, or an attempt to beautify the urban environment”
(DeNotto, Michael, 2014; Association of College & Research Libraries. Vol 75, No.4). Some of

9
the earliest graffiti ever made was politically related, as shown through the “Kilroy was here”
movement during World War II. This did not change over the years as graffiti became more
popular; in fact, the political connections grew to be stronger as the graffiti subculture developed.
In New York specifically, protest graffiti was and is still shown through pieces painted onto the
subway that displayed messages such as long messages on trains about wars and police brutality.
In European countries, graffiti and street art have been politically driven for years. For
example, in the early 1960s, the 12-foot-high Berlin Wall was constructed by the East German
government and the West side of the new barrier became the ideal place for street artists to create
graffiti art. Once it began, artists from everywhere traveled to Berlin to add a piece of themselves
to the Wall. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, pieces of the wall covered in graffiti
were sold off and some destroyed, but there was a strip of the well preserved and still visited by
tourists called the East Side Gallery. Many of the images painted on the Berlin Wall are directly
related to the political climate the city was experiencing at the time. For example, one of the
most famous murals on the wall is called My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love by
Dmitri Vrubel and it shows the USSR and GDR leaders exchanging a kiss on the lips. (See
Figure 1.6) It is based on an actual kiss that took place between the two in 1979 on the 30th
anniversary of the GDR. The painting is directly motivated and inspired by the close political
and personal relationship shared between East Germany and the Soviet Union and the name of
the piece revealing sarcasm regarding the eventual doom resulting from the relationship. The

10
relationship between politics and street art was strongly shown in this instance and the types of
art made included graffiti but were mostly what would be classified and street art or murals.
Figure 1.6- “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love” by Dmitri Vrubel
Part Two: Street Art
What is Street Art?
Street art is a direct descendant of graffiti in that it is usually done on the same types of
surfaces graffiti appears on and the media used are similar if not the same. However, a major
difference between street art and graffiti is that while street art is often commissioned -- therefore
legal -- graffiti is considered vandalism and always illegal. The term street art was first made
relevant by Allan Schwartzman in 1985 (Lewisohn, 2008). It refers to a diverse “artistic
expression against an urban backdrop.” influenced directly by graffiti, “in a two-dimensional or
three-dimensional state” (Hughes 2009). Street art is often called post-graffiti because it is more
technical than graffiti due to the use of more media than what was used in the 1970s and ‘80s in
New York City and elsewhere in the U.S. The stylistic differences between graffiti and street art

11
are noticeable with graffiti mostly being word and text-based consisting of tags and quotes, and
street art being mainly image-based displaying large portraits or scenes.
As much as graffiti defined New York City in the past, the Bushwick Collective is
leading it to be redefined as legal street art. The Bushwick Collective was started by a local,
Joseph Ficalora, in 2013 in memory of his father who was murdered in 1991. His goal was to
create a “transformative” street art and graffiti project recruiting artists from all around the world
to add their art to the many industrial residential properties in the city. His rules include:
“nothing offensive to children, women or local businesses.” The art usually only remains on the
surfaces for one year but there are exceptions with some art lasting for five years. There are
currently pieces of art on these walls paying homage to entire cultures as well as graffiti tags
reminiscent of the first graffiti art done in New York City. (See Figure 1.7) The collective is an
example of how graffiti influences street art stylistically. It also speaks to the evolving public
perception of graffiti and street art as the collective has become an extremely popular tourist
attraction since its creation.
Figure 1.7- A piece at the Buschwick Collective in New York City

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Street Art vs. Graffiti
Street art, unlike graffiti, encourages the use of many different media in addition to spray
paint, markers or pens. It employs the use of multiple paints, stencils, installations, sometimes
sculptures, photos, sticker art and anything the artist believes fits her/his style the best (Hughes
2009). Additionally, like some graffiti, street art is often made to send a politically dominated
message or to comment on society. A major difference between street art and graffiti lies in the
goals of the two different types of artists. Graffiti writers are creating something only their
specific subculture can understand, not caring about how the public sees it. Street artists are
being inspired by graffiti styles but using them to create pieces that communicate societal
messages that encourage dialogue and reaction.
Street Art Leading to Fame
While graffiti lands you in jail, successful street art can make you famous and extremely
wealthy. The creation of places like the Bushwick Collective and The Los
Figure 1.8 Figure 1.9

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Angeles Arts District has allowed street artists to gain the attention of the right people, which has
led to generous amounts of compensation for some. Two well-known contemporary street artists,
Banksy (Figure 1.8) and Shepard Fairey (Figure 1.9), exemplify the street artist’s success story.
Banksy is completely anonymous and best known for his controversial stencil-based pieces that
often go viral in seconds on the internet. He is also known for using objects found in the streets
nearby such as street signs and other objects to create an entire experience through his art that
goes beyond being a beautiful piece and into a thought catalyst. Banksy focuses on three main
ideas in his pieces: art, philosophy and politics. Some of his pieces are worth nearly $200,000,
allowing him to make a large profit from his art.
Another famous street artist is Fairey, made popular for his Andre the Giant Has a Posse
piece which he used to launch his clothing brand, OBEY and his Obama Hope poster (pictured
above). His brand is largely influenced by the skateboarding culture. Fairey is an example of the
endless possibilities that contemporary street art presents in the modern era. He was able to
combine his street art talent, his skateboarding and fashion to create a brand that symbolizes a
subculture that resembles the combination of the four elements of hip-hop birth in the 70s and
80s in New York. However, the issue often discussed regarding modern street artists like Fairey
is whether their commercialization was going to tarnish society’s feelings towards public art. The
concern lies in the possibility of there being confusion between what is the art and what is an
advertisement.
Part Three: Corporate Interference & Commercialization
The concern regarding the blurred lines between corporate-influenced art and artist-
influenced art has continued to grow over the years. Artist-influenced art can be defined as art
created by the artists for their own personal purpose. This is largely because the aesthetic of

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graffiti and street art has become increasingly attractive to the public. “Now that people see
(graffiti) as hip or cool, it's commercialized as well,” said Boyd when asked about the sudden
surge in companies using the styles and techniques of graffiti and street artists. Corporations are
using this shift in trends to their advantage by co-opting street art for their advertisements and
branding.

