While other cities have free spaces for graffiti artists to paint, Knoxville has none. Depending on how you define graffit, it has been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, although it has taken starkly varying vorms and delivered just as many messages-the political, the obscene, the territorial, the artistic. The current wave of graffiti was inspired by and is an integral part of hip-hop culture, which was born in the late '70s. The four main components of hip hop are DJing, MCing, graffiti and breakdancing. All these forms carry thier share of negative stereotypes, but graffiti is the most illicit, because most of it is done without permission, and because a lot of it is mistakenly associated with gangs.
Gangs use graffiti to mark territory and identify themselves.
But graffiti that grew out of hip hop is created for artistic and egotistical reasons. The cops think it's a gang thing. For some people it's competition. Bryan Deese teaches a mural painting class at Laurel High School, and many of his students are interested in the world of graffiti. It's told the galleries, we don't even want you.