The Writing's On The Wall Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lady Pink

Lady Pink began her graffiti career in 1979 and by 1980 had formed the all female crew, LOTA (Ladies of the Arts) with whom she spent five years painting New York City subway trains, before moving on to working on freight trains. Her works have been exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, and she was one of the 21 graffiti artists awarded $6.7 million in damages when the 5 Pointz mural space in New York City was whitewashed over in 2013.

Answer: Kilroy Was Here

This simple tag, depicting a man peering over a wall, is probably derived from the British tag, Mr Chad, who had a similar appearance, and was usually accompanied by a comment on rationing such as "Wot? No sugar?", although there was also an Australian version which began life during WWI, this being "Foo was here."
"Kilroy was here" found its way onto Japanese pillboxes during WWII, in the VIP bathroom used by Stain at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, and in Washington, D.C. on the National World War II Memorial.

Answer: Toy

Toys are often accused of "biting" or copying an established artist and their tags in order to gain fame within the graffiti world. Biting is a practice that is frowned upon within the community and it is common for established artists to write the word "toy" over a toy tag.

Answer: Banksy

"The Son of a Migrant from Syria" was painted in the migrant camp in Calais, France, known as the Calais Jungle, and depicted Steve Jobs, who was the son of a Syrian migrant to USA, carrying his belongings in a sack in one hand and an early Macintosh computer in the other. "Kissing Coppers" first appeared on the wall of The Prince Albert pub in Brighton in 2004 and features two British policemen kissing whilst in a passionate embrace. Banksy keeps his real identity a closely guarded secret and his works have appeared in cities such as London, Bristol and Nottingham in UK, Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans in the USA and Paris, France, among others.

Answer: Hip Hop

Graffiti has been associated with rock music due to "Clapton is God" appearing on walls in the 60s and punk after the names of bands such as Black Flag and Crass were used as tags in the 70s, but the big graffiti explosion came with hip hop music. Fab 5 Freddy, a respected graffiti artist, contributed the rap section to Blondie's 1981 hit "Rapture", while the videos for tracks such as "Planet Rock" (1982) by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force featured graffiti art. Within the hip hop genre, the four main elements were quickly established as emceeing and deejaying to provide the music, b-boying proving the dance and graffiti as the visual medium.

Answer: Prehistoric Cave Paintings

The group of lads meant well, in their attempt to erase graffiti near the village of Bruniquel in southern France, but got carried away slightly with their steel brushes. The boys managed to erase two prehistoric paintings of bison at the Cave of Mayrières supérieure before realising that perhaps the art wasn't modern graffiti after all. Still, it wasn't a total disaster as the scout group was honoured with the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in Archaeology for their feat, awarded to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think."

Answer: Glitter Guerilla

Spray paint cans are often referred to as cannons and the Krylon cannon was much used during the New York City subway graffiti era of the 1970s and 1980s with "360 Krylon", featuring easy 360 degree nozzle control being favoured by inexperienced artists or "toys". Painter's Touch, often abbreviated to PT, is marketed by Rust-Oleum and is liked by artists for its durability. German Montana, like Loop Colors and Montana Brands, was specifically manufactured for graffiti, coming in a range of colours such as lime green, burgundy, and fuchsia, as well as being fast drying and able to withstand winter temperatures.

Answer: IBM

The IBM campaign took place in Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, utilising graffiti artists to spray paint a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin which was the symbol of their Linux operating system. This "Peace, Love and Linux" campaign resulted in great publicity, but most of it became negative after several of the artists were arrested and charged with vandalism.

Answer: Melbourne

Hosier Lane, Melbourne, is famed for its street art but illustrates the conundrum faced by local authorities as the art is technically still illegal, although prosecuting artists responsible would severely impact the city as it would drive down visitor numbers.

In 2020, the lane was "colour bombed" by a group using fire extinguishers to spray paint over the existing art, an act which led to a police investigation for vandalism - this even though the original art is technically still vandalism. Hosier Lane features works from celebrated artists, Adrian Doyle and Lukas Kasper, among many others, and is the best known of the graffiti lanes in Melbourne, which include Tattersalls Lane, Stevenson Lane, Union Lane, and AC/DC Lane.

Answer: Tony Blair

Is graffiti art or crime? Acceptable or criminal? While groups as diverse as hip hop fans and art experts may define much graffiti as art, to many people it is an eyesore. Blair went so far as to mention graffiti along with drugs and mindless violence as "bad symptoms" of modern society, but it would be interesting to know whether he was including artists such as Banksy, Lady Pink, Chris "Daze" Ellis or Os Gemeos in that statement. Where is the line between art and vandalism drawn?