Graffiti, art or vandalism? my take

On www.duncancumming.co.uk you can follow the story of how a graffiti artist in Scotland got caught and was about to spend 28 month in prison for vandalism. This brings up the eternal question, is graffiti an art or is it vandalism?

That graffiti is art is no question, the use of color, lettering and communication is exactly what art is all about. Look at some of the stencils and pieces by the biggest street artists, they actually deliver a message.

That graffiti is vandalism is an understandable point as well. I wouldn’t like to wake up one morning and find my newly renovated house covered in a graffiti piece. No matter how nice it is it may just not fit with the deco that I chose for the place.

So?

It needs to be done intelligently for everyone’s benefit. A graffiti piece can totally decorate an appropriate location. See this photo for example. It may or may not be authorized graffiti, but it fits the urban area. Try doing this on the Louvre and yes, that would be vandalism.

Graffiti wall paris (taken with mobile phone)

 The graffiti sort of “protects” the wall from being covered in all sorts of other crap. Additionally this fits the young people that hang out in the area and they don’t mind it.

If a street artist places his pieces intelligently it actually doesn’t harm but can help. Where it becomes stupid is when the Graffiti guys just do it for the adrenaline (yes I know it is part of the kick). There has to be a balance.

 

Graffiti Marketing for Radio Nostalgie

 

 

And if an artist did vandalise a wall, then pull him by the scruff of the neck and get him to spend his night cleaning it up and repainting it at his cost, he can take responsibility for what he did. Trying to jail someone for 28 month for graffiti is lame, that is the work of someone who is so lazy that he can’t even make him fix what he did wrong. 

I know that is the way because I went that way and the most efficient way to make a bad thing into a good thing is to take responsibility for what one has done and use the effort to become more competent and help others. I saw how many former street artists of my time became graphic designers, well that’s a great way to use the skill.

And here is a short video on how that can be done…

Feel free to comment, and vote.

[;-]

Another Amazing surreal photo of Paris

A few weeks ago I blogged about the photos from Serge of Paris and other areas. He recently redid his site and the result is quite nice, all done in WordPress (yes I did have a word to say in that).

His new site looks like this, the landing page is his blog which is great as it keeps the site alive and human.

I suggest you check it out here.

The new site of Serge on www.photoserge.com

One of the shots is an amazing black and white shot of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. The sky is pretty nice and the museum too, but the most amazing in this shot is the sharpness and light effects on the rhinoceros. It is not just the contrast of the photo but the contrast of a rhino overlooking Paris.

www.photoserge.com - another amazing shot of Paris

click on the link on the site or here: http://www.photoserge.com sit back and enjoy.

[;-]

Almost Stencil Graffiti from Paris

 

As I mentioned in my last post, in walking around in the 10th district in Paris and looking at some of the graffiti culture they have I saw this pasted graffiti. It’s not stencil, it’s not spray – it’s a poster.

It’s by a Paris based street artist called Ludo, and is part of a series called Nature’s Revenge – I had never heard of him before but noticed afterwards that he was done quite some work in Paris.

Check out this link http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/18/view/3573/natures-revenge-by-ludo.html

It’s pretty cool and a different way, pretty environmentally friendly.

What about bio-graffiti?

Enjoy…

 

PS: I was offered a room at a pretty neat hotel in the 10th called Taylor Hotel, it’s a sort of design hotel, the reception area is all decorated with images of posters from early 20th century. Almost stencils… [;-]