Aerosol Art

Aerosol Art is art using aerosol spray cans on walls or boards — where permission has been sought and granted.

Graffiti artist paints tend to be more expensive, but have a wider selection of rich colors, are thicker and less likely to drip. They are produced in standard high pressure cans for fast, thick coverage and lower pressure cans for more control and flexibility. Most art brand paints have two or three mixing peas in a can. A wide array of actuators, or caps are available, from standard "skinny" caps to wider "fat" caps, as well as caps that control the softness or crispness of the spray. Calligraphy caps create fan spray instead of the standard round.

The public's view of graffiti has come a long way since Ed Koch, then New York City mayor, suggested combating graffiti artists by releasing wolves into the subway storage yards. Starting in the 1980s, spray paintings migrated into major galleries. The Brooklyn Museum exhibited 20 large-scale graffiti paintings in 2006. But displaying the work in a Smithsonian museum represents "an important step," says Tumelo Mosaka, the associate curator for exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum. "It's a recognition that cultural expression can exist outside conventional canons." Goodyear explains that graffiti's influence on modern art justifies its display. For the past 30 years, contemporary artists, like California-based muralist Brett Cook and Brooklyn-based painter Shinique Smith, have used what Goodyear calls a "hip-hop aesthetic," in which they borrow the vibrant colors, thick outlines and contorted letter shapes of street art and translate it to canvas.