Street Art Being Co-opted
“Street Art Used to Be the Voice of the People. Now It’s The Voice of Advertisers,” is
the title of an article written by Christine Macdonald for In These Times in March of 2019.
(Macdonald, 2019) It is important to note the date of the article because it proves the relevance
of the issue with the co-opting of street art. There is a major difference to be recognized between
commissioned mural art and the creation of corporate art. The modern mural movement is an
example of commissioned mural art inspired by political moments such as those that occurred
during the New Deal era and the Mexican Mural Movement. The goals of the murals made in
those times were to empower, educate and unify communities by celebrating them. In the same
way, modern muralists in communities like Chicago are creating pieces that celebrate black
history icons, such as Nina Simon and Malcolm X, to evoke a sense of pride and honor within
the predominantly black Chicago neighborhoods. However, the interference of corporations has
led these muralists and graffiti artists to fall victim to corporate attempts to gentrify areas in a
process coined as “artwashing,” which refers to “developers using commissioned murals to
beautify a community,” in a seemingly authentic way. (Macdonald, 2019)

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Perceptions of “Selling Out”
The term “selling out” is used in a variety of different professions, usually those that are
creative. Musicians are sometimes considered sellouts when they sign to a record label as
opposed to releasing independently. App developers who sell their apps for large sums of capital
are seen by other developers to be “selling out” as well. In the graffiti and street art atmosphere,
it is no different. As the space for street artists becomes scarcer due to the monetization of the
walls in their cities, the only way for them to be able to continue to create at the scale they are
used to is to receive sponsorship. The issue with sponsorship is that it usually requires the artist
to create a piece the company has already conceptualized leaving little to no room for their own
creativity. Also, to the graffiti and street artists who originally created their art to convey a
politically or socially charged message, sponsored jobs that may feel unfulfilling. The man
known as The Phantom Street Artist, Joey Krebs, believes that the idea of corporate graffiti is a
contradiction. In fact, Krebs holds strong beliefs regarding Fairey’s rise to fame specifically,
stating that he was appropriating the “artwork of genuine political and cultural movements like
Black Panther to advance his own market and public relations interests.” (Macdonal, 2019) His
accusation touches upon the complicated commercialized street art industry from the artist side
to the corporate side. Krebs is not only upset about the role that corporations are playing in the
“gentrification” of graffiti, but also the role that artists are playing in its consumerism. In
response to criticisms like Krebs, Fairey said “Art can prime the neighborhood for gentrification.
Blaming art is the wrong tactic, though. Looking at policies around aggressive business practices
is a more targeted approach to the problem” (Bennett, 2019). He recognized his participation in
fulfilling the corporate interests, but he believes that the issue stems from the fact that he has an

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opportunity to do so. Fairey’s position, much like most of the world, is that capitalism is
inevitable; if you can’t stop it from happening, you should use it in a way that will benefit you.
Fairey shares the belief of many artists who recognize both the positive and negative
effects of corporate muralism. On one hand, it can directly be tied to capitalist systems with
goals to gentrify, but on the other hand, it can simply be an artist’s way to make an income.
Government agencies and nonprofits are rarely given enough funding for commissioned art to
equate to the large amounts of money corporations offer street artists. “But for some artists, the
only way to avoid a corporate takeover of the mind is by steering clear of commercial
commissions altogether.” (Bennett, 2017) This dichotomy within the street art world is one that
should be considered by corporations when they are considering using muralists, graffiti artists
or street artists to help enhance their brand. A way to mediate these feelings of cognitive
dissonance regarding whether to seek their well-being by taking corporate commissions or their
compassions by solely partaking in community enriching projects.
Maintaining Political Impact in Commercial Contexts
So, is it possible to maintain political and social impact in an explicitly commercial
context? In the art done by viral sensation, Royyaldog, the answer is yes. Recently he was
commissioned to make a large-scale mural in the middle of Downtown LA that was the picture
Figure 1.10 – Royyaldog IPhone commercial piece

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of two beautiful black women with cornrows in their hair. To the public, it was a beautiful
appreciation of black women. It is not common to see black women and their natural beauty so
proudly displayed in a major part of Los Angeles. For a while, the painting was admired purely
for that reason and it seemed as if that may have been the purpose of it, to celebrate black
women. However, Royyaldog revealed on his Instagram that it was a campaign by Apple to
promote the clarity of the iPhone 11 Pro camera. The picture he made into a beautiful mural was
originally a picture taken from an iPhone. His talent allowed the details of the photo to come
through so clearly that it comments on the high resolution the phone offers. (See Figure 1.10)
This corporate muralism example is one that can be seen as maintaining social and cultural
significance in the midst of an advertisement with the goal of motivating consumers to make a
purchase because up until the intentions of the mural were revealed, extremely meaningful
messages were taken from it.

