Reverse Graffiti 554
glawrie writes "UK Graffiti artist 'Moose' thought he had come up with a perfect socially friendly approach to his art - to trade paints for cleaning fluid. An article in the UK's Independent Newspaper describes how he has created graffiti by taking '... any dirty inner-city wall or pavement, place a template over it, and scrub the concrete clean, revealing an image as sharp as any spray paint which fades with time.' Moose was commissioned by a subsidiary of drinks manufacturer Diageo to create some 'clean' graffiti in Leeds to promote their vodka brand Smirnoff to local students. However, this work was subsequently condemned by Gerry Harper, a Leeds councillor, as 'sheer vandalism'. With wonderful irony, the council demanded that the artist 'clean-up' the graffiti that appeared in one of the city's gloomiest underpasses. Maybe all those senseless vandals out there will now think twice in future before scrawling 'Clean Me' on the back of vehicles overdue for a wash... But perhaps the state is now going too far - surely it is only a matter of time before rainfall is similarly targetted by the good guys."
Guess this... (Score:5, Funny)
His parents must be regretting that wording now.
Its so good (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Its so good (Score:5, Funny)
What kind of Brit jargon exactly? I didn't read any in the article, unless it's use of "big" words such as indignant, municipality, unfathomable,volition and so on, confused you.
Re:Its so good (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Its so good (Score:5, Insightful)
Szo
Re:Its so good (Score:5, Funny)
Here, let me help:
legal grafitti.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see what the big problem is.. just give the artists enough places to paint and the problem will reduce if not disappear. What's the problem with that?
Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC (Score:5, Interesting)
Oddly, authorities never cleaned it up. It's like it's become an unofficial but implicitly sanctioned public forum.
Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC (Score:3, Funny)
P.S. no vigilantism, please; only spoil stains on walls that you personally own.
Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC (Score:4, Funny)
I thought, "Oh neat, they're parodying the whole paranoia thing. It's neat how they made it look like LED lights, too."
Then I saw the sign you were talking about was on the right.
The "Report Suspicious Activity" sign is real.
Re:Political commentary at the Key Bridge in DC (Score:4, Insightful)
In my opinion the devil took Bush to the mountain top...and he said yes. 2000 years ago Christ rejected greed, power and dominion to serve humbly. Our president when asked says his only mistake in his adult life was trading Sammy Sosa. troll Sickening that no part of being a drunk driving, draft dodging, C student, womanizing, coke snorting, trust funded brat never registered in his memory in the ooops column./troll
Cut from the same cloth, Islamic Fundamentalists spew hate and perverse interpretations of Islam.
One can only hope that the voice of peace and tolerance will erode the powers of hate and fear that predominate today...it can happen...people just need to take a chance and unclench their fists.
A troll! ... I'll bite too!!! (Score:4, Informative)
These Christian Reconstructionists do preach a Christian 'Take-over' of the world. They believe that they are at war with everyone that isn't with them. They believe that until they can build the Kingdom of God on Earth that there will be no second coming. They believe this, they preach this and they will do everything they can to obtain this.
As for this country being based on Bliblical Christianity, where is the Christian Bible and where is Jesus mentioned in the Constitution?
Even being unable to locate all of that, what about the part stating that a religious test is NEVER to be applied for someone seeking or winning a public office? If this nation was truly a 'Christian based' or 'Bible based' society, then anyone and everyone seeking or holding public office would have to pass a religious test of some sort.
The 'Old Testament' does advocate that, in just about every portion referring to a war being waged. Have you ever read the 'Old Testament'? You should, it is a very scary book. It is filled with some of those most racist and scary nationalistic beliefs that you can possibly imagine. It has been used as justification for acts the world has seen far to many times.
"Love your neighbor as yourself"? Well, isn't that easier if your neighbor is exactly like you? Can't that be read as your neighbor must be just like you, since you love yourself enough to let Jesus into your heart, your neighbor better love themselves just as much, or else! That isn't 'Old Testament' and that isn't so much of a problem.
Re:A troll! ... I'll bite too!!! (Score:5, Funny)
The Old Testament is a historically accurate account of wars, kings, death, and life. It paints a portrait of a people who loved God, but could not adhere to His laws, and in need of a Messiah. Indeed, it would be frightful if anyone actually lived by the Old Testament, today. It calls for the sacrifice of animals as an atonement for sin - and the whole "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" thing.
Fortunately, we fundamental christian fanatics do not live by the old testament. We live by the new testament. You know, the part where God sends his son to earth to die for the foriveness of sins... At that point in history (yes, Jesus' existance is a historically verified fact) a relationship with God became available to everyone. The laws were reduced from the massive list of micromanaged rules from the Old Testament, to two commands - love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
These are the beliefs that are founding fathers based the laws of this country on. They were not based on "any religion that believes in a higher power", they were based on the God of the bible.
Re:legal grafitti.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately, most people equate graffiti with silly kids that scrawl basic tags all over the place. If you look at some of the bigger pieces(murals and such), you'll see it for the art that it is.
