A Subculture in the Public Space

Subcultures are everywhere. It is easy to see thousands of different subcultures in one city. Our group walked around Austin, Texas, specifically Guadalupe St/’The Drag’ and the surrounding West Campus area, to observe the graffiti and street art subculture.

Subcultures are best defined as “a group united by a set of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meaning specific to the members of that group distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture of society.” (Conley, 83)

Graffiti  artists are a group of people who strive to be different and who set themselves apart from the culture through their art. Forms of graffiti have been said to have become their own code of communication. To the outside eye, a lot of what we see may not evoke any emotion in us, but to those who are cultured in graffiti it is “signifying the interiority, skills, and risks” embodied by artists. (Rahn, 165)

Not only do graffiti artists have their own language, such as referring to something as a "tag", but they have similar artifacts and rituals. Obviously, all of these artists are painting across the city, partaking in the same type of activity. Along with that, the artists are all using spray paint to make their mark.

-Our group observed this object of the subculture: a can of spray paint along Guadalupe St-

Graffiti artists take a lot of time working to bring a dead spot to life, and strive to make a city more their own by taking over public space. They seem to be trying to make the city theirs by tagging their name in places, trying to rise from being a subculture to something more.

As our group observed graffiti and street art, two names kept popping up: Kasper and Suckey. The more we explored the areas, the more it seemed like the two were in competition. Every time we saw one name, the other was not far from it. Many graffiti artists are striving for fame and takeover of a certain area, and this frequently can involve competition.

-Here we observed the white graffiti tag of 'Kasper' above the window where the black graffiti tag of 'Suckey' is also visible-

By being expressive in public places, graffiti artists try to gain respect and reputation. In most instances, graffiti is done at a place where it is not allowed, and in places where there is a lot of foot traffic already, or where iconic art is already. This is provoking people to pay attention to the graffiti and in a sense feel dominated by this person.

- We observed graffiti on street signs, garbage cans and architecture: items necessary for the public.This helps the artists show their domination of the space.-

It is also important to note that the term ‘graffiti artist’ is often used to encompass both those who create street art and graffiti tags. While there are clear differences between street art and graffiti, they both fall under this same subculture. 

What Do Graffiti Artists Want?

“I did it for the fame; that was basically it. Yeah, that’s the number one answer, it’s the fact that just because of your name you get respect, you know. Fame and respect, there’s the two driving forces.”

-Acrid, Street Artist interviewed in The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York by Nancy Macdonald.

Along with previously performed studies such as the ones in this interview, our group's observations showcase how graffiti artists differ from street artists due to their purpose in creating their products. The purpose of street artists can be elaborated upon in the following post. The purpose of graffiti artists within this subculture is to gain fame and reputation- some forms of cultural capital they can use to benefit themselves.

Cultural capital is defined as “symbolic and interactional resources that people use to their advantage in various situations.” (Conley, 495) In regards to this particular subculture- the cultural capital is a form of‘objectified’ cultural capital because it requires a significant amount of time to acquire. (Conley, 495)

The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York helps explicitly define this purpose:

 “Gaining respect, fame and a strong self-concept is openly expressed as a writer’s primary objective and the subculture is fully set up to support this goal.” (Macdonald, 66)

The idea of the self-concept was evident for our group to observe simply along our study of Guadalupe Street/‘The Drag’ and the surrounding West Campus streets. Several names in graffiti tags kept repeating to the point they became easily recognizable. These name/tags were always in the same style of font; it was made apparent they were done by the same artist.

The most commonly occurring among these names were: ‘Suckey’,  ‘Regore’ and ‘Kasper.’ There was never an accompanying picture or message attached to these tags. The names/graffiti tags were mainly along sidewalks, walls and especially street signs and light posts. These are the areas persons will most commonly observe while walking along these public areas. While our group was observing and looking for graffiti and street art, we did not ever find ourselves going more than a few feet before encountering another tag. The simple location placement of these tags made it possible for us to distinguish that ‘Suckey’, ‘Repore’ and ‘Kaspar’ were graffiti artists and not creating street art.

-Some of the recurring tags of the graffiti artist 'Suckey'-

By making their names or symbols the recognizable tag, their intent was made clear. As aforesaid, they were attempting to gain fame through their cultural capital of recognition, as the purpose of the graffiti artist in this subculture dictates.

The Purpose of a Street Artist

"Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was"
- Banksy, Wall and Piece

This quotation from an extremely famous street artist is a great representation of the aforementioned distinction between street artists and graffiti artists. As described, this distinction lies within the message, or lack thereof, that the street art attempts to convey.

-A mural our group was able to analyze and identify as street art-

Our group was able to observe this in the evident concepts in murals observed along Guadalupe Street/ ‘The Drag.’ One mural depicted a naked woman, a pig, and a man playing the violin all floating in the midst of a masterfully created valley or field. In this mural along the wall of a business, the artist draws the viewer’s attention to the scenery and people. Even without history or experience in art analysis, the viewer can infer that the mural conveys an idea that humans are disconnected to one another and the world around them.

Only with more detailed scrutiny does the viewer find the name of the artist of such murals tucked away in the corner, clearly not the focal point. However, a more thorough observation to discover this name obviously takes more time than the average passerby has to offer to such street art.

-A mural we observed: the artists' name can be found in the bottom left hand corner, barely noticeable-

Our observations of such murals substantiated the idea found through our research: street artists do not want to draw attention to their names as graffiti artists do. Rather they want the art and its’ ideas to be the viewer’s focus.

However, it is important to note that both street artists and graffiti artists desire to acquire cultural capital, but street artists want cultural capital in the form of intelligence. Street artists show their cultural capital of intelligence by displaying ideas and concepts in their paintings instead of just writing their own name. People walking by can admire the intellectual ideas behind the art and see that the artist has cultural capital by looking at their work. As a group, we found ourselves marveling at or discussing many of the obvious works of street art. In that way, we are contributing to the cultural capital of the artist’s intellect.

Knowing the basis of these differences also allowed for us to easily identify street art. Murals, images, painted walls and doorways with people, animals, objects and distinct color choices all became clear street art to us in that there was meaning behind them. In this way, the subculture became easier for us to understand.  

Concluding Thoughts

From our observations, our group was able to note the presence of the subculture of graffiti artists. Within this subculture, there are still distinctive differences between those who create graffiti and those who create street art (based on the different types of objectified cultural capital that they attempt to acquire.) However, whether something is street art or graffiti, it is still a part of a subculture attempting to dominate the public space. Our observations along Guadalupe St./'The Drag' and the surrounding West Campus area led us to notice many instances of graffiti, rivaling street artists and deeply conceptual murals that we had never noticed before. In this manner, this project allowed us to view the 'strange in the familiar' and employ the sociological imagination when viewing a street we each walk along countless times each day.

Works Cited

Conley, Dalton. You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist.2^nd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011. Print.

Macdonald, Nancy. The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. Print.

Rahn, Janice. Painting Without Permission: Hip-hop Graffiti Subculture. Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 2002. Print.