|
Post by whollygoats on Sept 20, 2013 22:32:32 GMT
I'll be open about it. I detest graffiti. Most of it is 'tagging' and has all the import of pet urine.
There are those who claim that graffiti is 'art'. I've seen the works of some decent artists, but in most cases they are not really 'graffiti artists', but commissioned artists using a public wall as a canvas. Or, they tend to be 'political'.
So...I'm curious to how others here feel about graffiti and its relation to 'art'. Feel free to provide visual examples.
|
|
|
Post by Alvamiga on Sept 21, 2013 7:21:35 GMT
I don't mind the style, but when it's done without permission it screams to me of vandalism. At our old office someone ("Oscar") came in the night and did a tag about 5x3m on the office wall... even going across a window. It cost a fair bit to get it removed. Just before I moved into my house, there was a pictures someone did, the full height of my garden wall of a man's face, smoking a dodgy-looking cigarette. It faded away so quickly I didn't have to actively do anything with it. On another occasion, I was returning from a walk with Honey and caught two girls shaking a spray can next to my wall. They only noticed us as they were about to use it and tried to pretend they were not up to anything. For some unexplained reason, someone has also written in normal-sized writing in marker pen, "Free sex" and "Get it here." I have no idea why and have had no offers! Many of the pedestrian underpasses round here a blank and get covered in scrawls, but some have been officially covered in pictures and don't get touched and are far more pleasant. This kind of stuff really is just mindless...
|
|
|
Post by Mari on Sept 21, 2013 19:11:11 GMT
I can't seem to vote, but amazing things can be done with graffiti. Tags, however, are annoying, a waste of space and mostly ugly.
|
|
|
Post by Alvamiga on Sept 21, 2013 19:25:20 GMT
|
|
bill
Senior members
Posts: 891
|
Post by bill on Sept 21, 2013 21:19:54 GMT
Grarfitti on the present scale is a relatively recent phenomenon but it has become a disease like all forms of vandalism. A lot of people have no respect or regard for what is not there's.
|
|
|
Post by tangent on Sept 22, 2013 7:27:43 GMT
Art. Noun The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,...: "the art of the Renaissance"
I see nothing creative in graffiti.
|
|
|
Post by Alvamiga on Sept 22, 2013 7:44:27 GMT
I think it's more of a case of some graffiti is art, but nowhere near as much as would be good!
|
|
DGoeij
Very Regular
Pan Narrans
Poehee
Posts: 601
|
Post by DGoeij on Sept 22, 2013 8:20:12 GMT
Can't vote for some reason.
I'm in the yes and no category. A government or business that plonks so much concrete slabs (viaducts, parking lots, appartement and office blocks etc) in environments where actual people have to live and work, I think they have it coming and I applaud all sorts of people livening it up a bit.
Putting any of it on road-signs, information boards and especially private property (unless discussed with the owner, granted) and sorts, I'm all for presenting the miscreant with a hefty fine plus cleaning bill and if someone would present the douche with a ding around the earhole, I'd be sympathetic.
It's there in the grey area of civil disobedience and petty vandalism and I do judge it a bit on a case by case basis really.
|
|
|
Post by raspberrybullets on Sept 22, 2013 8:39:45 GMT
There is a box in front which you can click.
|
|
|
Post by raspberrybullets on Sept 22, 2013 8:40:31 GMT
And exactly what DG said.
|
|
|
Post by Alvamiga on Sept 22, 2013 8:59:38 GMT
It is certainly the case that there is far too much oppressive blank concrete about. As usual, cheapest solution, not anything that benefits the people it affects.
|
|
DGoeij
Very Regular
Pan Narrans
Poehee
Posts: 601
|
Post by DGoeij on Sept 22, 2013 10:21:55 GMT
It does require me to hold up and think for a minute in some cases, because I truly loathe petty vandalism, but strongly applaud civil disobedience.
|
|
|
Post by Mari on Sept 22, 2013 12:04:06 GMT
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Sept 22, 2013 12:50:32 GMT
Banksey is really good stuff. The rest? Pfffffttt....SOS.
|
|
|
Post by jayme on Sept 22, 2013 14:50:14 GMT
I voted yes and no. Good graffiti can really liven up a grey, concrete jungle. However, artistic skill and permission from the property owner are key.
