Maybe art isn't dangerous anymore...

One of my favorite kinds of 'new' art is well done and well placed graffiti. I know it's illegal, and the bad stuff is no more than litter, but some of the work out there is beautiful, stylish, meaningful AND available to the public. Tagging is usually done in the dead of night, with a crew of lookouts and a daring artist who risks arrest or injury to make their paintings.

Saturday night I was driving along and I saw a commotion - there was a live demo of spray can painting going on. I found it ironic that they had put tarps behind the panels to protect the building from getting any paint on it:



This is a three segment, hand held panorama, stitched with Photoshop's photomerge command, then selectively erased. I am not particularly careful to align each shot, so you may see some evidence of misalignment. It doesn't bother me too much, as that is part of the photo now.

Oh, did you notice the guy sitting in front of the door, chimping away?

 

Not just the old guys Rich, but us 'young' guys too.

Two weeks ago a water cistern was tagged by gang signs, which I had to paint over. This ugly, and annoyingly placed garbage graffitti is not the stuff I am talking about, and I do not support it at all.

Artistic graffitti, such as that often found on railroad box cars, is another beast altogether. It does have artistic and social merit and is not placed on residential property to promote gang activity.

The magazine Juxtapos had a graffitti issue two months ago which exposes this formerly hidden art world, and I suspect the exhibition I photographed was a response to that magazine.

 

Thanks Gale - I'm not that brave. A year ago, only folks in 'the culture' went to 'Art Detour' events, but now I see many families, complete with babies in strollers. I have a lot more shots from the evening, which I'll post later, a couple of which actually show the art (which I don't go to see - I go for the people!)