Graffiti pioneer Specs first started writing in 1983. He says graffiti should be given a place in the city but that wanton destruction of private property crosses the line. Samples of his work can be seen at MOHAIs The Legacy of Seattle Hip-Hop exhibit: Eric Brandt

Baso Fibonacci, a Seattle artist, began writing around this time. I loved graffiti from the moment I saw it, he says. The combination of artistic creativity and anti-establishment statement appealed to me. Baso, now in his 30s, wrote all over the city and honed his painting skills, before an accident in the mid 2000s changed his life forever. He was writing a tag on a bridge in the city when he lost his footing and fell. He is now paralyzed from the waist down. But his artistic endeavors and his love for graffiti have continued unabated. Even as the city has moved to crack down on the illegal practice even further.

In 2010 the City Council voted to create a full time graffiti detective position within the Seattle Police Department. In 2011, Detective Christopher Young, a former sexual assault and child abuse detective with the department (and detective of the year in 2007) took the job. Since then hes tracked many of the most notorious graffiti writers in the area and made a number of key arrests and convictions.

The majority of graffiti vandals are not artists, says Young. The vast majority of them arent concerned about art in the least. Theyre online on forums sharing pictures of tags and having a competition with their buddies as to who can get up (get their name up throughout the city) the most. Todays graffiti is done mostly by white males, their average age is about 22, and theyre doing it for a rush, for some excitement, and for their own self aggrandizement. Not for art.

Young says he fields about 800 reports of illegal graffiti a year, a number that has stayed fairly consistent since he first began investigating the practice. I pretty much concentrate on the 10 or 12 most egregious vandals, he says. I catch them in the act or find out who they are and then I convince them to stop or leave the city.

According to many of Seattles graffiti writers, some of the most active are indeed leaving the city, going to places like Detroit where the climate is a bit more tolerant and there is a lot of property to tag that wont be cleaned up right away if at all. Since Detective Young started, Seattle has avoided the major uptick in graffiti being felt in many cities from San Francisco to Albuquerque, and has been able to keep it away from the most economically important parts of the city.

People like to come to these places to work, to go shopping, and if they see graffiti everywhere, theyre going to think its gang warfare on the streets of Seattle, even if its done mostly by harmless kids, says Young. Perception is reality and we have to take these perceptions into account. Its bad for business.

But new writers have continued to tag throughout the city. A local writer whose tag name is Snoman avidly practices his craft at his rental house coffee table in preparation for a nighttime hit. He says graffiti isnt about a rush or fulfilling an addiction as many non-writers claim, but a direct response to societal norms. Its a product of me and my environment, he says. Today in America its all about being famous; its all about me, me, me. So as a tagger its your way of getting your name out there and making people take notice, but still staying secretive and underground. And maybe it shakes people up a bit. So you figure out a quick way of getting your name out there in a simple tag. Thats why people think its ugly … were putting it up as quick as possible a lot of the time.  

Tonight, Snoman paints a large mural on a public wall beneath a railroad. Hes able to take his time, adding three colors and 3D outlines to make the name pop. And then he slips back into the night. Two days later his tag is already buffed. But hes not fazed. Just another canvas for us now, he says.

Some organizations in Seattle are trying to get beyond this antagonism. We want give people second chances, tap into their talents and get them paid, says Kathleen Warren, Director of Urban Artworks, a 20-year-old non-profit based in Seattles International District. Urban Artworks works with youth who have gotten in legal trouble many of them for trespassing and vandalism offenses stemming from graffiti to create public works of art throughout the city. Many of their contributors are small businesses who would rather pay for legal murals and other works of art than for graffiti clean up.

Theres a light switch that goes of in many cases, says Warren. We tell them were going to paint this piece of art and get paid for it and its going to stay up. Why? they ask. Well, because we asked permission. The organization has put up more than 100 murals and other projects throughout the city, many of them in places where graffiti removal has been especially costly.  

There are too many negative aspects to Graffiti, Warren says. From being arrested and getting into the court system to costing small businesses money. I dont want to get rid of it in fact I think it adds character and layers to any city but if its ruining kids lives and costing business owners money, its better to channel that energy into something positive.

Some local writers have been able to make the switch from graffiti tagger to paid artist, but Detective Young doesnt see places like Urban Artworks as solutions to the most egregious offenses. That assumes theyre doing it for art. Which they are not, he says. The graffiti vandals who actually have artistic talent are rare. 

On a rainy January afternoon, Baso Fibonacci leads us to a mural he recently conceived on the west end of Capitol Hill on the side of the Fred Wildlife Refuge building. Its a huge image of three colorful flowers that stands in stark contrast to the grey façade of surrounding buildings. A closer look reveals that its painted entirely in spray paint. See, says Baso. Spray paint can be used for a lot of things. Not just ugly graffiti. A lot of the writers out there have lots of talent, and a lot of them become artists, tattoo artists and sign painters after their career in graffitis done. Through their exposure to graffiti they contribute to society in meaningful ways. Even though its not the way that society wants it to happen.  

He pauses a moment to reflect on the work, which permanently bears his name, and then turns his wheelchair to the next street over and rolls away.

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