|
|
|
Post by Kye on Sept 22, 2013 16:08:26 GMT
I also like Banksey. Gang tags drive me mad.
|
|
|
Post by jayme on Sept 22, 2013 17:21:11 GMT
I like this one:
|
|
|
Post by raspberrybullets on Sept 22, 2013 17:33:21 GMT
That's pretty cool.
|
|
|
Post by Mari on Sept 22, 2013 17:52:28 GMT
Yes, it is!
|
|
|
Post by Alvamiga on Sept 22, 2013 19:10:02 GMT
I think Banksey's stuff is almost entirely overrated and I was happy that London Underground painted straight over one a while ago when he did it on their property. People kept harping on about how valuable it was, but if it was that good he could just paint it on something properly and sell it legitimately instead of abusing other people's property.
|
|
|
Post by juju on Sept 23, 2013 11:48:06 GMT
I think some graffiti is most definitely art. I love the areas of Bristol where the buildings have been enhanced in a most creative way and have given the city a really vibrant feel. Here's a brilliant website of street art from around the world: www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=-6.75&soc=-5.54Of course some graffiti is just vandalism and I object to mindless tagging or obscenities, but graffiti can be an important means of expression.
|
|
|
Post by Kye on Sept 23, 2013 12:45:42 GMT
That's the wrong link, juju.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Sept 23, 2013 13:17:39 GMT
Of course some graffiti is just vandalism and I object to mindless tagging or obscenities, but graffiti can be an important means of expression. Try, like, 99.5% of all graffiti is just vandalism, mindless tagging, and obscenities. The problem is that the 0.5% of graffiti which is actually decent just spurs the creation of more shit vandalism using the entirely invalid rationale that it, too, is 'art'.
|
|
DGoeij
Very Regular
Pan Narrans
Poehee
Posts: 601
|
Post by DGoeij on Sept 23, 2013 17:34:45 GMT
I was thinking on the train today that all these comments apply to advertisement on the streets as much as to graffiti. If only those taggers would concentrate on the adds.
|
|
|
Post by Moose on Sept 23, 2013 18:40:28 GMT
I would say yes and no. Even Rembrandt should not really have the right to paint a building without permission from its owner. And I don't like tagging either .. a lot of it has no actual talent behind it at all and is offensive on the eye. I would not have a problem, however, with people being allowed to paint genuinely attractive artworks on otherwise bland stretches of concrete.
It pisses me off to see things like shops and trains etc tagged, tho
|
|
|
Post by Alvamiga on Sept 23, 2013 23:29:28 GMT
On way home with Honey this evening, I saw in one of the underpasses "JP" in massive letters. Has one of our forum members been running amok with a spray can?
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Sept 24, 2013 2:03:13 GMT
I would say yes and no. Even Rembrandt should not really have the right to paint a building without permission from its owner. And I don't like tagging either .. a lot of it has no actual talent behind it at all and is offensive on the eye. I would not have a problem, however, with people being allowed to paint genuinely attractive artworks on otherwise bland stretches of concrete. It pisses me off to see things like shops and trains etc tagged, tho The key term there is "be allowed". I enjoy public art. I think a lot of bare concrete walls would be vastly improved with some kind of artistic interpretation placed upon them. Also, in such cases, I understand that it is less likely to be tagged (but still is, believe me) because of the art. I find the experiment of the local transit agency to be of interest....they have a myriad of bus shelters; basically, plastic roofs with three plastic walls, usually clear. Taggers were brutal. Scratching and gouging were common, too. Until they started adding in busy back patterns on the plastic. So far, it looks as though the busy-ness of the background seems to deter many taggers.
|
|
|
Post by Alvamiga on Sept 24, 2013 7:09:24 GMT
Yes, taggers want their efforts to be seen and if there is too much detail on the background it would be hard, especially from any distance, so they tend to find somewhere else to do.
|
|
|
Post by tangent on Sept 25, 2013 11:22:05 GMT
I don't see Banksy's work as graffiti.
|
|
|
Post by Mari on Sept 25, 2013 15:50:43 GMT
I have o idea who Banksy is.
|
|