Ornament and Order For my parents Ornament and Order Graffiti, Street art and the Parergon rafael Schacter University College London, UK © rafael Schacter 2014 all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. rafael Schacter has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing Limited ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court east 110 Cherry Street Union road Suite 3-1 Farnham Burlington, Vt 05401-3818 Surrey, GU9 7Pt USa england www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schacter, rafael. Ornament and order : graffiti, street art and the parergon / by rafael Schacter. pages cm. -- (architecture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBn 978-1-4724-0998-0 (hardback) -- ISBn 978-1-4724-0999-7 (ebook) -- ISBn 978- 1-4724-1000-9 (epub) 1. decoration and ornament--Social aspects. 2. Graffiti--Social aspects. 3. Street art--Social aspects. I. title. nK1520.S33 2014 709.05'1--dc23 2013043984 ISBn 9781472409980 (hbk) ISBn 9781472409997 (ebk – PdF) ISBn 9781472410009 (ebk – ePUB) III Grooves repeated in succession – man’s first aesthetic expression – betray a sense of order, symmetrical grooves show even a certain incipient sense of balance, cogitation and repose … which to this day is the ethical basis of art. alphonse marie mucha, 1966 This page has been left blank intentionally Contents List of Figures ix Foreword xv Preface xix Introduction 1 Part I: Ornament 1 Ornament 15 2 Consensual Ornamentation 53 3 agonistic Ornamentation 91 Part II: Order 4 Order 133 5 Inversion, Subversion, Perversion 161 6 Play, risk and the Picaresque 189 Conclusion 221 viii Ornament and Order Postscript 235 acknowledgements 247 Bibliography 249 Index 267 List of Figures Black and White P.1 Cripta Djan at work, São Paulo, Brazil, 2012 xx P.2 Chu, Untitled, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2013 xxi P.3 3TTMan and Remed, Untitled, Madrid, Spain, 2009 xxii P.4 Nano4814, San, and others unknown, Untitled, Vigo, Spain, 2010 xxiii P.5 Noviciado Nueve (and friends), Belvés, France, 2012 xxiv P.6 Noviciado Nueve, Madrid, Spain, 2012 xxvii I.1 The Leake Street Classicist, London, England, 2011 2 I.2 The Leake Street Classicist, London, England, 2011 2 I.3 Eltono, Untitled, Beijing, China, 2012 6 I.4 San (Daniel Muñoz), Untitled, Catania, Italy, 2010 9 I.5 Akim One, Untitled, Odessa, Ukraine, 2013 11 1.1 Nano at work, Madrid, Spain, 2009 16 1.2 Nano, Untitled (Choquito), Madrid, Spain, 2007 17 1.3 3TTMan, Untitled (Carteles) [detail], Madrid, Spain, 2008 18 1.4 3TTMan, Untitled (Carteles), Madrid, Spain, 2010 20 1.5 Neko, Untitled [Acid Etching in process – etchings also visible in surround], Madrid, Spain, 2010 22 1.6 Momo, Untitled, London, England, 2008 23 1.7 Katsu, Untitled, New York, USA, 2011. Katsu’s figurative icon, produced in one pure movement, functions both as an image of a skull whilst also containing the word ‘tag’ hidden within it 24 1.8 Spok, Untitled, Madrid, Spain, 2007 25 1.9 Image destruction or ‘buffing’ in Madrid, 2010 29 1.10 The agency of the image. Madrid ‘window’ of fame, 2010. Image includes tags by Buni, Hear (Alone), Ring, Spok, Nano4184, Neko, Dier, Remed, Shit, Garr (Garrulo – Koas), Parse, Suee, Til, Tonk, Los del rodillo, and unknown others 33