Vandalism = bad
Painting free walls = good
Re:legal grafitti.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Tagging an illegible nickname on a wall beside a road is just. well. scrawling your name on something. Big Deal.
Dropping an image / word / phrase into a strange context which is thought provoking or even just plain funny is a much bigger deal to me. SImple silhouettes, slogans, even a simple 'cock and balls' can be beautiful if well placed. Be it on a blank wall, over someones 'grafiti art' or on the tits of the wonderbra chick.
I've seen a copy of one of Steve Bells [guardian.co.uk] cartoon from the Guardian sprayed on a railway siding on the SAME DAY it was published.
Grafiti is good - but blandomatic grafiti sucks.
Re:legal grafitti.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Informative)
Artcrime is where someone makes an effort to do something that is interesting or beautiful, or at least puts some love into the work. It may or may not be a tag. If it isn't a tag, then the artist would be fine with using a designated wall like this.
Taggers, on the other hand, just like to put their name on shit for whatever reason - territory marking or some sort of rush that comes from vandalizing things. These folks are not going to bother with a designated wall because using one of those entirely defeats the purpose of the graffiti for them.
So I guess it's not a big problem if the only folks that bother you are the artists. Me, I'm the other way around - I normally don't mind graffiti that's had some love put into it because there was love put into it, whereas tagging is the equivalent of making it known you were somewhere by ejaculating all over the place.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps you should ask for more interesting places "designated" for art?
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Insightful)
It's possible to achieve shock and suprise in art through legitimate means. but what your doing is no different if I went to your home while you were gone and peeled out in your yard, t.p.ed your trees and broke your windows. I could claim it was performance art, but somehow I don't think you'd be any happier or less willing to press charges if I were caught.
Mycroft
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I rate top-quality graffiti as better art than you'll often find in galleries.
Take Banksy (check the website at http://www.banksy.co.uk/ ) - total vandalistic anti-socialism but at the same time valid social commentary, truely genius artistic vision and inspired execution.
~Cederic is a fan.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Informative)
"Banksy" poored tins of coloured paint all over statues outside a lovely building near where I live here in Barcelona. The council have had to spend tens of thousands of tax payers (my!) euros to clean it up.
Inspired execution? Genius artistic vision? Give me a break. The guy is an antisocial wanker.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/vandalism.html
Note that the photo only shows a small part of this act of vandalism - the whole of the front of a building was vandalised.
The building was recently cleaned, and the council has put iron railings in front of it to prevent further acts of vandalism like this. Well done Banksy! You're so clever!
Wanker.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:3, Informative)
No? Here's a picture of part of the vandalism, from Banksy's own web site:
http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/images/vandali s m/ vandalism.jpg
They didn't have to clear it up, you say? You think it looks good, do you? Something the people of the city of Barcelona should be proud of?
I fail to see how they can justify spending that kind of money on it.
Did you see it? It was the whole of the facade of a listed building - not just all the statues and stonework but the
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:3, Insightful)
I am not criticising his "art" - a lot of it is very clever and powerful. However, what I do really object to is the way he feels to need to do it on property and locations he doesn't own. A lot of it would be just as clever and powerful if it was in the form of posters, or if he used water-based paints that could be washed off, or if he got the permission of the building owners before doing it.
But he is deliberately destructive. He was said himself that he has exp
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:3, Insightful)
The people you're speaking of aren't going to see it as art anyways. Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. You simply can't show art to someone who doesn't want to see it. You can show them paint stains that took you hours to carefully render, and they'll treat it with about as much consideration as a mess left by a dog on the sidewalk.
Anyone who _does_ appreciate such art would have appreciated it in a far less invasive forum as well.
Don
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Funny)
Wouldn't that be like asking all the flashers to do their thing down at a nude beach? Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:3, Informative)
the pretty ones or the young ones? or the ones that look like Orlando Bloom in LotR?
If you think any or all of those groups make up even close to half of people who use nude beaches you are in for a nasty surprise.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:4, Insightful)
Good company there.
Congrats.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:3, Interesting)
As ugly, and often offensive as billboards are, the simple fact is that someone paid for their message. If your favorite charity or local business spend a few thousand on a billboard and it got defaced, it would be a blow
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Funny)
The description you're looking for is "pissing on fireplugs." That's all it is. Taggers are bladder-challenged dogs with spray cans.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:4, Informative)
Here the two types of graffiti are distinctly marked. I love the stuff that you're calling "artcrime" - some of the artists here are superb. And they are nearly always respectful - here it is very common to build temporary walls around building sites, and it is often these that the better artists use to create some create thier work.
Then there are the taggers. These anti-social little bastards spray on everything, usually just scrawling their tags and often just spraying to vandalise. There are lots of beautiful old buildings, fountains and statues here and there is a big effort at the moment to clean the city up. It makes me really mad when an old building has been carefully (and expensively) restored and some little antisocial w*nkers have sprayed their tags all over it.
