Taki 183 on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
TAKI 183 is the "tag" of a Greek-American
TAKI 183 is the "tag" of a Greek-American graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
st who was active during the late 1960s and early 1970s in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The graffitist, whose given name is Demetrios, has never revealed his full name.
Biography
TAKI 183 was a graffiti tagger active during the late 1960s and early 1970s inNew York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. His tag was short for "Dimitraki", an alternative for his Greek birth-name Dimitrios, and the number 183 came from his address on 183rd Street in Washington Heights. He worked as a foot messenger in New York City and would write his nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
around the streets that he frequented.
On July 21, 1972, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published an article about him titled ''"Taki 183" Spawns Pen Pals.'' TAKI 183 spurred hundreds of imitators including Joe 136, BARBARA 62, EEL 159, YANK 135 and LEO 136 as examples provided by the newspaper. Those who got their names up the most and who developed signature tags became known in their communities. Graffiti became a way for many young people to try to get attention and the attention TAKI 183 received spurred this on.
TAKI 183 was last known to be the owner of a foreign car repair shop in Yonkers
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
. In an interview with the ''New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' of April 9, 1989, he talked about his retirement as a graffiti writer: "As soon as I got into something more productive in my life, I stopped. Eventually I got into business, got married, bought a house, had a kid. Didn't buy a spray can wagon, but I grew up, you could say that."
TAKI 183 was an early member of the artists collective United Graffiti Artists
United Graffiti Artists (aka UGA) was an early American graffiti artists collective, founded in 1972 by Hugo Martinez in New York City. UGA was the first organized group of writers, and the first to promote graffiti as a high art. Martinez, then a ...
, founded in 1972 by Hugo Martinez. It is also rumoured he was an inspiration for the 1985 film ''Turk 182
''Turk 182'' is a 1985 American action comedy-drama film directed by Bob Clark and starring Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich, Kim Cattrall, Robert Culp, and Peter Boyle. It is also one of the first movies to receive a PG-13 rating.
Plot
34-year-ol ...
.''
His graffiti appeared in the 1985 movie ''Just One of the Guys
''Just One of the Guys'' is a 1985 American teen comedy film directed by Lisa Gottlieb and co-written by Dennis Feldman and Jeff Franklin, although according to Gottlieb, she also co-wrote the screenplay together with her writing partner Mitch ...
.'' It appears on a ballroom stall wall after Joyce's character Terry uses the restroom for the first time as a man. TAKI 183 was also mentioned, and his art featured, in the 1983 documentary ''Style Wars
''Style Wars'' is an American 1983 documentary film on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent. T ...
''.
Publication with contribution by Dimitrios
*''The History of American Graffiti.'' New York City:Harper Design
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Co ...
, 2011. By Roger Gastman
Roger Gastman (born 1977 in Canton, Ohio) is an art dealer, curator, filmmaker, and publisher who focuses on graffiti and street art.
Career
In 1997, Gastman began his career in graffiti culture by selling aerosol paint tips and creating the graf ...
and Caleb Neelon. . Dimitrios contributed a foreword.
Film with contribution by Dimitrios
*''Bomb It
''Bomb It'' is an international graffiti and street art documentary directed by Jon Reiss that premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Filmed on five continents, featuring cities such as New York, Cape Town, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo, ...
'' (2007) by Jon Reiss
Jon Reiss is a film producer and director, and an author. He has made the feature film ''Cleopatra's Second Husband'' (1998) and the documentaries '' Better Living Through Circuitry'' (1999) and '' Bomb It'' (2007). He has directed music vi ...
*''Wall Writers'' (2016) by Roger Gastman
Roger Gastman (born 1977 in Canton, Ohio) is an art dealer, curator, filmmaker, and publisher who focuses on graffiti and street art.
Career
In 1997, Gastman began his career in graffiti culture by selling aerosol paint tips and creating the graf ...
See also
*Julio 204
JULIO 204 was a Puerto Rican resident of Inwood who wrote graffiti in his youth. He was not the first graffitist to write in New York City, even though he's usually credited as being the original New York City writer and the inspiration for Taki ...
References
Further reading
* ''The Faith of Graffiti.'' Mervyn Kurlansky, Jon Naar, Norman Mailer. Praeger Publishers, New York, 1974. . * ''Style: Writing from the Underground. (R)evolutions of Aerosol Linguistics.'', Stampa Alternativa in Association with IGTimes. . * ''Subway Art.'' Chalfant, Henry and Cooper, Martha. New York, New York: Henry Holt & Co, publisher. , 198 4, 1995. * ''Freight Train Graffiti.'' Roger Gastman, Ian Sattler, Darin Rowland. Harry N Abrams Inc, 2006. . * ''The Birth of Graffiti.'' Jon Naar. Prestel, 2007. . * ''TAKI 183'' in ''Hip Hop Culture.'' Emmett G. Price, III. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2006, p. 187. . Also see pp. 30–31, 48, 106. *''Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City'', Joe Austin, Columbia University Press 2001.External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taki 183 American people of Greek descent American graffiti artists People from Washington Heights, Manhattan 1953 births Living people