Part of the thrill of the creation of wild letters is the mental and artistic challenge presented both for the writer and the reader. Dondi, from New York, has said that when he writes for other writers he uses wildstyle, and when he writes for the public he uses straight letters (Chalfant, 1984, p.70). Wildstyle is intentionally hard to decipher.
Most writers fall somewhere on a continuum blending these desires and more. Some motivations cited are resistance and rebellion, fame (literally making a name for oneself), and the desire to create beauty and share art with their community.
The reasons why people write are diverse and ever-evolving. It is created both for, and in defiance of, the audience, which is made up of other writers 1 and both supportive and unsupportive members of the public.
Like all forms of graffiti art, it is spray painted on walls, trains, and other public surfaces, frequently illegally, and is intended to impose on public visual space, and to challenge viewers' ideas of who has the right to represent themselves publicly, and what art is. 'Wildstyle' is a form of graffiti composed of complicated interlocking letters, arrows, and embellishment. Street Math In Wildstyle Graffiti Art Street Math In Wildstyle Graffiti Art © 1997 Josephine Noah
