From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti
Once described as a terrorist act, hip-hop graffiti has been increasingly appropriated by commercial, art, and government institutions. This article explores one aspect of its mainstreaming, the commercial, breaking with previous scholarship which has stressed the exploitative and degenerative effec...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Taylor and Francis
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/6545 |
| _version_ | 1848745106482397184 |
|---|---|
| author | Lombard, Kara-Jane |
| author_facet | Lombard, Kara-Jane |
| author_sort | Lombard, Kara-Jane |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Once described as a terrorist act, hip-hop graffiti has been increasingly appropriated by commercial, art, and government institutions. This article explores one aspect of its mainstreaming, the commercial, breaking with previous scholarship which has stressed the exploitative and degenerative effect of commercial culture on graffiti. It refers to creative industries literature and the scholarship of economist Tyler Cowen to demonstrate that although commercial incorporation can change the graffiti aesthetic and exploit it, increasingly the commercialization of graffiti is a collaborative process. It also finds that often graffiti writers will compromise in one area to obtain rewards in another. Despite increased appropriation, it is evident that ambiguity continues to pervade the meanings of graffiti, indicating that this has not rendered it insignificant or meaningless. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:12:05Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-6545 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:12:05Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-65452017-09-13T14:42:16Z From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti Lombard, Kara-Jane Once described as a terrorist act, hip-hop graffiti has been increasingly appropriated by commercial, art, and government institutions. This article explores one aspect of its mainstreaming, the commercial, breaking with previous scholarship which has stressed the exploitative and degenerative effect of commercial culture on graffiti. It refers to creative industries literature and the scholarship of economist Tyler Cowen to demonstrate that although commercial incorporation can change the graffiti aesthetic and exploit it, increasingly the commercialization of graffiti is a collaborative process. It also finds that often graffiti writers will compromise in one area to obtain rewards in another. Despite increased appropriation, it is evident that ambiguity continues to pervade the meanings of graffiti, indicating that this has not rendered it insignificant or meaningless. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/6545 10.1080/15551393.2013.801277 Taylor and Francis restricted |
| spellingShingle | Lombard, Kara-Jane From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti |
| title | From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti |
| title_full | From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti |
| title_fullStr | From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti |
| title_full_unstemmed | From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti |
| title_short | From subways to product labels: The commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti |
| title_sort | from subways to product labels: the commercial incorporation of hip hop graffiti |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/6545 |