Today's pondering while I take a quick break from housecleaning.
I was driving home from work and was stopped at a red light while a train was going by on the overhead bridge. It was long light so I had a lot of time to watch the train - it was a freight train, not a passenger train and a lot of the cars had graffiti written on the sides and at the risk of rising the ire {good boggle word} of the CN - a lot of it was pretty well done.
Here in the city I live in there seems to be an ongoing between the city/property owners and graffiti people. The city spends big bucks to clean off the graffiti and then either charges us tax payers or charges the cost back to the building owners. The next day or week or whatever, the graffiti is back.
Instead of this ongoing battle and I don't know if this goes on in other cities too, but why don't they pick a bunch of buildings and let the graffiti people go wild and graffiti to their hearts content and as long as it isn't objectionable language or messages, leave it? There is also a tattoo place on the way home where the outside is covered with graffiti and I think it's supposed to be like that. And it looks pretty darn good!
There are a lot of talented graffiti artists out there. Why not embrace their talent instead of covering it up in an endless battle??
Anyway - that's where my thoughts wandered on the way home today.
All graffiti people are also now in my clique! As long as they don't come and graffiti my white house overnight. While I think this shows a lot of talent, my neighbours might find it a bit much.
However, it they want to do up a proposal - I'll look at it.
7 comments:
Some of the most inspiriting artists are people who do graffiti. I know there's a couple of places (though in which city, I can't remember now) that sponsor young graffiti artists to decorate public property. I saw pictures of it a long time ago but it was beautiful!
There's not much graffiti around where I live except for places like the train station and the bridges, and even then it's just the people tagging their names.
Kristie J, I do love you! I hope I'm in your clique too. LOL. Some of the graffiti in my town looks good but most of it doesn't. I sometimes wonder who told these taggers that they're actually good because some of them just ...aren't.
I appreciate graffiti when it's "good." Now certainly good is subjective - what I mean is when the artist puts time, effort and talent into the production.
Like Rowena said, here in So. Cal. we're plagued by "taggers." These are the idiots who scrawl their "name" on the side of a building/bridge/train car/whatever without giving us any pretty flourishes to look at. Frankly, it's an eyesore.
I had to contend with tagging at my previous job, and it annoyed. I would have been more than pleased though if a graffiti artist had painted a pretty mural on the side of my library building. I would have welcomed it actually - although my employers probably would have been annoyed....
Wendy: I don't like the ugly stuff either - but there's a lot of gorgeous stuff too. While I was watching the train go by, most of it was just 'tags' not full out pictures, but most of even those were pretty good.
Ro: *laughing* I gave a list of who was in my clique at Jessica's and it pretty much included anyone at all - people who read romance, people who drive cars, people who have cats, people who work, people who don't really like electronics, people who make gentle fun of their kids, people who have pens - it was rather a long list *g*.
Tori: I think there should be more graffiti on public buildings!! At least the artistic stuff. Not anything I'd do of course - I have no talent whatsoever when it comes to drawing. Or singing. I can't sing very good either.
But that piece I have on here, while not something I'd want on my house myself, is undeniably gorgeous.
I look at graffiti on trains and think the same thing *g*. I don't mind if it's well-done. I just hate when they write their names all over everything...that's not very creative.
Some graffiti is amazing Kristie.
I don't mind it. I did read somewhere, though, that they get rid of it because a lot of it is gang & turf related. Most of us wouldn't recognize that but I guess all the gang members would.
I definitely agree with you. There are areas everywhere that are so dull. The artists that are extremely talented would bring such a new and vibrant air to those places.
Haha I couldn't do any of that stuff with spray paint. You gimme charcoals and I'm set though! ;)
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