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A Conversation with Two Graffiti & Street Art Experts
The ideal situation for a graffiti artist is to be able to keep writing graffiti without
negative consequences or to at least be able to create pieces using the same styles. In some way,
these graffiti writers need to be around art. An example of this need to be surrounded by
creativity is shown through the lives of two former graffiti writers who now create commissioned
pieces by night and teach university-level classes in the art and design school at Cal Poly
Pomona by day. Professor Anthony Acock and Professor David Hylton sat down for a
conversation regarding their relationship with graffiti and their transition to legal street art while
providing some insights on the issues that arise with the commercialization of street art.
Q: How did you get involved with graffiti?
Acock: I grew up in the cities and a lot of the kids were skateboarding and graffiti started
coming up with it, so it was pretty easy to combine the two. I didn't grow up in a town that had
graffiti. I grew up in a small town in Oregon, so I and my friends were the first generations to
write graffiti. It was just skating and trains because the city had a pretty active train yard. I also
came into it through the punk rock scene as opposed to graffiti writers on the East Coast who
usually entered into the scene through hip hop. Hip hop is probably the most direct entryway into
the graffiti scene but on the West Coast, punk rock was a popular entryway as well. If you look
at like CBS crew, you will see a lot of that punk rock is mixed into the graffiti on the West
Coast. East Coast is almost exclusively hip hop I would say. What would you say, David?
Hylton: Especially LA, very punk, even their hip hop has more of a punk vibe than the East
Coast. I grew up in Northern California, I lived in Sacramento, we were heavily influenced by
the Bay Area. I would leave Sacramento and go to San Francisco and see graffiti there and go
back to Sacramento and like ‘Woah it's everywhere there!’ It seemed more like hip hop to me,

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the punk scene was small compared to LA, I think. Anyway, I started skating, skateboarding
friends were doing graffiti. I remember it was funny my first story was ditching church with
some skateboarding friends and they were writing their names with a sharpie on like poles, no
one could see it, it was really bad. But I remember going home and being like that’s what I want
to do now, and I skated with them and we ditched church, we always ditched church together and
I think I was like ‘now I’m a tagger too.’ My first tag was Tic. It was awful.
Acock: LA and New York were both sorts of like the tipping point for me getting fully
immersed into the graffiti culture because I was tagging similar to David, just writing on poles.
Then I went skateboarding with him in Venice Beach then I stumbled upon and The Venice
Beach Pavilion and my mind were blown. I never saw anything like it, that's when I took my first
dive into it and was just like this is amazing, I want everything to do with this. In high school,
my friends' parents took me to New York City for vacation and then I was just like even more
amazed.
Q: What was it like being into graffiti during a time when it was seen as completely
negative?
Hylton: I was kind of okay with that. It kind of went hand-in-hand with skateboarding in which
people really didn't like it either it was not mainstream, so it was rebellious. Adults did not like
it, they were like ‘what a mess’ and I was like, ‘great that’s fine with me, I hope you hate it.’
And then, I started exploring more and wondering, like ‘how did they paint that big one?’
Acock: That was the fun part, all the how-to’s because no one would tell you.
Hylton: Yeah, back then it wasn't like you could just like you could research how to do things.

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Acock: Like now there’s a huge graffiti store in La Habra, it's like the greatest graffiti store in
the country quite honestly but stuff like that didn't exist. I remember I had to go steal some spray
paint for someone just to get him to tell me where to get fat caps from.
Hylton: There weren't a lot of resources, there were a couple of books, literally a couple. The
rest was just word of mouth and who you met.
Acock: You had to make your own markers.
Q: Were the bigger pieces beginning to be commissioned during your time in the graffiti
scene or were they mostly still rebellious acts.
Acock: Yeah, like a music venue or bar you’d paint there.
Hylton: It was common in LA I think because there was a lot more in LA, Sacramento had a
little bit of it but nothing like LA or San Francisco did.
Q: How do you think graffiti impacts culture now vs. when it was first becoming popular?
Acock: I think really pretty graffiti that is out now can impact culture by making those beautiful
“Instagram worthy” moments. For better or worse, that is kind of where I landed in the field. But
like the real graffiti, like that ugly stuff, still has a negative connotation to it but to me, it's the
most interesting. I mean like the ugly, gang and cholo writing to me is far more interesting as an
academic but has far more of a negative impact on society. Like, when you are driving to LA on
the 10 West near Rosemead. Young graffiti artists like us back in the day will go do pretty art on
it, then the Rosemead Garden Boys, which is a gang, a horrible gang, will come and diss it
immediately, every time and the disses are always more interesting to me than the original throw
up. The sociological impacts of it and as you follow the history of that project and how it’s
changing over time you are watching live gentrification happening between like, art school
graffiti writers that are like moving into the projects and then people that are from the projects

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trying to maintain control of it and that is a way more interesting dialogue happening that I enjoy
watching from a distance which is probably negative of me but you know big murals around arts
district are probably positive and people will probably take pictures in front of them for their
Instagram.
Hylton: I get asked to do that type of stuff all the time and I mean I am a graphic artist so I can
usually work with them and do whatever they want. But often they say, “do something
Instagrammable but do whatever you want,” “do whatever you want but make it relate to our
company,” and there’s sort of a fine line, I definitely separate from anything I ever do with
graffiti. My graffiti is totally separate from my actual work even though it was completely
influenced by it. I would not be doing what I was doing if I did not start doing graffiti.
Q: Speaking about the separation between street art and graffiti, are two completely
different entities or does it depend on the artist?
Anthony: Well LA, in particular, the separation is seen through the tradition of disrespecting
murals, just tagging right on top of them.
Hylton: It is a lot more territorial here, we aren't from like gangs or anything but that’s just sort
of the tradition you know, neighborhood to neighborhood.
Acock: People will draw over things just for the attention, negative attention is still attention.
Hylton: I think that is honestly why I don’t do a lot of illegal stuff anymore. I think it sort of
goes with the territory. When I was younger I was fine with that, I’d get in fights sometimes over
graffiti, paint everywhere, do all these illegal activities and then as I got older I was like that’s
what the culture was kind of built on, they use the term “destroy all things,” and for me, I totally
respect that as part of the culture but when I hit 30 I was like yeah that’s something that you have
to kind of be down for to be a graffiti writer and I respect it enough to not do it. I’m not willing

