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In New York City, residents and tourists are constantly inundated with things to look at. Whether it be flashing lights, huge advertisements, a man dancing around only wearing green underwear in Union Square or yellow taxis flying by, there is always something new demanding our attention. The more years you spend here, the more numb you become to this daily parade of visual stimulation. Extraordinary things go unnoticed because they are now ordinary. To many, seeing graffiti in the streets has become normal, but to Thomas from Swedish based TagsAndThrows, it is anything but normal. It is the love of his life. |
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In New York City, residents and tourists are constantly inundated with things to look at. Whether it be flashing lights, huge advertisements, a man dancing around only wearing green underwear in Union Square or yellow taxis flying by, there is always something new demanding our attention. The more years you spend here, the more numb you become to this daily parade of visual stimulation. Extraordinary things go unnoticed because they are now ordinary. To many, seeing graffiti in the streets has become normal, but to Thomas from Swedish based TagsAndThrows, it is anything but normal. It is the love of his life.
There are many differing opinions about graffiti and whether or not it is destructive.TagsAndThrows is on a mission to give graffiti viewers a better understanding of exactly what this phenomenon is all about and why we should stop and take time to look at the tags and throw-ups that surround us.
Katherine Goerlich: What is Graffiti Bombing and how did it start?
Thomas Gunnarsson: Graffiti bombing started to appear on the streets of Philadelphia and New York City in the 1970s. Young people discovered it as a new way to get fame. Using markers, mops, spray cans, roller paint and various other kinds of medium, kids started to make a name for themselves by putting up tags on trash bins, postboxes, light posts, walls and trains all over the city. Since then, graffiti bombing has become a world wide phenomenon.
KG: TagsAndThrows focuses on the most basic parts of graffiti bombing – the tags and the throw-ups. A tag is your graffiti name and also the most simple form of graffiti, what most people call scribbling or doodling. A throw-up is the next step. The same name, but this time a little bit more complicated, often using bubble letters and one or two colors. The third step is to make a piece, what most people not into graffiti bombing consider to be “real graffiti”, not just names.
TG: I like some graffiti pieces, but not close to as much as I love tags and throw-ups. The simplicity of this part of graffiti culture makes it interesting. You can hide not having style when doing a piece, by using a lot of different colors, connecting your letters in a complicated way, use fades, shadows and 3Ds etc, but when putting up a tag you only have one chance to make it look good.
KG: What caused the creation of TagsAndThrows?
TG: TagsAndThrows just happened. During an early 2012 vacation in New York, I borrowed a camera from a friend and took a walk around the city. Without any other purpose than wanting to document my favorite tags and throw-ups, I started taking pictures. As soon as I got back to Sweden, I showed the pictures to my graffiti bomb loving friend and he went bananas. As he got the chance to see what was going on on the streets of this legendary bombing city, he exclaimed “we need to do something with these pictures!”. From there, we pulled it all together and launched TagsAndThrows.com.
KG: What has happened since the launch of TagsAndThrows?
TG: Working out of pure love for this subculture, we gained followers from all over the world. In less than a year TagsAndThrows has, 10,500 followers on Instagram, released a short documentary on notorious Stockholm street bomber – HNR, arranged a celebrity bombing event at one of Sweden’s biggest music festivals and are in the talks on being the official supplier of graffiti bombing for one of the best selling shoot-em up games in the world.
Whatever happens, We Love Bombing, and we’re going to continue to supply bombing fiends with the best tags and throws that appear in the streets we roam.
Where has TagsAndThrows gone thus far looking for tags and have you seen tags from an artists in more than one city that you’ve visited?
So far we’ve documented bombing in Stockholm, Malmoe, Gothenburg, Barcelona, Copenhagen, San Sebastian, Berlin and New York. And there’s at least 20 bombers that I’ve documented work from who’ve gotten tags up in more than three of these cities. That’s fantastic to me!
There are two guys in Stockholm who bomb often right now. They write Honey & Gimp. Their tags are everywhere. I walk a lot, both because I enjoy walking and because I want to cover as much graffiti bombing as possible. So, to walk around a lake far in the outskirts of Stockholm, not seeing any tags for 2 hours, and then suddenly find a small Honey & Gimp tag in the middle of nowhere is great. It shows dedication. One of the most important parts of being a graffiti bomber.
KG: Where are you headed next?
TG: I want to document graffiti bombing wherever it may appear. I love travel in general. I’m looking forward to what cities this interest may take me. My plan is to hit up Milano, Praha and Paris this spring.
KG: How has the hunt for tags changed the way you walk through life?
TG: I register all tags around me. It has become an obsession. I can spot a certain tag from afar. If it’s a tag from an artist I’ve been following for awhile, I’m able to recognize it before I’m close enough to actually read it. I look more at tags than advertisements. I even look more at tags than girls. Sometimes girls think I turned around to check them out, when I’m actually checking out the back of a post box or a truck that just passed.
KG: What steps should people take to start appreciating tags?
TG: The first thing that people should try to do is to distinguish between different tags. Most people only see “graffiti.” They can’t separate one artist from the other. The most important step to take, if you want to learn more about graffiti bombing, is to read the different names of the artists. As soon as you start doing this you will see tags from certain artists in different places. It’s almost like bird watching. I’ve been following some bombers for years and I can read a lot in the tags these artists put up. If they were in a hurry, what kind of marker/can they used, if they were drunk, if it was raining, and so on. Even though it’s “just names,” there’s a lot to read in these small pieces of art.
KG: What is it about Graffiti Bombing that excites you?
TG: I appreciate the fact that people do write on walls. I appreciate that they dare to break the law to express themselves. I truly love bombing and appreciate all tags – in different ways. Of course there’s certain tags I like more than others, but in my world, an ugly tag is as important as a good looking one.
One of the most interesting things to me is to follow a new bomber and see them develop a style. To see someone get up a lot and at the same time get better and better, is like watching a mini documentary on someone’s life and career.
KG: Is tagging an art or is it destructive?
TG: It’s both. A lot of art is destructive.
Almost anything can be art – cooking, interior design, poetry etc, so it’s impossible to say that graffiti bombing is not an art. Many people think of art as something that is supposed to be beautiful. That’s not what art is about. Art is about mirroring the world we live in, taking steps outside of our collective consciousness, affecting people emotionally and bringing change. I think that a lot of tags and throw-ups are really beautiful.
To break the law, wanting to change the way things are, putting up your name on places where it’s “not supposed to be” – is an art. When looking back at graffiti bombing a hundred years from now, it will probably not be looked on as destructive at all, but rather intelligent. There are too many people on this planet who just do what they’re told. The world needs people like graffiti bombers to question the system and the world we live in. The world needs more people that do things, not because it’s something they make money on, but because they love to do it.
KG: What role does TagsAndThrows play in this international phenomenon?
TG: We want to document graffiti bombing better than it has ever been documented, from as many places as possible, inspire bombers from all over the world, and show them that we love what they do.
I personally want to share my love for bombing with others. Those already addicted, and those new to this phenomenon. I want people to be interested in bombing. I want them to get up from their computers after reading this interview and go wherever they’re supposed to go. And the first tag they pass, I want them to read it, analyze its style, remember what it says, find another tag by the same artist, and feel good about it. Tags are all over, you might as well enjoy it instead of hating it.
For more tags and throw-ups add TagsAndThrows on Instagram for daily bombing updates, visit TagsAndThrows.com and take a look at the short documentary on legendary swedish graffiti bomber HNR called Daytime Bombing With HNR.
Below are pictures of tags and throws-ups from some of TagsAndThrows favorite NYC bombers.
