Tagging East Side

Graffiti - Tagging East Side

It doesn't matter where you live in the world, chances are you've seen graffiti somewhere around your local community. It seems to spring up in every culture, although it tends to be more prevalent in big cities.

But is it vandalism? Or is it art? That's a difficult question to answer, mainly because there are so many different types and styles of graffiti. The most basic form of graffiti is "tagging" - which is usually a simple graphic, usually letters, perhaps a play on the creator's initials or nicknames. Often small and monochrome, it's probably one of the most annoying and frustrating types of graffiti, because it is small enough to deface almost any surface, and is almost universally condemned as having no artistic merit.

Graffiti, however, isn't restricted to tagging. On larger surfaces, many graffiti artists employ multiple colors and intricate designs to create their pictures. This is the type of graffiti that starts to cross the line into being artistic. It's this type of graffiti art that is now being showcased in a number of art galleries, both in the USA and around the world.

The other problem with graffiti as art is that the issue is clouded by the location of the art. If some of these stunning designs were created on a canvas, or a wall specially set aside for the purpose, then it would be easier to recognize them as art. Unfortunately most graffiti is placed on private property, without the owner's consent, and so is less likely to be viewed as a welcome addition.

Around the world, communities and governments have become more vigilant in their attempts to reduce the amount of graffiti. In many places there are community groups or government funded teams who guarantee to clean up graffiti in 24 hours after it's reported. Trains in New York were given new coatings that allowed paint to just be "dissolved" off their surfaces.

In my own local area, the sale of spray paint to persons under 18 is illegal, and all spray paints are kept in locked display cupboards. Another area has a team of painters who regularly go around and repaint any fences that have been covered in graffiti. One homeowner I know has had his fence repainted 7 times so far! Over time, however, the amount of graffiti reappearing is reducing, which is a victory for the opponents of graffiti.

Still, simply removing the problem may in fact be a loss to the artistic community in general. If graffiti is considered in its most highly refined form, then are we in fact stopping artistic development in its tracks by making it impossible for budding graffiti artists to practice their craft?

When you illegally deface someone else's property, no matter how beautiful the art you create, you have still committed a crime. Maybe what we need to do is find ways that graffiti artists can learn and practice their craft, without needing to deface hundreds of properties in the process. Some communities now provide blank spaces and invite local graffiti artists to paint them. Others have graffiti walls, where anyone can paint whatever they want.

Maybe there needs to be a shift in the thinking of graffiti artists, so they can discover the value of painting on paper, rather than walls. Would the great painters of the past still be as famous today if they had painted on walls, rather than on canvas? The problem is complex, so finding a solution that makes everyone happy is unlikely to be simple.

1. donturn.com
... and kind could truly transform tagging from a backstop for retrieval ... together at Nuevo Leon on 1501 East 6th Street from 5pm-7pm this ... interoperability Novel client-side applications Multimodal ...
http://donturn.com/blog/

2. attempting escape
... though, really he was just tagging along." # posted by Jules @ 3 ... I will be able to get the side-effects sorted, straighten my ... Bordesley Green, Lozells and East Handsworth. It follows two ...
http://attemptingescape.blogspot.com/

3. ripper.com
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http://ripper.sexmaniak.pl/

4.
http://thepowerofmany.com/

5. Uk pharmacies
... Aegate's RFID and bar code tagging system helped reduce ... credit program equity insurance side effects zithromax credit card ... to in tent south a west north east or a or without how, terminate ...
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6. a wandering woman writes from spain
... the Ben of Fore to the north east and the steeply rising Carrick ... The horses are just the other side of where you parked your car ... spent years double dating then tagging along as a more than welcome ...
http://www.wandering-woman.blogspot.com/

7. detroitblog » 2004 » June
... his first store in 1899 on the east side of Woodward and sold ... concert Äì two stages side by side, each band allotted half-an ... vandalism, few signs of idiots tagging the place. It looks as though ...
http://www.detroitblog.org/?m=200406

8. Touch
... potential misuses and problems with RFID and tagging of things. As a design exercise these are ... ... exploring advanced uses of RFID on the customer side of the supply chain. They are using RFID ...
http://www.nearfield.org/

9. DFJ: Did you see this?
... of people, photos, blogs, tagging and storage in a single, free ... June 15-17, 2006 TiECON East 2006: Innovating in a Flat ... of thousands of gamers to play side by side with some of the top ...
http://www.dfj.com/newsletter/index.html

10. Auctions for Change
... shiner attached to the exterior side of the golf cart. This golf ... roundup feature good stuff on tagging, del.icio.us, and related and ... of India, to mariachi in East LA , to fashion shows in Milan ...
http://www.auctionsforchange.com/

11. Runescape Masters! :: Your #1 Runescape Help Resource! :: News
... the eastern bank) or Varrock (east of the castle). A full guide ... around a giant pinball table tagging ten poles. You can't tag any ... but this time with you at his side! Great rewards, humour and ...
http://www.runemasters.net/

12. SpamPal Version History
... leak from new-LSP-connection handler on SpamPal side of things. Includes code to automatically ... ... rather than "v1.711". New option under "Message Tagging" allows you to choose to place SpamPal headers ...
http://www.spampal.org/history.html

13. Between Two Worlds
... language and art forms such as tagging, which are graffiti, break ... would now also turn to the flip side of contextualization and ... feud between the west and east coasts, VoiceÄôs life began ...
http://theologica.blogspot.com/

14. Messenger, Add-ins, and more...
... tones Spying on buddy status (tagging) Question / Answer Search ... etc.: Advantages over server-side-bots include: Easier to save ... myself... I grew up on the east coast and went to school at ...
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/katieblanch/

15. Motorcycles Home Page
... to Maggie Valley and we were tagging along. When we got near ... that would take us up to I40 East and on to Maggie Valley, at ... on the grommets for the right side panel on Jane's trike. I ...
http://motorcycles.about.com/