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to put myself out there against these other graffiti writers but they are down to do that. They are
down to suffer the consequences. I am not.
Acock: The cost-benefit analysis.
Q: What does the evolution of graffiti say about society?
Hylton: It’s a fascinating study of humans and communication between them. It’s an anonymous
communication between groups of people who don’t know each other and it’s so fascinating.
Acock: There was this tic-tac-toe game happening, I think it got buffed now, it was between
writers on a freeway overpass, you had to risk your life to get it. You had to scale on the freeway
to get it but it was an ongoing game, which was crazy to get that high.
Figure 1.11 - A piece professor David Hylton was commissioned to create for Create & Cultivate 2019

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Hylton: LA is famous for that because they did not have trains as they had in New York so,
everyone drives so they would paint the freeways and climb stuff to make sure their work was
seen.

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Part Four: Graffiti in Los Angeles
History
As mentioned by Acock and Hylton, Los Angeles did not have a huge train culture as
seen in New York. Instead, the walls of the freeways, LA River and within the neighborhoods
were pages young graffiti artists brought life to. “For us, the river was like the last adventure in
the city. We would go in tunnels under the river and you feel like you are the first person that’s
ever been down there, but then you start shining light and you’ll see a tag that says some ‘high
school band, 1963.’ It confirms that people were here before me,” said visual artist Evan
Skrederstu. He was one of the many graffiti artists in the 90s that added color to the deserted LA
river walls. Some graffiti on the walls of the river date back as early as 1914. Dating the various
pieces reveals a timeline of LA culture with pieces from the 1940s left by “Zoot suiters.”
According to Britannica, a zoot suit consisted of an oversized suit jacket with broad shoulders,
balloon trousers and occasionally a “flamboyant” hat. These suits were predominately worn by
Mexican and Mexican American young men which led them to be called “zoot suiters.”
(Coroian, n.d.) Many of the markings from the zoot suiters, like much of the graffiti in LA,
marked the territories of their different gangs. It wasn't until the 1980s that the more technical
graffiti art pieces focused on style started to emerge at the river. Pieces began to be more
elaborate allowing for the stars of graffiti in LA to shine. Those that emerged would become
known as the pioneers in the area. Racial tensions that began to rise throughout the 1990s, due to
injustices happening throughout the city, were translated into the graffiti culture. The violence
led to gangs and because graffiti was already on the rise at the time, graffiti gangs were created
and so was “tag banging,” which refers to tagging your gang’s name onto another gang’s piece
or tag. Although it seems harmless, it was extremely dangerous. The unspoken rule was that

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“there was a green light for gang members to shoot any tagger that entered the river” (KCET).
However, violent graffiti gangs diminished over time as some of the artists were arrested and
others joined more serious neighborhood gangs. This is when the emergence of graffiti crews
was at full effect in LA.
Two of the most popular crews in the late 90s and early 2000s were the “Mad Society
Kings or MSK” and the “Metro Transit Assassins or MTA.” These became well known due to a
couple of their exceptionally talented members. At the time, it took a great deal to stand out
amongst all the other writers, to do so you had to do something extraordinary. In 1997, SABER,
a member of MSK, did exactly that. SABER created a piece along the Los Angeles Riverbank
that was, and is, one of the world's largest graffiti pieces. (See Figure 1.12) He used 97 gallons
of paint and it took him more than a year to complete. However, in 2009, the US Army Corps of
Engineers used nearly $1 million dollars to erase SABER’s work because it was seen as
vandalism by the city. (Romero, 2012)
Figure 1.12- SABER’s famous LA riverbank tag. Credit: Highsnobiety

Along with SABER, writers from the MTA crew gained fame through the creation of one
of the largest tags written in block letters near Fourth Street that ended up being covered in 2009
by the Corps. (See Figure 1.13) In addition to the buffing of these pieces, fines were given, and
the LA City Attorney’s office officially used a gang injunction against graffiti artists. These

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dramatic consequences led writers like SABER and the MTA crew to decide to do art legally
through commissioned art and their pieces in addition to many more are what gives LA its color.

