The Emerging Graffiti Culture in Dallas

Graffiti culture can’t be stopped. It’s worldwide and has been dominating most major cities around the world for decades now. The cities will keep buffing and the writers just see an open spot to hit.

Dallas may not be viewed as an established graffiti filled city, but what I do love about Dallas is that for the most part, when the writers hit this city, they go big and colorful. Sure there are black and white bombs and black line hollows all around, but even most of those are done with style. We have big hitters here. Writers doing straight burners on the streets that can be seen blocks away. Top to bottom, end to end construction storage containers, highway bridges, underpasses and walls, DART tracksides, broadside of warehouses, billboards, business signs, street signs, buildings under construction, broken down RVs, buses, broken down cars, on and on. I love to travel and have seen thriving graffiti culture in other parts of the world and I can say with confidence that Dallas is a killer graffiti city. Yea, you aren’t going to walk through boring downtown and get immersed in our graffiti world, but it’s out there, it’s visible, it’s loud, it’s bold and is full of style.

You gotta look on the outskirts of downtown to see what I am talking about. West Dallas, South Dallas, Oak Cliff, Deep Ellum, East Dallas and Mesquite, etc. Also every single abando is hit, every single tunnel is hit, all the freight lines are fought over for clean trains to be hit. I used to not want to compare Dallas to LA or NYC, but in this world you have to. Those are the goals, those are the cities where graffiti culture has been thriving longer with more established writers. So while we are not LA or NYC, I personally think we are getting close. You can disagree and that is fine, but I have seen 75% of the graffiti in this city and for the most part we have a quality over quantity type situation going on over here and that’s why I back my statement by saying we are getting close. The writers that do hit the streets, abandos, tunnels, tracksides and freights do so with their own unique style that can’t be found anywhere else.

The writers and their crews getting up for their street fame and the thrill is what it’s all about. If you talk to any local writer who has been in this game for the last 10 to 20 years, they will tell you that Dallas graffiti comes in waves. There were some dead years in there, but lately, ever since I have been doing this, going on 4 years now, I have not seen it slow down. Actually seeing more and more writers pop up, more spots being hit and now the news is even starting to cover it with having to buff “500+ pieces”. Keeping the buff man busy that is for sure.

All in all, Dallas graffiti is here to stay, exploding and I will be here to flick as much as I can of it.