Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is pleased to present Born in the Streets—Graffiti, on view from July 7 to November 29, 2009. The exhibition brings to light the extraordinary development of an artistic movement that was born in the streets of New York in the early 1970s to rapidly become a worldwide phenomenon. It provides the public with the opportunity to rediscover an art both ubiquitous and continually evolving, and thus relate to the city in a new way.

As part of the exhibition they have released a book: Born in The Streets, a film: Pixo, and my favorite, an interactive display by Evan Roth: Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009

Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009 from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

Over 2,400 graffiti tags were photographed from April 24 to April 28, 2009, from each of Paris’s 20 districts. All photographs were archived, tagged and sorted by letter. The ten most commonly used letters by Paris graffiti writers were identified for further study (A,E,I,K,N,O,R,S,T and U). From each letter grouping, eighteen tags were isolated to represent the diversity and range of that specific character.

These sets are not intended to display the “best” graffiti tags in Paris, but rather aim to highlight the diversity of forms ranging from upper case to lowercase, simple to complex and legible to cryptic. You can read about the artist’s here. This amazing interactive piece was developed by Todd Vanderlin.

Photo by Todd Vanderlin

Photo by Todd Vanderlin

Tags are laid out in a grid using small multiples, and arranged by letter. Letters can then be isolated, browsed, and viewed in context (original photographs). I find it fascinating the unique approach each graffiti artist takes to the same letter. Large, small, drippy, illegible, whatever the case – each handstyle gives a glimpse into the persona of the artist.

This interactive piece is a continuation of the artist’s original work, which used tags from NYC

You can check out the online version here http://fondation.cartier.com/