Figure 1.13: MTA’s largest graffiti piece

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Part Five: Application - Examination of the Shift in Four Specific LA Areas
In addition to the accounts of professors Acock and Hylton regarding graffiti in LA, an
in-depth examination of the graffiti and street art culture in four specific LA districts was
conducted. The history, major players, trends and shifts of graffiti and street art in Crenshaw, the
Arts District, Downtown LA and Hermosa Beach will be discussed to reveal the continuities and
differences between different areas in LA. These four areas are currently those in which graffiti
and street art can most prominently be seen therefore providing a sufficient amount of data to
analyze.
Area One: Crenshaw
Crenshaw and graffiti have a relationship that is largely defined by the approximately
800-foot wall near Crenshaw Boulevard and Fiftieth Street in Hyde Park that has been covered in
paint since the 1960s. This wall is known as either the Crenshaw Wall or the Great Wall of
Crenshaw and it has served as graffiti and street artists’ playground since the day it was
discovered to not belong to anyone. Since then, the wall and the art that encompasses it truly
exemplifies the unity that graffiti and street art brings in Crenshaw. Like every other part of LA,
Crenshaw had its own graffiti collectives dating back as far as the 1960s. However, one group, in
particular, comes to mind when discussing the Great Wall Crenshaw. Founded in 1988, Rocking
the Nation, also known as RTN, was one of the few all-black graffiti crews in LA in the 80s and
their immense talent, along with their dedication to the Crenshaw community led them to live up
to the name of their group. “The Crenshaw area basically is our final frontier when it comes to
black neighborhoods,” said Enk One, a member of RTN, in a 2014 interview. (Everett, 2014)
Although the Crenshaw Wall was painted by muralists and graffiti artists since the 60s, in 2001
the RTN created a piece they called, “Our Mighty Contribution,” which was the largest mural to

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ever be done on the wall. The piece, which still remains on the wall today, was completed by all
12 members of RTN to “offer the community a celebration of its resilience, beauty, strength,
power, and capacity for innovation” (Sulaiman 2018). The wall included a full story beginning
with the creation of the earth by a woman, going through time to eventually lead to the future
with the major black historians showing up throughout the piece including Frederick Douglass,
Harriet Tubman, Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Marcus Garver, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Malcolm X., and Dizzy Gillespie. (See Figure 1.14) The beauty of the mural was both in the
actual art as well as the way it brought the black community together.
Figure 1.14 - A piece of RTN’s “Our Mighty Contribution” mural

Since it was created, “Our Mighty Contribution,” has been the home for Crenshaw
community meetups, especially for car clubs, biker crews and low-riders. The mural served as a
sense of pride for those that lived around it, especially the black community. The unity created
by the mural was further shown in 2014 when RTN along with many other Crenshaw community
members proposed the Crenshaw Wall Restoration project to save the wall. They noticed the
artistic value and quality was beginning to fade from wear and tear over time as well as the

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occasional vandalism and wanted to take action. However, rather than cause the same financial
strain on themselves as they did back in 2001, they wanted investors to provide the funding. So,
RTN and a group called Project West created videos and a website dedicated to the restoration
project in order to gain attention from possible investors. Their main goal was to bring the art
back to life and add a protective coat to protect against elements and vandalism. The project is
ongoing as the remaining members of the crew are always touching it up to make sure it remains
as nice as possible and that no parts of the beautiful message are lost. The creation of a project
such as this, fully centered around preserving graffiti and street art shows the influence the art
forms can have on a community. (Everett, 2014)
More recently, the influence of street art and graffiti in the Crenshaw community was
shown following a tragedy. On March 31, 2019, Crenshaw native rapper Nipsey Hussle was
fatally shot in the parking lot of his clothing store, The Marathon Clothing Store. His store is
located in the middle of Crenshaw and was a popular landmark of the community largely due to
the fact that Hussle was the owner. Hussle created music that glorified Crenshaw and all it had to
offer. He succeeded in telling his story regarding growing up in the area in a way that many
could relate to, which is how so many Crenshaw community members felt a deep connection to
the rapper. Also, Hussle did everything he could to give back to his community so much so that
he often still traveled around to the local Crenshaw businesses with no bodyguards. He wanted
everyone to know he was still just like them rather than have them feel as if he thought he was
superior. His charismatic, down to earth persona is what, not only the Crenshaw community fell
in love with, but the entire world as well. Therefore, his tragic death deeply hurt everyone,
especially given the violent way in which it happened in his very own store parking lot. (Pineda,
2019)

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The true influence of Hussle was combined with the power of street art and graffiti as
multiple murals and pieces were created immediately following his death. In Crenshaw
specifically, the art served as some of the first places in which his fans, family and loved ones
could gather to remember him. Within a day of his death, there was a mural on Crenshaw
Boulevard that showed the rapper in the cloud with a halo over his head. Instantly, there were
flowers and site seekers visiting to show their respects. Some visitors of the Hussle murals said
to the Los Angeles Times, “Hussle was trying to create unity.” “People from all walks of life
have been coming together because of him.” (Pineda, 2019) Although through tragedy, once
again Crenshaw united around graffiti and street art that told a story. Additionally, the store and
business owners of these locations that have invited artists to honor Hussle have attested to the
fact that they’ve received an increase in clientele since the paintings were done. The influence of
the art goes beyond emotional connections and into an economic gain.
Figure 1.15 A popular Nipsey Hussle mural on the 3400 blocks of Slauson Ave. Credit LA Times

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Area Two: Arts District
Unlike Crenshaw, it is not as much of an attraction to see a new beautiful piece of street
art. Practically every wall in the district is covered in some type of paint and each of the pieces is
claimed by an artist unlike some other parts of LA. In the 1970s, a large group of artists moved
to what is now known as the Arts District out of necessity as the Venice Beach and Hollywood
areas began to be too expensive. The prices of living were low as well as the price to rent or buy
spaces to do their art in. They saw the abandoned buildings and warehouses as the best
opportunities for them to increase their street art skill. Once they moved there, some of the artists
decided to open galleries to display their art, two main exhibits were the Los Angeles
Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) and The Art Dock which is a drive-by street art gallery at an
eight-foot long shipping dock in what is now known as the Pickle Works Building. A pivotal
moment for the artists who came to the district was in 1981 when the City realized that most of
the art was being done in secret and illegally. In response, they implemented the Artist-in-
Residence (AIR) program, “which legalized the residential use of formerly industrial buildings
for artists.” (Arts District Los Angeles Organization, n.d.) From the implementation of the AIR
program, artists were given the agency to create living spaces in their largest canvases. This
program acted as a catalyst for the creation of the character of the district we love even now.
Also, through this, artists became some of the earliest developers of the area themselves. So
much so that in the mid-1990s a local neighborhood activist group led by Joel Bloom
successfully petitioned to call the area the “Arts District.” This designation only further
influenced artists from all over to go to the area and share their talent. In the same way, the
memorial paintings in Crenshaw unify communities, art in the Arts District brings together those

