The history of american graffiti is the first truly comprehensive history of graffitis secretive illegal culture shephard fairey artist wild style graffiti may be the most influential art movement since pop art roger gastman and caleb neelon have written the definitive history of the origins of the graffiti styles that . For the history of american graffiti they tracked down thousands of photographs from freight trains to city streets and conducted hundreds of interviews with graffiti artists ranging from. Graffiti in the us contemporary graffiti began ostensibly in philadelphia at the dawn of the 1960s historians often cite the death of acclaimed american jazz saxophonist and composer charlie parker as a catalyst for the spread of contemporary graffiti is the us parker nicknamed yardbird or bird passed away in 1955