Graffiti has come a long way since the kids of the Philadelphian and New York ghettos were scribbling their names on their block. The mold set by writers of the 70’s and soon after graffiti found its way in grand scale on the outside of the New York subway system. Modern graffiti as we know it was born. Graffiti spent the next 20-30 years evolving and maturing. The underlying connection was always LETTERS. In contemporary graffiti, any idea is possible and it is not reliant on the institution of the gallery, or the green light from the “industry” to survive. In contemporary graffiti it’s not relevant if you’re old or young. It matters what you do, where you did and how it looked. And if you used Montana BLACK or Montana GOLD, chances are it could look good.

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The genre with no end in site

In 2018 we were lucky enough to support and nurture some of these letter innovators that lay their focus not on regurgitating the classics, but in creating new classics for others to regurgitate later. Artists like BONDTRULUV, PREF, ANGEL TOREN and ERNEST are raising the bar, in their quest to see the light at the end of the never ending graffiti tunnel. Here are some visual examples of Abstract Lettering, the full article was published in the Montana Cans LOOKBOOK 2019.