Calligraffiti

Calligraffiti is an art form that combines calligraphy, typography, and graffiti. It can be classified as both abstract expressionism and abstract vandalism.

Calligraffiti can be defined as a visual art that attempts to communicate a larger message through writing that has been aesthetically altered in the effort of moving beyond the literal meaning. Simply put, it is the conscious effort of making a word or group of words into a visual composition. As such it is meant to be both an aesthetic experience and provocative art—mixing tradition and precision with modern unbridled self-expression.

Calligraffiti is a complex process. Its specificity is in its paradoxical nature, as it is characterised by and composed of many elements that appear contradictory.

It requires an overall vision from the artist- from the message he is trying to convey, to the shape of the letters, to the larger picture he is creating. The calligraffiti artist Tubs explains that the art form’s graffiti component force the artist to reflect upon and consciously create a piece that will arouse a specific feeling or reaction in the viewer. However, the use of the alphabet as an artistic medium demands practice, accuracy, and foresight.

Part of what differentiates calligraffiti from calligraphy is its freedom from rules. Calligraphy is a meticulous and specific art that takes years to master. Most calligraffiti artists, like El Seed, do not consider themselves calligraphers because they do not know, nor do they follow the many rules of calligraphy. Calligraffiti on the other hand is characterized by its diversity of mediums, methods, and instruments. Each individual artist uses and sometimes designs his or her own tools.

The term was first coined by Dutch artist Niels Shoe Meulman in 2007 as the title of his solo exhibit. He describes it as “traditional handwriting with a metropolitan attitude” and a “way of translating the art of the street to the interior of museums, galleries and apartments”. In an interview he explains the technique itself as “directness in the whole, finesse in the details. An even balance between seeing and reading word and image. […] letters, writing and language itself becomes an image or abstraction. On the other hand, basic shapes and splats become language.”

In 2015, Niels Shoe Meulman created the Calligraffiti Ambassadors with the aim of expanding the movement and creating a community of calligraffiti artists. The group has already grown since its inception and includes artists from all over the world. They exhibited some of their work at the Affenfaust Gallery in Hamburg, Germany.

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