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who love and enjoy art to encourage the continuous creation of it. (Arts District Los Angeles
Organization, n.d.)
Today, the Arts District houses over 100 murals and street art pieces and 40 independent
galleries. It is more than a tourist attraction, it's an entire sub-city with new bars and restaurants
opening up within it every year. Unlike the rest of Los Angeles, graffiti is welcomed into the
Arts District. In fact, at times, the business owners allow it and even support it by providing the
paint. This could be attributed to the fact that the art constantly attracts crowds as people from all
over gather to the trendiest art in the district to get the perfect picture for their Instagram.
Whether it be street art or graffiti, artists know that they can freely express themselves and show
their art with the only real consequence being that it might get painted over by another artist. So,
it wasn’t long until practically every wall in the district was covered and now more than ever
artists are able to see concrete proof that the public appreciates their work. This proof is most
commonly shown through the amount of Instagram tags artists get with pictures of fans standing
in front of pieces they worked on (See Figure 1.16). The popularity of the district is not solely
owed to the art covering the walls, it is also due to the continuous development surrounding the
art. Coffee shops, coworking spaces, restaurants and at least three breweries make up the filled
canvas that is the Arts District. The developments over the years led to a discussion regarding
Figure 1.16 An Instagram photo of a couple posed in front of a mural on 4th street in Arts District

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whether or not gentrification was happening as the rent prices began to push the artists out of the
place they originally went to because of the low prices.
Despite the possible gentrification of the district, artists still provide personality to the
infrastructures they can throughout the area. Fewer artists may actually live in the Arts District
but there is more art there than ever before, with new pieces being placed often. Some people do
worry that there will be a decrease in the character of the art in the area as more commercial
developments are made and living anywhere in LA becomes nearly impossible. (Arts District
Los Angeles, n.d.)
Area Three: Downtown LA
Although it is only about 2.5 miles away from the Arts District, the remaining parts of
Downtown LA have an extremely different aesthetic. You will not see the walls completely
covered in street art, but instead, you will see corporate buildings, gas stations, residential
buildings, grocery stores and in the center of it all, the Staples Center. There is the occasional
piece of street art on walls here and there, but they usually are for advertisements and culturally
or socially driven messages. The art is not simply thrown up all over as it is in the arts district,
but it is not mostly in one place like in Crenshaw. The art in this area of Downtown LA is
strategic and related to either the artists’ specific message or the message of the company,
building or organization who decided to have it completed.

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A strong similarity between the first area mentioned, the Crenshaw district, and this
specific area of Downtown LA is the appearance of memorial murals created in response to the
tragic deaths of celebrities. The late Nipsey Hussle received a few memorial murals in the areas
surrounding the attractions tourists visited the most like the LA Live area. However, the most
significant response to a celebrity death was seen following January 26, 2020, the day the
basketball legend Kobe Bryant died. Along with Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and nine others
were killed when the helicopter crashed. Following the news, the first memorial piece was being
put up and from there it was nonstop. The areas surrounding the Staples Center are where the
majority of the memorials are, given Bryant’s 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a
symbol of the city and the artists who created pieces on his behalf were aware of just how
significant their memorials would be for so many fans and loved ones. Soon, all the paintings
and murals became candlelight vigil sites for not only his fans but basketball fans in general. The
most beautiful part was the artists’ inclusion of his daughter in most of their pieces to remind the
Figure 1.17 One of the first Kobe and Gianna Bryant Murals in Downtown LA by @muckrock

35
public that although they passed away, they had each other to hold onto. Once again, art serves
purpose beyond entertainment and aesthetics, it heals and unites people in honor of amazing
people.
Area Four: Hermosa Beach
Unlike the three places previously discussed, Hermosa Beach has a routine and organized
way in which it decides what art will be chosen to be completed on its city walls. The routine
could be almost entirely attributed to the Hermosa Beach Mural Project, which was founded in
2009 by Chuck Sheldon, a Hermosa Beach native and former mayor. The project was created
because Sheldon recognized the power of art. He saw the way that art could attract and unify
people as an opportunity to boost the local economy and preserve the history of the area.
Therefore, he launched started this non-profit to start planning which murals would be displayed
throughout Hermosa. The goal was to “dedicate 10 murals in 10 years to Hermosa Beach’s
downtown area.” The organization fundraises through the selling of prints of the art, donations
and memberships to pay the artists.
The art in Hermosa, while beautiful and nostalgic, does not seem to evoke the same kinds
of emotions as those mentioned in Downtown LA, Crenshaw and the Arts District. There are
stories being told through the pieces, but the stories are obvious and nostalgic whereas the pieces
in Crenshaw, the Arts District and Downtown LA tell a relatable and timely story about society.

