Writings on the Wall

Photographer Henry Chalfant and artist Blade celebrate graffiti culture with a book signing and a screening of Style Wars.


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Published: Apr 13, 2010

Henry Chalfant

STYLE FILE: Blade, the self-proclaimed king of graffiti, says he’s tagged more than 5,000 subway cars. Shown are three caught by photographer Henry Chalfant's lens.

[ still burnin' ]

Is it art or is it vandalism?

That's the question graffiti photographer Henry Chalfant says he gets the most. He'll seek to answer it with collaborator Martha Cooper and New York graffiti artist Blade at a Q&A, screening of street art doc Style Wars and signing of the 25th anniversary edition of Chalfant's book Subway Art (Chronicle), which includes 70 additional photographs and a new intro.

"You will see graffiti at its prime and be able to talk to the people who lived through and witnessed it firsthand," says Drexel event coordinator Zeek Weil of the multidisciplinary event produced by the university's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

Though Chalfant began his artistic career primarily as a sculptor, he became fascinated with graffiti and started photographing it in the mid-'70s. New York City was facing financial crisis and widespread poverty, but youth culture flourished on brick walls and the sides of trains with relative impunity to punishment. "It seemed that something that had started out as mischief turned into real art," Chalfant says. With director Tony Silver, the photographer produced the film Style Wars to document a clash in aesthetics: graffiti artists vs. the city.

While big corporations can flog people with their opinions through horizon-swallowing billboards, Chalfant argues, "graffiti introduced to the world a venue for youth, especially marginalized youth, to express themselves. Similar to hip-hop, it gave voice to people who did not have other forms of media."

The centerfold of Chalfant's Subway Art is a piece by Blade, the self-proclaimed King of Graffiti. Though his work is now exhibited internationally, Blade fondly recalls his graffiti roots and echoes Chalfant's sentiment. "By the mid-'70s you have thousands of teens not having any trouble with each other, just running around the underground having fun," he says. "Graffiti was a way to express your creativity because all the school programs were being cut at that time." Between 1974 and 1982, Blade says he tagged more than 5,000 train cars.

Want to know how he did it without ever getting arrested? Ask him yourself during the Q&A with Chalfant, Cooper and Blade following the screening. Filmed during the early '80s, Style Wars highlights the heyday of graffiti and the beginnings of hip-hop culture, featuring prominent artists and scene celebs like breakdancer Crazy Legs from the Rock Steady Crew. But the film has seen better days and needs restoration. Particularly inspired audience members are encouraged to make donations to the Style Wars film fund and get their names in the credits of a rereleased edition.

Since the event is meant to celebrate the finest of graffiti culture, Blade suggests you be prepared when you get in line for the book signing. "Don't bring some Sharpie," he says. "Bring me a silver paint marker to sign with."

(emily.currier@citypaper.net)

Underground Art | Thu., April 22, 7 p.m., free, Drexel's Bossone Auditorium, 3128 Market St., 215-895-1029, drexel.edu/westphal