Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The Origin of Graffiti

Graffiti is not a new phenomenon. It was invented in 1564 by a housepainter inVenice, Italy named Alfredo Graffiti (1531-1590). Alfredo had the habit of writing his grocery list on the walls yet to be painted. At the end of the day he would commit the list to memory and paint over it. Other citizens of Venice began copying Alfredo, writing their own grocery lists on random walls, much to the chagrin of the piazza owners.

By coincidence, Gino Graffiti (1936-1959), no relation, invented canned spray paint in 1953.

5 Comments:

Blogger Lew said...

Obviously, you've never heard the story of Steven Vandal.

8:22 PM  
Blogger LeoBro said...

I know it, but you tell the story best.

6:07 PM  
Blogger Lew said...

Well, I forget how most of it goes, but Steven Vandal used to write his name on farm animals, any farm animals he saw, to try and claim the he in actuality owned them. He was a bit touched in the head because nobody believed him and it never worked, but he wrote his name on so many animals eventually every animal within 20 miles of Brandenburg, Germany had Steven Vandal's name on them. This gave rise to the term "Vandalism"

8:28 PM  
Blogger LeoBro said...

And also to the term "brand."

9:07 PM  
Blogger Sister Christian said...

That's awesome...I think...ya know, if it ain't a lie and all...yeah.

7:15 PM  

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