The editors of New York Times Magazine unveiled a new section this weekend titled Who Made That?. And starting off this weekend, they dove into the origin of spray paint. Have you ever wondered who created spray paint?
The spray-paint can, however, has eminently practical origins. Ed Seymour, the proprietor of a Sycamore, Ill., paint company, was in search of an easy way to demonstrate his aluminum coating for painting radiators. His wife suggested a makeshift spray gun, like those used for deodorizers. And so, in 1949, Seymour mixed paint and aerosol in a can with a spray head. As it turned out, compressing paint in a can made for a nice finish.
Seymour’s humble creation quickly proved so popular that Seymour of Sycamore began customizing its own manufacturing equipment and eventually expanded into new businesses, including the auto and industrial-machine markets. Soon afterward, home-furnishing heavyweights like Rust-Oleum and Krylon jumped in. And by 1973, Big Spray was producing 270 million cans annually in the U.S., according to the Consumer Specialty Products Association. Last year, U.S. spray-paint manufacturers produced 412 million cans.
This is an interesting bit about European companies catering to spray can artists:
Companies like Montana, based in Spain; Molotow, based in Germany; and Ironlak, based in Australia, were pleased to associate with street artists. They offered professional-grade enhancements too, like different kinds of valves that emit different types of mists. (Some artists now complain that American alternatives are like buying a tube of paint with only one brush.) “The control you can get with the can, from the pressure, is phenomenal,” Gastman said.
Such innovation is not without blowback. Some spray writers dismiss the European brands as “fancy paint,” and in pursuit of lost authenticity, stick to Krylon, which is based in Ohio, and Rust-Oleum, which is located outside Chicago. “American writers really want to be loyal to Rusto,” Neelon said. “Rust-Oleum is like the Ford F-150 of spray paint. It’s the workingman’s paint.”
Who Made That? is a series that I’m definitely going to be paying attention to.
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Some food for thought: is graffiti created with spray paint considered art or vandalism? Sound off in the comments.
Books I Read 
interesting & informative paint tutorial for taggers, artists and home-owners!
‘food for thought’ response: i have seen scrawls of profanity or gang-related slang spray-painted on many locations, but I have also seen glorious works of art spray-painted on large display walls. i think it’s not a question of ‘spray paint’. i think it’s a question of CONTENT.
the *message* is the issue, not the *medium*.