write on

tags on billboards, on sewer drains, on abandoned buildings, on lamp-posts, on newspaper machines. graffiti will never go away and thank goodness for it.

the human urge to make spontaneous art in public spaces and on public surfaces is like communication shot from a gun, a chemical explosion in the brain, splattered onto rigid and clean commissions that were also not approved by us pedestrians. graffiti screams denial at those who would control our environment and manipulate our thoughts to their capitalist advantage.

hey that shit is high-falutin' huh? I don't know where I get off spouting high-minded ideas about graffiti. I find a great deal of comfort and excitement in graffiti and I had that picture above saved in the camera so I thought I'd toss it out there along with some meditations on art in the public space. I think it sort of came off as sterile and external and lame. probably because I don't make graffiti art, I'm just a fan of it.

I have always loved big cities and maybe it is because of graffiti. I remember riding the train into San Francisco and being amazed by the giant murals glowing on walls right off the tracks, in the railyards where no one was allowed to go, sabotaged by artists who needed to spread their name. riding the train into London is similar...passing over bridges and seeing head-high letters in bright colors painted in places that would be tremendously dangerous and difficult to get to, and here I am, a foreigner, knowing that the artist had been there and had risked their life and freedom to make a statement.