Some of that is fantastic. One of my boys is a budding artist, and he said something yesterday about doodling some graffiti after completing a test. His medium was a piece of paper, which made me wonder. Is graffiti about the style, or about the media? I've always thought of it as a visual form of punk, that it kind of had to break the concept of property rights to be what it is. But then he talked up a variety of style elements. Might we someday see graffiti on canvas?
Must've missed the other debate. I absolutely think that graffiti is art, but I can't condone vandalism. I think it should only be carried out with the consent of the property owner.
That's the beauty of it. Graffiti is the oldest form of public art AND free press going back to Roman times. Everything else back then was "state approved" so to speak. Hell, go back to cave painting and someone was probably going around later adding giant cocks to the depiction of the hunt. I think the style can be transitioned to canvas, but becomes transferrable at that point. Graffiti is by necessity publicly accessible. Apples and oranges sort of thing... "Style" likely isn't the right term either, it's too limiting... Paper and pen doodles, I'd call typography/sketching the actual work, depending on what the final piece looked like and where it went. A lot of planning goes into even the most basic "tags"-after all, they're personal logos. The other thing about graffiti is that it's vulnerable. Not just to the elements and erasure, but new layers...
It never really got off the ground as a debate, more just the subject was broached. I agree that vandalism is generally bad, but at the same time see it in degrees. Owning a commercial property here essentially comes with the knowledge that it will be painted on (houses and established art tend to be spared). Because there's so much of it over so many decades, the graffiti has become part of what brings people here.
A bit of travelogue... as you can see, this mural is accompanied by a few tags. The main body of the piece is rarely hit so a touchup of the red every few months is all it takes to maintain this wall. Notice the car/planter. It constantly evolves in how it's adorned. Like I said, it evolves. Behind the car is the sketch work of Al Runt, locally famous for his Dr Seuss like creatures. This one is gone now. The lane way hosts four to six pieces that change every summer. Done by the tenant. That central bit is a steel wall/gate combo to a loading area. It's been getting decorated for years. This is one of those mixtures of art and tag sharing space. Layers upon layers. This is a back alley. As is this. These squirrels show up in a lot of places... some commissioned, some not.
We need to get @Lt. Mewa in here, he has shown me pictures of some gorgeous works from NYC during the 70s. I have to check, but I think my wife has photographed a selection of graffiti from our neighborhood. If so, I can post some of it later.
that's Al and the sketch being a lot closer to done. The Mona Lisa is one of the oldest ones in the area. This is also my drinking in public spot. among the many things around here that make you go "huh?" this casting is mounted to the backside of a sidewalk stand. two views of the mayor
I wrote graffiti in the mid 70's. At that time in NYC crime was pretty bad but gangs were starting to die out. You had to be careful on the streets. I had to find a way to not get robbed or beat up. Its easy to avoid if you stay home but I wanted to be out and about. Writing graffiti gave me a rep. Writers were respected. I didn't live in the hood but I went there often. I got to be know by my tag name. People liked my work. It was the early days of NYC graffiti on subways. Writing got me know all over NYC. I could be far from home, in the midst of some bad looking folks but when I told them who I was, more often than not, they had heard of me. I would get a pass and make new friends. The writers in NYC bonded together. There is much more to this but I just wanted to say a little something on the subject. Many would not understand the importance of this respect. Many don't understand street cred. These are different times. Anyway here is a little of my stuff.
Back in the mid 70's in NYC, there was a group who did graffiti on canvas. Their work was displayed in museums around the world. United Graffiti Artist. This group included the best from NYC.
A friend of mine from back in the days. He is now a major artist that incorporates graffiti in his artwork.
I don't consider some of the pics posted as graffiti. Not all artwork on walls is graffiti. The big colorful names are known as masterpieces or pieces. Name alone is a tag. Plain one color pieces (outlined with black spay paint) are known as throw-ups. Major masterpieces often include some kind of characters or cartoon figure.
It is the law of the streets to respect murals. Back in my time if you tagged over a mural you could expect a beatdown.
The text-themed art isn't so much my speed, but the Buddhism-themed stuff really is extremely impressive.
This writer is famous all over the world. Did some artwork for Calvin Klein. Jorge Fabel Pabon of NYC
there was a section of the Berlin Wall that toured with a local band's name tagged across the top... wish I could find a pic.
Sorry, I don't care how well-executed it is. Graffiti is vandalism, plain and simple. Only justification for it is if the owner of the wall (or whatever other surface) commissions the piece.
I was a vandal but nowadays a lot of it is allowed. It takes a lot of time to do some of those works. I had to sneak and do stuff in the middle of the night. Many business owners give permission now. I doubt some of those big murals are done on the sneak.
Well, to the commies all property is the People's property, right? No such thing as personal property? So if the people want to deface their own property, I don't see an issue.
it was the non commie side that had graffiti. so essentially you had vandalism of state property in the name of free speech. on that note, as you don't agree with public ownership it seems, is it okay to deface public or state property as an act of protest or exercise of expression?
