Do you think it is appropriate to kick a kid out of school, destroying future opportunities to make better decisions, for wielding a can of spray paint? 

What about the use of graffiti art murals to help bring color, culture, and celebration into communities?

No.

JBo - 06 February 2009 12:09 PM

Do you think it is appropriate to kick a kid out of school, destroying future opportunities to make better decisions, for wielding a can of spray paint?

Well, it certainly depends on the context. If the person made one little mistake, thats one thing. But if it can be proved they were a serious problem for the community, then it seems like it could be valid.

If someone was really interested is going to school to better themselves for the future, they probably would not be out committing petty vandalism all over campus and town on so many evenings. Live by the Krylon, get expelled by the Krylon, the saying goes, I believe.

Although the school or police releasing said record of expulsion is certainly questionable, the schools desire to kick out a petty vandal seems understandable.

a big part of why a lot folks “do” graf. is the nefarious, clandestine nature of it. Public murals are awesome, and certainly lend legitimacy to the art-form, but there will always be an aspect of the culture that is about taking it straight to the streets, without any filter. As long as there is a need for people to express themselves in a culture that controls most mediums of mass communication, you will have people writing on the walls.

At the very least, if folks want to “deal” with this, they should fund art programs so that when these folks go out to do their “art”, they are doing it with some skill and we’re not forced to look at crappy, amateur, juvenile, inexperienced “pieces”. Some people have it in their blood, and they will always do it. Others are just looking for a venue for their voice, and can be convinced to make their mark in different ways, like legal murals, community gardens, seed balls, journalism, etc etc etc.

90% of the graffiti in this town is crap. But i’d still rather look at a crappy tag than a blank wall ANY day.

Check it…..

Now you can bomb a set from the comfort of your own home: the WiiSpray a Wii controller held in a spray can casing, can manipulate virtual graffiti on a monitor.

http://kounterkulture.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/wii-tag/

Looks kinda cool, actually. But i’ve never used a wii, so i dont know what the interface is like.

Would it work in photoshop or something?

it’s hard to tell from that little blurb, but it will probably work through a wii ‘game’ on any screen that that wii is hooked to…i’m guessing it could be easily hacked to work on any computer though.
i’ve only used a wii once and that was to play a bowling game and a tennis game. seems to me that it would be fairly precise and easy to handle as a ‘spraypaint can’.

But it brings up some interesting artistic possibilities… huge jumbotrons and Doze Green with one of these? please…

this might belong in the Rap Thread at some point, but here’s TopR discussing the graffiti life:

http://vimby.com/video/music/us/all/detail/8933

Back from NOLA and only 2 Banksy pieces left (as far as I an tell).

Someone put some plexiglass over this one….

I HATE the ‘Grey Ghost’!

And then there’s this one….

plexiglass over a graffiti piece? that is pretty cool.

Well, as long as the ‘Grey Ghost’ *PHTOOEY* doesn’t start carrying a cordless drill with him, it might help that piece stick around for a little while longer….

wow, i just search engined him. What a tool Fred Radtke is. I hope someone spraypaints his face.

although you gotta respect his hustle. The dud is an anarchist vigilante graffiti artist himself, in some ways. Although i doubt he’d find that to be a compliment.

Yep, that guy’s a freakin’ asshat….like that grey blob looks better than Banksy sneezing spraypaint from his nose….i briefly thought about taggin’ his house…

My new favorite stencil… (found in the Bywater)

here’s TopR discussing the graffiti life:

nice

Here’s something interesting from a Danish blogger.

http://claus-jacobsen.blogspot.com/2009/03/documenting-walls.html

It’s a dream of a lifetime for Michael Tracey, an American photographer living in Asheville NC:

If his project titled Breach The Wall is approved, he could win $50K to go into the world and produce a photo book. The contest joins his professional skills with his political passion, to bridge gaps and break down barriers between various groups of people.

Bon chance mon ami.

http://www.breachthewall.com/

Netdisaster lets you “destroy” any given Web page — with scribbling babies, rampaging dinosaurs, defecating heifers or just plain old GRAFFITI. It’s like taking an anger-management course online.

Type the target’s URL into the search box, select your weapon(s) of choice, and fire away. (Other options include cream pies, paint balls, and chain saws, but for maximum destruction, I recommend airborne objects: Meteors and zeppelins are especially good.) Once you’ve gotten your aggressions out, click over to “flower power” and grow a tidy little garden over the website’s remains.

Any URL works, even the one for this board.