36
It is interesting to see the effects of planned commissions change the type of street art completed
the subject matter and execution changes to complete a specific agenda. (See Figure 1.18)
Figure 1.18: A commissioned mural in Hermosa Beach

37
An Exclusive Interview with Viral Street Artist ‘Muck Rock’
Through extensive research on the history and evolution of graffiti, spanning
Philadelphia, New York, Berlin, London and finally Los Angeles, it was rare to find any
coverage regarding women in the graffiti culture. However, I knew they were there, at least I
knew they are in it now. I knew this because of the artists I follow myself, more than a few were
women. One, in particular, has been a writer for many years in many of the places that came up
in my research. Julie Muck, known by her artist name, “Muck Rock,” began her graffiti journey
in Europe and England in the 1990s. She later moved to New York where she painted alongside
one of the first women to do graffiti on a large scale, Lady Pink. In other words, she was deep in
the subculture as the shift from refusal to acceptance was happening for street art. She
specifically, has had her name in some parts of every area I analyzed in my research, which
allowed for insights regarding the artist side of the process in addition to the observer side. I had
the opportunity to speak to Muck Rock while she was working on a major piece representing
twisted nostalgia in Venice Beach, on a wall, she claimed as her own on Washington Boulevard.
Figure 1.19 photo from my interview with Jules Muck while she painted her piece

38
Q: What made you start doing graffiti?
A: Just boredom, I swear, everybody was just writing their names on walls with spray paint. No
one was doing it as a career. There was no future in graffiti when I started doing it, there was no
street art movement. (A toddler walks by during our interview with their mother and the mother
says, “look at Kermit” Jules responds, “he’s like bad influence Kermit, I know I am going to get
complaints about this one.”) No, but honestly, it was either you could be skateboarding, or you
could be spray painting and I was so clumsy. All the kids were spray painting and skateboarding;
I was just better at spray painting than I was at skateboarding.

Q: How did you transition from simple tagging of your name to doing full detailed pieces?
A: Well actually, I was on a rooftop in the Bronx, when we started painting on rooftops instead
of trains because the trains got buffed. So, we would paint along the train lines so everyone could
see it. I was painting on a rooftop and it turns out one of my heroes comes from the book Subway
Art and the movie Wild Style, Lady Pink and she just kept on coming and giving me pointers and
tips until she finally asked me to work with her and be her apprentice. So, it was really quick,
like four years from criminal graffiti to professional art because she was doing the real thing, she
was in museums. She hooked me up.
Q: I know some people were doing it illegally and were very passionate about that part of it
and the rush it gave them. Do you ever miss that rush?
A: It was a rush, yeah and nowadays I get a rush from people saying “Oh it looks so good” but
you don’t get too much of a rush when you are not that good and when I started, I wasn’t that
good. (she laughs) Lady Pink and them were really good, and I was just a toy so she had me out
there doing work, they taught me everything. We were out there doing restaurants, nightclubs,

39
museums, she would drag me around. Sometimes, in the beginning, she would send me to go fill
in her lines, then she would give me a design to put up and eventually she would send me on my
own to go do jobs she didn’t want to do. So, I still got rushes from that.
Q: How were your experiences different in all the different places you did graffiti and
street art?
A: You know what, there are actually more differences between different parts of the U.S. than
there are between the U.S., Europe and the UK. Like in some parts of the U. S .it is extremely
difficult to paint but in other areas, it’s fully welcomed. I’ve had bigger disparities between cities
in America than I have had between cities in Europe. Some places in America are just really
territorial, with the “You’re not from here” mentality.
Q: Do you ever collaborate with artists?
A: Sometimes, I used to a lot more, it’s harder since I have been working. I will usually do it if
someone asks me. A lot of times the graffiti artists will ask me to go drop a portrait on their wall
but like I’ll be honest these guys they like take credit afterward, they don’t respect my
contribution. I’m glad to be a part of it but I don’t like to be taken advantage of. They want to
pretend that they know how to do that shit but they don’t. It takes a special kind of artist to do
that portraits and I’m not saying I am the best, but some people can do it some people can’t.
They have other things that they are good at and yeah if I need letters or something really tripped
out or if I need something specific, I’ll ask somebody to come to paint with me.
Q: If you can do portraits and murals, can you usually do any style or type of street
art/graffiti?
A: Yeah, most of the time you can do everything if you can do murals, it’s usually the people
who are stuck on lettering and it’s like the only thing that they want to do but they know that

40
their wall is going to fly better with some picture on it. Especially when you move away from
illegal graffiti and want to get paid to paint on someone’s wall, they aren’t going to want you to
just paint your name on the wall.
Q: Do you ever get commissioned to just provide art at no cost?
A: I mean that’s how it started, you can have a wall and you can um, it’s not supposed to be like
that anymore but it’s very difficult because so many people are trying to get your wall all the
time. If you don’t do it for free your wall might get taken. So, it’s a risk and you know there’s a
lot of people that play on that, like these mural companies, they’ll get corporate sponsorship to
put up something and then they’ll find an artist to put it up for free and they’ll pocket a lot of
money.
Q: Have you seen progress in terms of the number of females in the street art industry?
A: Yeah, I’ve seen more of us doing it and we even do some girl walls sometimes, but we just
take a pay cut, we take a fucking zero off. I’m like “how do you get $30,000 and I get $3,000,
that’s fucked up.” But like, the best jobs I have had, they hired me thinking I was a dude after
only seeing only my work. Those I get paid way more!
Q: Your painting of Kobe and Gianna Bryant following their tragic death (See figure 1.17)
received a great amount of news coverage, but they failed to directly name you in
headlines. How did you feel about the coverage of your art with little to no recognition?
A: The news is another thing; I don’t like the news. Sometimes they are very helpful and other
times they are just ridiculous. They interviewed me for the LA Weekly and led me to believe the
story was going to be about my art but, they heard that I am in recovery and I have been sober
for like over a decade. So, they asked if they could mention that to help young people know they
can make it out and I was like “yeah you can mention it.” The headline was, “Jules Muck kicks

41
heroin,” I was like “Oh my God my mom is going to see this!” They interviewed me for two
hours and never mentioned any of that information.
Q: At what point did you decide you were going to pursue street art full-time?
A: It was just really slow; I would think I was doing it and then something would go wrong. I
had a lot of false starts. I was like “okay this is it!” Then, I would go broke again.
Q: How do you feel about where street art is going?
A: It’s becoming okay to people that it wasn’t a thing for, I go to places that they aren’t really
used to and they think of it like “oh you’re going to do a mural,” and then I can drop something
really fast and they’re used to paying a lot but I do it for less because I am fast and I can make a
lot of stuff.

