The Best Innovations in Street Art of the Last 15 Years

The D.I.Y. spirit has always been a driving force behind graffiti aesthetics. If a writer wants to reach a tricky spot, he or she will find a way. Such independent determination often leads to unexpected innovations. To paint on a larger scale, writers modified fire extinguishers to spray paint. For smaller tags, the perfect mop was developed by popular graffiti supplier Krink.

Not only have the tools of the trade evolved in the last 15 years, but also the ways in which viewers experience work have shifted dramatically. Artists like KATSU have led the pack in re-thinking how we approach graffiti and street art. See who else has contributed to The Best Innovations in Street Art of the Last 15 Years.

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Year: 1999

Craig Costello (aka KR), the founder of the popular graffiti supplier Krink, began making his own ink nearly two decades ago. However, it wasn't until 1999 that he founded his company. The Krink Colors have since become a staple in the graffiti world and have brought the scene's D.I.Y. attitude to the masses.

Year: 2000

In 2000, Krink began selling their own brand of mops to New Yorkers. The business has since become a global phenomenon, and Costello's mops are now a part of a signature aesthetic in the scene. At the same time, some artists, like Cash4, are unwilling to pay Krink's high prices and prefer to make their own mops.

Year: 2004

Flickr has become a major hub for artists to swap photos of work that would otherwise remain unseen. After it's launch in 2004, the site became a place for the intersection of photography and graffiti writing. Photographer Luna Park's work, for example, became popularized through the photo-sharing site.

Year: 2005

Chalk is not a new tool for artists. However, it only started being employed by street artists relatively recently. Since 2005, Ellis Gallagher has been working in this form, tracing shadows on the streets of New York.

Year: 2007

While studying at New York University, Aakash Nihalani began putting geometric neon works on the streets of New York. He was the first to choose tape as his medium, making his pieces stand out, not only in terms of color choices, but in material.

Year: 2007

Laser tags were created by the artist 2esae of Graffiti Research Labs in 2007, of which New York-based artist and hacker KATSU is also a member. That year, 2ESAE was set to go to jail for vandalism. By tagging with lasers, he was able to keep writing while not accruing more jail time. This technique also enabled him to tag prominent, and otherwise unreachable spots, like the Brooklyn Bridge.

Year: 2008

Yarnbombing as an art form was created in the early '90s. However, since 2008, street artists have reinvented the medium, moving more towards small pieces rather than covering surfaces. Moneyless, Hottea, and Spidertag are the are at the forefront of the field, with Spidertag starting the earliest in 2008.

Year: 2009

Writers have been repurposing fire extinguishers for large-scale tags for over a decade. However, in 2009, Krink created a limited supply of $1,000 fire extinguishers just for graffiti writing.

Year: 2010

In the past few years, mural festivals have become a highlight of the summer season as international artists travel to complete walls across the globe. One of the first festivals to popularize this was Living Walls Atlanta. In 2010, Doodles completed the first mural for the now-annual event.

Year: 2010

In 2010, KATSU developed a new way to experience graffiti using Google Earth. The writer tagged a flat rooftop as part of his project "The Powers of 10," where he reproduced his skull tag from the scale of 1/20th of an inch, on a grain of rice, to 120 feet, on a New York rooftop. Because the piece was painted on a flat rooftop, fans had to look at satellite images from Google Earth to see it.

Year: 2012

Egg Shell Stickers are only a few years old, created by a company of the same name, but they are already prized in the graffiti community. While hard to apply, once on a surface they are next to impossible to peel off. They are so named because the stickers peel off in tiny pieces, much like an eggshell.

Year: 2012

Krink joined forces with Spanish graffiti supplier and organization Montana Barcelona in 2012 to create the K-750 spray can. The elongated can and small nozzle allow for sustained use at a larger scale. The can is capable of creating lines up to 12-feet tall.

Year: 2012

Aside from a partnership with Krink, Montana Barcelona has also released their own unique products. Two years ago the company released acrylic paint and markers. Montana's acrylic markers are different in that they leave a solid streak of color with smooth application. They also range in width from super fine to fat tipped, giving artists a wider range.

Year: 2012

3D Printers have existed for years, however it wasn't until 2012 that they became widely available to the public when Makerbot released their first generation Replicator. Greg Petchkovsky was one of the first artists to use the new technology by placing a 3D print of LEGOs onto a crumbling wall.

Year: 2012

Hybrid pieces combine graffiti burners with the height of a fire extinguisher. The result is a dynamic juxtaposition of the clean lines of a spraypaint can with the mess of extinguishers. These likely first came to viewers' attention in 2012 through the work of Won.

Year: 2013

One of the most prized spots for graffiti artists is to put their work inside advertisement boxes. The artist Public Ad Campaign made this desire a reality last year. In 2013, he sold 99 keys at Jonathan Levine Gallery, which initially worked in any country using Cemusa advertisement boxes, for an initiative called the "Public Access Project."

Year: 2013

KATSU has pushed the limits of graffiti both physically and in digital space. In 2013, he put his tag in the virtual game Minecraft.

Year: 2013

Mongolian-based street artist Blanco took on the challenge of putting work up in the frigid -25 degree weather of his home country. In order to do so, Blanco boiled water, which he then used to freeze his work to walls. He did this rather than using wheatpaste, which would've hardened before he could apply it to the wall.

Year: 2013

Re+Public is changing how viewers interact with public art through an app. From telling the history of the Bowery Houston Wall, to bringing murals into the third dimension, the app breathes new life into street art. Jordan Seiler, BC Biermann, and Ean Mering, the minds behind Re+Public, are influencing how graffiti and street art evolve in the digital age.

Year: 2014

KATSU is always pushing the limits of how technology and graffiti relate. This month, he revealed his latest invention, a graffiti drone, which he is unveiling at The Hole's booth at Silicon Valley Contemporary. The machine creates pieces similar to the effect of a fire extinguisher.