Ed Seymour couldn’t have predicted the direction spray paint has taken—such as entire neighborhoods covered in graffiti and street art—but his 1949 invention started it all. As a paint salesman, he wanted to show off a coating for radiators when his wife suggested he make a spray gun out of an aerosol can. The prototype was a hit, and soon his company began manufacturing cans. Home furnishing companies and car manufacturers were quick to adopt this technology.
Protesters and vandals picked up the torch in the ‘60s and ‘70s as spray paint’s concealability and easy-to-use system fit anti-establishment movements. By the ‘90s, graffiti was becoming increasingly sophisticated, and street art was selling at auctions for six and seven figures. Large-wall graffiti doesn’t exactly suit the living room, so many artists began spray-painting on canvas or metal sheets to sell on the street. Since then, spray paint art has moved into mainstream culture as a fully recognized and appreciated art form.