It's a question we must all have asked; What is the Point of Graffiti?
The simple answer must be 'Dumbing Down'. To make places that were smart, less smart. To make places the 'middle classes' live into places where no-one would want to live. To turn gentility into slum.
To bring everything down to their uneducated level.
It's a sad phenomenon that children now feel obliged to spray squiggles over everything. Many learn it at school where they are encouraged to paint on playground walls.
The very first graffiti I remember seeing was in the mid-60's when I saw the word 'Zoot' written on London Underground (the Tube) walls. At the time I didn't know what it meant, but I later learned that it was fans of Zoot Money who were doing their best to advertise his name.
Zoot Money was an English R & B, Soul, and Jazz, musician. He died just a year ago.
Since those days the Tube has become a classic target for the Squiggle Merchants. They spray over everything, inside and out. How they are never caught (and made to remove it) I cannot understand. Anyone travelling on the Tube these days cannot fail to be amazed by the appalling state of the trains and stations.
When these people ARE caught, a team of Squigglers should be sent to their home and given a free hand; covering everything they, and their family, own with scrawl.
You might have guessed; I really hate graffiti.
Maybe they all think that they will be the next Banksy?
ReplyDeleteAs much as people like his work, I suppose he must be partly to blame.
DeletePeople were doing this in the UK long before Banksy was born! It isn't called graffiti, it is called tagging and I also hate it!!
DeleteI too dislike graffiti. A good mural, yes. But not not those horrible squiggles and messages. As we were driving yesterday off island we passed in to a different area and there was a big sign saying Welcome to the Mythical Pelaponese. Across the middle was sprayed I will love you forever GP. Further down another sign pointing the way to an ancient bridge was unreadable because of dark red and black lines.
ReplyDeleteIt really annoyed me. I wish they could be caught, fined and made to clean it up, publically.
But how do you catch them.
And graffiti on highway signs. Why aren't they seen?
Nothing is sacred any more. They spray on monuments, on the walls of private homes, and anywhere else with a flat surface. It's become a world-wide phenomenon, and one that shouldn't be tolerated.
DeleteLocal Alien... "And graffiti on highway signs. Why aren't they seen?"
DeleteThey are, and they go on a "chitty" and get cleaned up when that "chitty" reaches the top of the pile!!
Where they obscure information, they should be cleaned immediately by a "flying squad"... not just because they obscure important information, but the paint will not have fully cured and will be easier to remove... less time/less materials.
And it is no use fining any who are caught... they don't have any money!!
Make them work for the "flying squad"!!
That is tagging rather than grafitti... and I hate it too... especially where, because they have little or no tallent, they tag real graffiti artworks, or especially commissioned wall paintings... there is a bridge by a canal on the border of France & Belgium... we've often parked under that bridge to have a picnic by the canal.... on the opposite bank is a small industrial unit and the owner lets students from the local art college decorate the blank white wall opposite, repainting it white when the current works are faded, jaded or flaking off... but they are always wonderful to look at... very late '60s to mid-'70s to look at.
ReplyDeleteHere are links to a couple off them that I have posted to Photocrowd....
Possibly my favourite:
https://www.photocrowd.com/photos/the-chic-chick-in-tinted-glasses-2482279.0be67c9b6
And a very1960's style one, full of bright colour:
https://www.photocrowd.com/photos/the-writing-is-on-the-wall-2482262.346aa416a
This one has some tags on it, but they are part of the piture.. a tag is a signature and these are signatures of the painters, I think!
There are some wonderful murals here in Brighton, painted by very talented artists. But the real problem is the scrawl that appears overnight on every available space; the London Tube being a classic example. It simply makes everywhere look like a slum.
DeleteIt does make a place look messy but we see it everywhere when we travel across the water to Europe.
ReplyDeleteIt makes everywhere look scruffy, which I suppose is the point. But why should such people wish to live in a scruffy environment? Very strange!
DeleteFunny. Having ridden on plenty of London tube trains in the last few years, I have not noticed very much graffiti. But when I do see it, I find it annoying. I mean - what's the point?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to London for ages, but every time I see film or photos of The Tube, it is always covered inside and out. Horrible.
DeleteA lot of the photos of graffiti on London tube trains are to illustrate what a great job Sadiq Khan is doing (but a terrible job on immigration according to Trump)
DeleteI too have been on quite a few tube trains of late and haven’t notice much graffiti at all.
I just searched for that image…and guess what? The source is a Daily Mail article trashing Sadiq Khan.
DeleteAlmost as soon as we moved into our second house (in the 1970's) I painted a dreary looking cream wall between the entrance door and the garage door with brilliant white paint. When I came home from work less than two days after it had been done, graffiti was scrawled all over the paintwork! We asked about and were told it was "the kids from the councill estate - they come on their bikes and target "posh" areas!
ReplyDeleteSomeone once made the comment that people of a particular mentality cannot bear to see a clean surface and must deface it in some way!
I suppose it's a form of jealousy. If someone has a nice wall, they'll muck it up. A TV personality neighbour of ours had the same problem. She painted an outside wall only to have it defaced about a week later. She was furious. She's an interior designer!
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