42
Conclusion
Through the combination of primary research in the form of interviews and content
analysis as well as secondary research in the form of peer-reviewed articles, blogs, social media
and news articles, the differences between street art and graffiti can be clearly seen. The
differences go beyond legal and illegal and into the style of the pieces, the goal of the writers and
the sociological meanings that accompany the completion of each type of art. It is revealed that
much of the impact of both street art and graffiti art has to do with the emotions the writer is
attempting to evoke also the area at which the art is made. Additionally, in some ways, the
commissioning of street art has suggested gentrification in certain areas, which have led to a
dichotomy to be built within the street art and graffiti art culture. The gentrification of
neighborhoods closely resembles the “artwashing” term found to be used when discussing
Florida’s Wynwood art community, which makes it easy to draw a correlation between the
commercialization and commission of street art and the gentrification of graffiti. However, much
like the gentrification of neighborhoods, it was found that there are almost as many positive
outcomes of the gentrification of graffiti as there are negative. While it can mark the
appropriation and exploitation of some artists, it can change the lives of others. The results of the
research conducted in this paper lead to the need for further discussion regarding the process in
which certain graffiti artists are chosen to do paid work while others are never given the
opportunity. It is in that process where the possible injustices can be found and hopefully
eliminated to ensure that all graffiti artists are given the same chance to succeed.
Additionally, the idea of “selling out” has not lost its relevance amongst the graffiti
subculture despite the rise in former illegal graffiti writers transitioning to commissioned street
art. This paper reveals aspects of the graffiti and street art subculture that are necessary to
consider in companies and businesses’ pursuit of artists to create work for their brands. The
43
needs of the artists are explored as opposed to ignored in hopes that the commercialization of
street art can be a mutually beneficial process for corporations and for the citizens of Los
Angeles.
For Public Relations practitioners specifically, this research provides proof of the why it
is imperative that they fully acknowledge and respect street art and graffiti as viable ways to
communicate messages. In that acknowledgement, the practitioners must also embrace the
subculture that has been created and avoid exploiting that in any way. It is clear that as of now
brands and organizations do see the influence that graffiti and street art have on communities,
however, the issues in their compensation show that sometimes the actual artists are taken
advantage of. Through the secondary and primary research provided, I hope more artists will be
appreciated for the impact they have on the lives of those surrounding their creations.
44
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49
Appendix A
Additional Interview Excerpts: Professor Todd Boyd
Q: Looking at the timeline of graffiti to commercialized street art, what do you think it says
about how are society works when it comes to art?
A: It is often the case that something that may have been controversial at one point in
time later becomes popular. If you go back to the earliest days of hip-hop in the late 70s
and early 80s, hip-hop was not just music, it was MC’ing, DJ’ing, breakdancing and
graffiti. Those were the four elements. Then when the majority of rappers came out,
that’s when they saw hip-hop as music that’s what they could sell and monetize. So, that
part of it grew while the other elements were left behind for a time but eventually graffiti
would become recognized as part of that environment and then at some point this is
America, you know it’s capitalism if there is a chance to make money, somebody is
gonna fill that void. You know this evolution from seeing street art as graffiti is
understanding the evolution from controversial, public nuisance to popular.
Q: Do you think the meaning/value of art is lost as a result of commercialization?
A: I don’t necessarily have a problem with the commercialization as long as no one is
being exploited. If someone opens up a business and wants to have a mural or some street
art painted on the side of their building for aesthetic purposes they should do that but I
also think that the artist should be paid fairly and if people see it and it goes viral then
that’s too their benefit. Like Basquiat’s main objective was to become what he became, a
world-renowned artist, his graffiti was in hopes to gain the attention from influential
people that is why he did it on his own rather than train yards. He wanted it to blow up
and people to see it. So, I don’t necessarily have a problem with it being commercialized
and it being exploitative.
Q: Over time do you think the connection between hip hop and graffiti has changed? If so, how?
A: When hip-hop and graffiti first started it was all outside of the mainstream and now it
is in the mainstream and it has been in the mainstream for a long time. Rappers are now
rapping about buying Basquiat paintings and those ain’t cheap but that speaks to two
things; one the evolution of Basquiat and two, the evolution of a rapper to have enough
money to be able to afford one, that wasn’t the case back in the late 70s and early 80s.
Hip hop as I’ve often said, impacted a lot of aspects of society not just music but also,
fashion, dance and art is definitely one of those things. So, as the genre has risen, so has
everything with it.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Carney, Shamara A. (author)

Core Title Does the commercialization of street art signal the gentrification of graffiti? A focus on the street art and graffiti in Los Angeles

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/21/2020

Defense Date 04/21/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Artists,commercialization,culture,evolution of graffiti,exploitation,gentrification,Graffiti,Los Angeles,OAI-PMH Harvest,perception of graffiti,Public Relations,Street art

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Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-284616

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