- Photo source: NY Times
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Last Thursday night in
New York City, publisher
HarperCollins had what they were calling a "
signing party" for their Spring-launched
The History of American Graffiti, (now available on
Amazon for
$26.40). The book itself is a new and thorough undertaking of the
American graffiti movement by the duo
Roger Gastman and
Caleb Neelon.
The
signing party had an added star attraction - none other than tagger and graffiti artist
Taki 183, there by request of co-author
Gastman, who finally tracked him down after a two year search. It goes without saying that
Taki features prominently in the
Gastman/ Neelon tome.
Taki, as you may know, was highlighted in an earlier
New York Times article,
'Taki 183' Spawns Pen Pals, in
1971. The article created a furor of curiosity and a plethora of tagging imitators - not to mention a flood of follow-on publicity.
|
The History of American Graffiti - the book.
- Photo source: Amazon.com
|
Taki's real name is
Dimitrius (with no given last name, even at this late date), but once the book signing began, he, rather than the authors, was deluged with requests to sign the inside-covers. The more recent
New York Times article (this week), citing their own earlier
1971 article, claims there is agreement among urban historians that
Taki is responsible for the
modern graffiti movement. These are slightly brave words, as other urban historians not associated with the
New York Times also site
graffiti pioneers
Julio 204 (often sited as 'first'), as well as
Frank 207 and
Joe 136.
Taki himself, acknowledges he was not 'the first', also giving a nod to
Julio 204 (whose real identity was never known). Nevertheless,
Taki (because of the
1971 article) was the catalyst - after that article, things went viral, to include a massive popularization of
graffiti writing overseas.
Taki, in "real life", is a contented family man, father of two - and downplays his role as
graffiti pioneer. Reflecting on times of old, he cited the constant inundation of political posters and stickers put up by the various political aspirants of the day as his rationale, his excuse, for tagging virtually all over
New York. But in reality, he states, he wasn't motivated by any burning political agenda, and wasn't overly politically aware; his job as a messenger during those years provided him '
opportunity', and his '
motive' was, "...there was nothing else to do, and it was easy ...we were just killing time".
Having long ago given up tagging to pursue a college education, and eventually a career in restoring classic automobiles -
Taki's only remaining tie to his old life is his website (
taki183.net <
link>
), where he now tells his story and would be pleased to sell you one or more of his limited-edition prints for
$75 per copy. He, however, recently allowed himself the luxury of travelling to
Los Angeles, to see -and be seen at- the
Museum of Contemporary Arts
Art in the Streets - yet another comprehensive historical review of
graffiti - which, not coincidentally, was showing several of his works.
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The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco
- Photo : Grimaldi Forum - all rights reserved
|
But
Taki's fame as one of the pioneers of the
modern graffiti movement is not limited to the
US of A, by any means. From
July 21st until
August 19th the
Grimaldi Forum in the
Principality of Monaco will be featuring
400 major
graffiti works representative of the
modern graffiti movement in the
20th Century. For those unaware of the
Grimaldi Forum, it is an immense modern
Congress and Cultural Center which often has prominent gallery showings. Collector
Alain-Dominique Gallizia will be one of the major contributors to this "
Monegasque" showing, displaying many of his acquisitions for the first time. Other first-time exhibits will be works by
Rammelzee, an
American master-artist who, before his death last year, had a profound influence on '
Pressurism'. The entire, combined, gallery presentation is called "
Graffiti Art, 40 Years of Pressurization" ("
Pressure of the spray can and the street," according to organizers). We are not surprised to learn that
Taki 183 is prominently featured there as well.
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