Graffiti or Art?

[TOLady]

Most people only see the surface of a city. Most cities are full of wonderful little laneways.... you can see into the lives of the people living there via lanes.

Sometimes, a wall calls out to become a canvas....
Pls click on picture to see original size

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[ffemt128]

to me that qualifies as art....afterall it is a mural and it is appealing to look at. On the other hand, when you see "tags" all over an area, that is grafiti and it gives an area a "blighter" look.

 

[TOLady]

Too true, Doug. This laneway has all sorts of tags around it. No one seems to want to touch this because of its beauty! I watched it being created over a matter of weeks. Amazing talent! I walk this laneway all the time heading over to the grocery store and butcher shop. I always admired it, and on this day, I just happened to have my little P&S Canon with me.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Catz]

Sandy...sometimes grafiti can really make a difference. This painting tells a thousand words.

 

[Gale]

I think the person who did this is deffinately a artist
So I would call this one art

 

[nuccifamily]

I agree, Gale, this person is definitely an artist. But, I would say that a large number of illegal graffiti is done by "artists" as well. I have seen some interesting and amazing tagging. What makes it tagging, and what we think of as graffiti, is the illegal nature of the act, not the artistic merit. :smile:

 

[seafoxfla]

to me that qualifies as art....afterall it is a mural and it is appealing to look at. On the other hand, when you see "tags" all over an area, that is grafiti and it gives an area a "blighter" look.

I also agree with Doug and this looks like art to me.

 

[TOLady]

Yes, Melissa, when I think about the hours and talent that went into this simple laneway work of art, I'm impressed. I'm going to go back and do the pano over again so I can get all the details, because the best parts are at each end.
Thanks for looking.

 

[TOLady]

Gale, that's my sentiment as well. I'd be honoured to be the owner of this building if this was my wall!

Anthony, the normal graffiti tagging isn't about being illegal, they are actually gangs marking off their territory, to warn others who 'holds the turf'. This is why graffiti is so hated in the cities, for the most part. I know a guy who has to paint his wall twice a year because of the tagging. It's unfortunate.

Thanks Raul. Incredible piece, isn't it!??? So three dimensional.

There are other unfortunate things associated with graffiti: recently, there was a kid doing graffiti on a train tanker car. Yup. Car started to move, he got in the way.

 

[NZDoug]

Its art if the owner did it or he asked someone to do it, otherwise its vandalism.
Many owners and councils commision "graffitti artists", to do pieces to compliment the area, as taggers "respect" these pieces and dont add their bits. Life is a compomise.

 

[Dave_Canada]

Its a very nice mural myself i prefer tagging ,I spent mornings for a good part of the summer in 2005 shooting graffiti in film and loved it .

 

[NZDoug]

Its a very nice mural myself i prefer tagging ,I spent mornings for a good part of the summer in 2005 shooting graffiti in film and loved it .

I am Senior Director of the F.B.I., that is, the French Bay Interceptors, which is the Enforcement Division of my communities Neighbourhood Watch.
By reproducing tagging, you give credance to the tagger and they get positive affirmation of their vandalism from your photos.. You become part of the legitimization of the phenonema, which is a bad thing, imho.:frown:
We take corrective actions on such behaviour and we enjoy it more than them.:wink:

 

[4labs]

I'd say it is both. Certainly a beautiful piece of art..and well captured..

 

[Digimule]

Indeed a fine piece of graffiti art. But can be vandalism at the same time if the owner of the wall has not been asked. The problem in my opinion nowadays is that most of the kids with a spray can in their hands have no talent whatsoever...

 

[mike mac]

Sure looks liek art to me so fo those graffiti artists and true talents here in Philly I knwo they have recurited some of them for public murials

 

[BigPixel]

I'm with NZ all the way on this one. Tagging is NOT Art, its vandalism pure and simple. Who gives these people the right to deface public and private property with their ugly spray painted crap in the middle of the night? I've been in Hawaii 9 years and when I first came tagging wasn't here to any great extent. Now its everywhere and its BUTT UGLY defacing of the public vista. Calling tagging Art makes me wretch actually. Glorifying these punk hoodlums with commissioned 'art' projects can only happen in a liberal permissive society. We have a new law here that sends taggers to jail or out on work details to remove the ugliness they have 'created'. A nice stiff fine too. You have to support initiatives in your area that address this issue as a crime or else it will overtake your community.

This image looks like commissioned public art in a 'grafitti style' but there is a difference between that and criminal midnight tagging. For starters, with respect to commissioned public Art, the artist is usually asked by the property owner or local governing agency to produce a mural for a specific public place, one that has the support of the local neighborhood or community. Design plans are formulated and agreed to. Permits are obtained, the work proceeds in daylight in public view. Ever see a tagger down at P&I seeking a permit? Ever see one spray painting his mark during the day? No, these are the same type of people who think its a blast to drive around at night breaking out windshields with a baseball bat. Criminal punks with no sense of social responsibility.

 

[TOLady]

I think I'll do a little investigating on this piece and see if it was done with permission or not.... interesting point. Nothing else around with such beauty, just this one, so me thinks it was done with permission.

 

[BigPixel]

Sandi, I went off on a rant above concerning tagging, not this mural especially. There is obvious intent in this mural to make a well thought out aesthetic statement. Due to its size and complexity, I'm sure permission was granted as it would have taken many days or weeks to complete. Actually, if the spray painted "respect' in the middle was added by the muralist; there's an implied message to taggers in the area to keep away, to keep it cool, don't tag this...or anything else. That's what I'd like to believe anyway. If it was added by someone else, well.....refer to the above. Just more vandalism.

What I was really ranting over are the true gang taggers, the guys who spray ugly crude signatures on everything. There is no conscious attempt in that to make Art. Its a feudal territorial gangland thing much like a dog marking his space with a piss. That's different really and should not be encouraged.