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    Graffiti and Street Art Level 2-Text Only 4

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    12A1-12-Lương Nhật Huy
    Graffiti and street art have a long history dating back to prehistoric times when people painted images in caves. In the 1970s, graffiti emerged in New York City as teenagers began tagging walls and subway cars with their names. Some artists began using aerosol paint to create larger, more colorful tags and pieces. Today, street art is more widely accepted and some cities host street art festivals or display such art in galleries. While graffiti remains illegal in many places, some cities have designated areas where street art is permitted. Famous modern street artists like Os Gêmeos, Blek le Rat, and Faith47 have gained international recognition for their large, colorful murals painted in public spaces around the world.

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    Graffiti and Street Art Level 2-Text Only 4

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    12A1-12-Lương Nhật Huy
    126 views2 pages
    Graffiti and street art have a long history dating back to prehistoric times when people painted images in caves. In the 1970s, graffiti emerged in New York City as teenagers began tagging walls and subway cars with their names. Some artists began using aerosol paint to create larger, more colorful tags and pieces. Today, street art is more widely accepted and some cities host street art festivals or display such art in galleries. While graffiti remains illegal in many places, some cities have designated areas where street art is permitted. Famous modern street artists like Os Gêmeos, Blek le Rat, and Faith47 have gained international recognition for their large, colorful murals painted in public spaces around the world.

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    Graffiti and street art have a long history dating back to prehistoric times when people painted images in caves. In the 1970s, graffiti emerged in New York City as teenagers began tagging walls and subway cars with their names. Some artists began using aerosol paint to create larger, more colorful tags and pieces. Today, street art is more widely accepted and some cities host street art festivals or display such art in galleries. While graffiti remains illegal in many places, some cities have designated areas where street art is permitted. Famous modern street artists like Os Gêmeos, Blek le Rat, and Faith47 have gained international recognition for their large, colorful murals painted in public spaces around the world.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    126 views2 pages

    Graffiti and Street Art Level 2-Text Only 4

    Uploaded by

    12A1-12-Lương Nhật Huy
    Graffiti and street art have a long history dating back to prehistoric times when people painted images in caves. In the 1970s, graffiti emerged in New York City as teenagers began tagging walls and subway cars with their names. Some artists began using aerosol paint to create larger, more colorful tags and pieces. Today, street art is more widely accepted and some cities host street art festivals or display such art in galleries. While graffiti remains illegal in many places, some cities have designated areas where street art is permitted. Famous modern street artists like Os Gêmeos, Blek le Rat, and Faith47 have gained international recognition for their large, colorful murals painted in public spaces around the world.

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    Graded reading: Graffiti and street art (level 2) – text

    Modern art or vandalism? Whatever you think about street art, you'll learn more by reading this
    article.

    A long history

    Painting and writing on walls is nothing new. In prehistoric times, people in Africa and Europe painted
    pictures of animals and people in caves. Graffiti has been found at ancient sites in Greece, Italy, Syria and
    Iraq. In the Roman town of Pompeii in Italy, archaeologists found a lot of graffiti written in Latin, including
    political and romantic messages, and even some magic spells!

    Modern times

    In the 1970s, young people in New York used pens to write their names, or 'tags', on walls around the city.
    One of the first 'taggers' was Demetrius, a teenager from a Greek family. Demetrius's tag was TAKI 183.
    TAKI was his nickname and 183 was the number of the street where he lived – 183rd Street. At first, he
    wrote his tag on walls in his neighbourhood. Then he started writing it in subway stations on the way to
    school. When the subway train stopped at a station, he jumped off, wrote his 'tag' on the wall and then
    jumped back on the train before the doors closed. Other teenagers saw Demetrius's tag and started writing
    their own tags on walls, buses and subway trains all over New York: Barbara 62, Joe 182, ...

    Then, some teenagers stopped using pens and started using aerosol paints. Their tags were bigger and
    more colourful. Aerosol paint graffiti became very popular in the 1970s and 1980s and appeared on trains,
    buses and walls around the world. In the 1990s and 2000s, a lot of graffiti artists started to make pictures
    too. Some artists were interested in politics and tried to make people think about social problems and
    discrimination with their pictures. Other artists wanted to make cities more beautiful. In South America,
    street artists started painting in poor areas. They brought colour and beauty to grey, city walls.

    Art or vandalism?

    Is graffiti art or vandalism? In many countries, it is a crime to paint on walls, and street artists can have
    problems with the police. In other countries, street art is permitted in certain places. For example, in
    Taiwan, there are 'graffiti zones' where artists are free to paint and write on walls. In São Paulo in Brazil,
    the city council allows some graffiti artists to paint on the city's subway trains.

    Nowadays, street art is more popular with the public. In some cities, there are street art festivals. In Bristol
    in the UK, there is a street art festival in August every year. Artists paint all the buildings in a street. Lots of
    people come to watch the artists and take photos. Street art can be seen in galleries too. There have been
    exhibitions of street art in galleries in Paris, London and Los Angeles.
    Who are the artists?

    Some street artists have become famous. Here are three stars of the street art world:

    • Os Gêmeos are identical twin brothers from São Paulo. They paint huge, colourful pictures of
    people on buildings. In 2007, they painted a castle in Scotland.

    • Blek le Rat is from France. He started off painting rats on the walls of Paris. Nowadays, he paints
    pictures of homeless people in big cities. He wants city residents to look at his pictures and think
    about the homeless.

    • Faith47 is from Cape Town in South Africa. She paints big, colourful pictures of people and
    animals. She likes painting in different locations and you can find her pictures on pavements,
    postboxes, buses, cars and, of course, on walls!

    Street art and the global village

    Most street artists are young people who paint in their home city or neighbourhood. Many of them use the
    internet to communicate and share photos of their pictures with other street artists around the world. Some
    street artists have become famous and their pictures can be seen in galleries or on city walls around the
    world. Although we don’t know what will happen to street art in the future, we can be sure that it is here to
    stay!

    Robin Newton

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