As a historic building in New York’s Soho sections received a makeover into luxury lofts, a wall dating all the way back to late 1970′s and early 1980s (or so) reared it’s head. (Read the Yahoo article) The wall was once the property (or rather the loft) or a known art collector and purveyor of the so-called fringe arts and features some well-known taggers and artists including Fab 5 Freddy, Futura 2000, and even Jean-Michael Basquiat. Supposedly, it’s the earliest findings of graffiti being perceived as art rather than crime. Even more of a suprise (to us at least) lies in the fact that probably only ten years ago, this wouldn’t be getting the national attention that’s been blanketed over it. The move of graffiti into the “art” world and even mainstream culture only happened recently. Some always considered the craft an art form, but it’s mostly been relegated and related to words like “criminal,” “ugly,” and “degenerate.” Now, the tagged wall has been called a relic, and is getting prepped to keep it intact, in a museum, and alive–basically it’s not getting rolled over with paint like so many other “historic” graffiti walls. The whole article makes it seem like this wall dates back to the days of Christ, but, my god, it’s only 27 or so years old. It just goes to show the significant impact (both negative and positive) graffiti has made in the world, and really puts the whole idea of what it’s become into perspective. Guaranteed some UArts kid invited all his/her friends over to tag up his/her dorm room wall after reading this story, or he/she has started their own little graffiti wall in some South Philly neighborhood because that’s where most UArts kids move to (or Rittenhouse) after they decide the dorms aren’t “arty” enough for them, and they need more creative space.