HEART BEAT

Growing up in the 80”s in New York City left many great memories and at the same time it was a city with many difficulties. The economy was down and NY struggled financially. Racism still thrived and cultures clashed. There were gangs that caused a hike in crime and also poverty stricken neighborhoods. However, in the midst of the chaos, our generation had a culture that enabled us to flourish in many positive ways which brought about a new style of dance, music and art. We enjoyed music such as hip hop and freestyle and enjoyed watching break dancers from around the world perform moves we’ve never seen before. Graffiti was also popular at the time and it was considered an art form.  Since we rarely made trips to the museums and weren’t exposed to art as much, graffiti was what left a lasting sweet memory in my childhood.

My eldest brother was a graffiti artist and an “MC” (master of ceremonies, host that introduces a dj) and in grammar school he excelled in reading and writing. His penmanship was a work of art in and of itself. I can recall the days when I was 11 and 12yrs. old when I would review his writings and attempt to copy his styles (smile). Graffiti began in the 60”s in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It started off with graffiti writers tagging their names  or just writing their nicknames such as “Cornbread” or “2Phase” that were written on trains, buses, buildings, walls, parks and pretty much everywhere that you can imagine. It became so popular that it spread all across the U.S. and Europe. Graffiti artists began to travel and tour and were invited to display their “piece” (masterpiece) in various galleries. “Graffiti appeared regularly in popular video clips, music, books and films such as “Style Wars” by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant and “Wild Style” by Charlie Ahearn who described and promoted aerosol culture.”(speerstra.net)

In conclusion, as NY struggled financially, the transit system was filthy and not well maintained leading to the greatest graffiti “bombings” in history. The style of writing grew bigger with thicker bubble letters, outlines and colors on trains and murals. Our generation was very active. We were always outdoors, playing games and sports. I was very athletic as a child and in grammar school during my 6^th grade year we had many sports competitions and I participated in all of them especially Double Dutch. During one of our competitions I named our double dutch team “Heartbeat” which I named after the popular hip hop/dance hit single Heartbeat by Taana Gardner. We had to create a poster to display our team name and so I asked my brother to draw something nice for us. The poster he created was a beautiful huge graffiti art piece that read “Heartbeat” in big colorful bubble letters and a heart. When I saw it I was in awe and so extremely proud to bring it to school and show it off but to my utmost surprise was the expression of everyone who viewed it, the principle, teachers, students, parents. It was like we were in an art gallery enjoying his art. After the competition I can’t recall if we won or not but I do remember that the school asked to keep the piece for display for a while but I never received it back. Guess they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Work Cited

“About Graffiti and Street Art.” speerstra.net. ND

Speertra Gallery.Web 19 Sept. 2017