Malcolm Turpin took a while to find his footing in graffiti.
Classes are rare, and artists are reluctant to share their techniques or guide newcomers into the craft.
Now comfortable with a spray can, Turpin is making graffiti accessible by offering classes on the Beltline in Atlanta. The idea for the business, called “Graffiti Class ATL,” came to him about seven years ago. The 30-year-old has been spray-painting for about a decade and has been involved in art for most of his life.
“There is no literal school for graffiti. You kind of have to learn from somebody or underneath somebody. It’s usually the hardest hurdle,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution while preparing to teach a class Oct. 12.
Turpin, a mixed-media artist who blends various mediums into one piece, was born in Chicago and raised in Lithonia. He recounted watching artists spray-paint homes and other places where graffiti was illegal.
He only started spray-painting during college at the University of West Georgia, where studio spaces for artists were offered. By 2022, he had quit his job as an art teacher at Imhotep Academy and began working as a full-time artist.
Turpin prides himself on being able to offer his class on a public and legal wall underneath the John Lewis Freedom Parkway bridge near the Old Fourth Ward Skate Park along the Eastside Beltline Trail. Various styles of street art, including graffiti, cover the walls, pillars and bridges along the Beltline.
Turpin said that because the class is so public, it allows those who oppose graffiti to start appreciating the art and see that anyone can participate and that it can be done legally.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘A sort of clandestine activity’
Turpin’s friend and graffiti historian, archivist and documentarian Antar Fierce, 52, said he started writing, a genre of graffiti that involves lettering, in 1983 in Brooklyn. He continued writing in Atlanta in 1989 and retired from graffiti in 2000 after his daughter’s birth. He explained that graffiti began primarily with kids making art on the trains in New York City and Philadelphia and continued to be a culture of sneaking around and putting up art without others realizing how it was being made.
More recently, Fierce said muralists like Turpin have entered the graffiti scene and are expanding the culture beyond writing and tagging, which refers to writing an artist’s name on a surface. But still, getting involved remains difficult, according to Fierce. He explained that he earned his spot by practicing it often and showing the veteran artists he was committed.
“Writers don’t want to compromise the culture that they’re in by showing everybody the trade secrets. That’s part of the tradition. Writing has always been a sort of clandestine activity. Nobody knew how it was getting done, you would just wake up the next day and get on the train and see these pieces,” Fierce said.
What Turpin is offering is an opportunity for just about anyone to see if they have the passion for graffiti without the sneaky aspects of the culture or having to find a mentor. Fierce also explained that the Beltline has been “accommodating” to graffiti artists, and spray-painted murals have become commonplace around the metro area, making it a more accepted art form than it was in the 1970s and ‘80s when Atlanta’s original graffiti crew, the United Kings, were putting up art.
With his background in various art styles — classical, textiles, graphic design, illustration, still life, realism, and the list goes on — Turpin brings a new spin to graffiti. He said there are few rules to graffiti, and he finds his ability to combine several styles into one piece refreshing. He also said there is a sort of freedom in being able to create art anywhere, instead of being restricted to paper or canvas.
Because it’s such a public art form, Turpin said he tends to create pieces that are easily digestible. He described his style as “pop art” — which features bold colors inspired by popular culture, comics and advertising — and gravitates toward images of cartoons and anime characters.
“It can be sensitive topics when times arise, but I’d rather it be consumable by everybody, and something that pleases people. If it makes me happy, it should make everybody happy,” he said about his creative process.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Reaching an audience
Jade Thomasson met Turpin in 2021 but only attended her first graffiti class last month. The model and aspiring actress said she became interested in graffiti while growing up in Germany and always wondered how artists were creating in such dangerous places, such as bridges and highway signs. Since meeting Turpin, the two have graffitied together a few times, but it was only this year that Thomasson said she decided to start taking it more seriously.
With her small collection of cans at home, Thomasson has spray-painted furniture and some designs onto wood planks. She said she had no formal training until she met Turpin.
“The older generation thinks it’s illegal and it’s taboo. He’s really the only one who’s offering to teach with hands-on teaching,” she said.
During her October lesson, she was taught the basics of graffiti and how to hold the can, which changes depending on whether you’re creating a shadow, highlight, curved or straight lines, or thin or bold lines. She was then encouraged to spray-paint a mask on the wall, write her initials in bold lettering and shade in a butterfly that Turpin outlined.
‘Expression should never be a crime’
When he isn’t teaching a class on the Beltline, Turpin is pitching concepts to clients, scoping out places he thinks could use art and sharing his ideas with the hopes of getting booked. He has recently spray-painted murals at Rose’s Taco Grill in Riverdale and Speakeasy Lounge in southwest Atlanta.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fierce recounted watching Turpin spray-paint what he called basic flowers when he first met the artist. He said his friend’s expertise has grown exponentially over the years, and he was impressed to see Turpin creating massive murals for clients.
“I think he is still new to spray-painting himself. But I’ve seen some work he’s done recently, and it’s 180 degrees different, better. He’s definitely figured out the spray-painting,” Fierce bragged, explaining that Turpin had a leg up since he was already an artist before getting into graffiti.
Fierce said Turpin is not only showing people how to hold a spray can, but how to “mine their creativity” and express themselves with tools beyond a brush or pencil. Part of Turpin’s mission is to make graffiti accessible to everyone and prove that it has no age limits.
“I believe it’s very empowering for the people that really need it and want to express themselves,” Turpin said. “Expression should never be a crime.”
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