1. ETE- Exploit the Environment: A graffiti group in NYC
led by the masterminds T+T+K. While the group's common signature is simply ETE, it can also contain messages or drawings. ETE is less "legal" than ETU*, but being comprised of high
school kids, they do watch out and make sure
nothing is permanently or stupidly tagged.
*ETU- Exploit the
Urban: A less-exclusive ETE with more members whose primary tools are pens, pencils, or chalk, and whose scope of vandalization includes posters, desks, and other
school equipment. More than half most high
school kids can recognize the top artists' signatures within a glance; all ETE/U members are extremely talented artists and never mark something poorly.
Points:
ETE likes to vandalize posters, especially those that are marketed with products, surveys, media, etc.
ETE does not like to use
bubble-letters, mainly because ETE was created by unique artists with a different, preferred handwriting style. ETE members consider handwriting an art form and can write in 7 different languages, including Russian, Japanese hirigana + katakana, Chinese kanji, Korean, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Cryllic, and occaisionally, Latin. ETErs don't have
one distinct handwriting style.
Some of ETE's messages include, "Darwin loves America" and, "Exploit our Children". They have a better time, however, getting their messages across when the poster they're vandalizing has to do with something particularly funny or ridiculous. Example: Tagging a News Channel poster with, "
War is Fun!"
ETE's idea originated from a Biology class, where the
teacher had said during
one lesson, "This world... we're so
ignorant, hurting the environment like this, ruining our own lives... exploiting the environment, and we'll never stop" Months later after looking back at her notes, the three decided to use that as their mark.