One of the cool things about graffiti is that so many different types of people use it. Ancient Greeks, ancient Romans and urban gangs have all used graffiti to claim territory and make political statements. We commonly use graffiti now to express ourselves.
One type of expression is called tagging. Artists pick a fake name and write their name in different ways all over the surrounding area. This does mark territory, but also shows off how the artist’s particular style.

For example some graffiti can have some instilled messages like the picture above. Others have a certain twist. The image below is called cartoon graffiti. Cartoon graffiti commonly has electric colors that evoke emotional appeal. They also include a cartoon character that is known in the area in order to elicit certain feelings.

Many graffiti artists also have some sort of message that they want to send. Since it is difficult to put those political messages in public places that everyone will see without getting arrested, photographs are taken and put into blogs. Artists can also become famous by being put into books. Whatever the case may be, graffiti gets seen. One of the most popular places for people to post their favorite art is on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep0uxxCMTeU&feature=related
Artists have also become more creative than the traditional ways to get their work seen. Some artists have put graffiti on their cars. By marking your car, or territory, in that manner is a statement of what kind of lifestyle you lead. The vans commonly decorated with graffiti art travel around the country and do not stay in one place for too long.

There is a great deal of debate on good and bad graffiti though. People who run around tagging and vandalizing public property are usually not accepted. These people are often called posers and are not seen as true artists.
One question I will try to answer by my next blog post is how graffiti affects our culture, and in what ways.