One good thing - the cleanup teams here carry digital cameras and take photos of all the tags, so when they do finally catch the tossers they have enough evidence for a very serious penalty.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:legal grafitti.. (Score:5, Informative)
we have something of the same here in toronto.
there are places which are known for their grafitti,
and i've seen the artists work right on the 'designated'
(if i can say that) buildings, frame and square it up nice
and leave the buildings beside them alone (like apartments).
there's a place that runs up behind queen street
which we call 'grafitti alley' -- it always gets the best work,
and there's a grafitti convention every summer, where the
best artists come and do their stuff. when the pope came
to visit, one of the people commisioned some of the
youngsters to do their garage door -- and they did
a nice job of guys playing basketball; another fellow
did an incredible memorial to martin luther king and
gandhi -- i see people going down there with cameras
taking pictures, some of them are so good, and they're
always changing. quite a number of the local restaurants
have commissioned local grafitti artists to do the signs
for their stores - hand painting, allows them to practice
their craft -- a lot of the grafitti artists are quite good,
if you give them a chance and a place to paint, why not
help them be their best? when they're supported by the
local community, these artists can also make a positive
contribution to the urban landscape.
best regards,
j [earthlink.net]
Re:legal grafitti.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:For me, Grafitti is to Art... (Score:5, Insightful)
** Keep Music Evil **
Re:For me, Grafitti is to Art... (Score:5, Insightful)
Condemning graffiti isn't making an artistic judgment; it's standing up against the malicious defacement of public and private property.
Re:For me, Grafitti is to Art... (Score:5, Interesting)
Giving the kids somewhere to put up, thereby lessening the amount of shitty tagging around the area
By providing workshops for the local youth to learn about and become a part of the four elements, (Graffiti, DJ'ing, Breakdancing, MC'ing), which then breeds respect for the culture and an affinity for your local area and crews.
It's been a pretty big success with the locals and the youth, every workshop we run is booked out almost straight away, and with local government helping with financial aid, we can offer these workshops for free.
And who knows, a grafitti artist may even become a productive and creative member of society, instead of a drone who got busted for tagging once too often.
We recently had an auction of artwork painted in the workshops over the last year and raised quite a lot of money, of which half we are using to plan more workshops, and the remainder we donated to a local charity dealing with drug affected teenagers. I think thats a pretty sweet contribution by a bunch of degenerate vandals :) I did like your joke, though. I'm currently employed full time in IT for the government, and it's an odd feeling to leave a managers meeting, go home, throw on your black hoodie and hit the streets for a couple of hours. If only my boss had any idea what I got up to...
P.S. If anyone has any qustions regarding the programs I'm more than happy to provide you with any info you like, just email me at the above or reply here.
Smart (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Smart (Score:3, Interesting)
A lot of people are using templates nowadays to paint thier political picture. Often taking a picture image, cutting out the cardboard and then just spraying the monocolor paint (usually black) over the template and you have your instant message. I would think that it is a lot more up-front work at home, but the application is faster and people generally don't have to spend night after night spraying on a wall for thier message to come across.
Most graffiti that I see nowadays that isn't te
Plenty of colors for the dirty deed. (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't you know that the solvent comes with all sorts of tints these days? Citron, and various berry flavor Vodka is available. There's even pepper vodka. It might be more subtle than the average commercial "art" but the obliteration message will still come through.
I still haven't figured out if I *like* professional graffiti, or if it even helps improve the area ...
Could it be more despicable? Nothing says "slum" like billboards and graffiti. Don't be fooled, it's always degrading and insulting when people stick their message in your face. The difference between a "legitimate" billboard and someone marking their pissing grounds is mostly the means available. In this case, the advertiser is being cheap and hoping to gain some kind of hoodlum credibility. I don't want to live or work around people with that kind of attitude.
Re:Plenty of colors for the dirty deed. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Plenty of colors for the dirty deed. (Score:5, Interesting)
I actually have something of a problem with this statement. To me, it's kind of like punishing someone for littering because they cleaned up some of the trash in an area, but not all of it, even though they didn't dump any of the trash in the first place.
Re:Wonder... (Score:3, Funny)
Dunno, send me a couple of assorted bottles of the red, blue and black and I'll road-test them for you and have a comparative review up by, oh, how's next friday sound?
Stuff that matters? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Stuff that matters? (Score:4, Interesting)
The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean come on, is this for real? We're supposed to feel sorry for this guy and Smirnoff? Gimme a break, they crossed the line and should be responsible.
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't consider it vandalism or graffiti, it is an ad, but it is also a public service and unique. He should patent the idea and then sue the city whenever they try to clean a wall.
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, sure, except cleaning the wall would cost the public money. Why shouldn't Smirnoff pay to continue the cleaning? Answer: They should.
A public service? Are you off your rocker? It's a Smirnoff ad! I for one happen to find the beverage rather tasty - cre
Think a little more carefully (Score:3, Insightful)
If people ARE allowed to go out and clean because they want to, or because someone pays them to (which is how it currently is) then you don't really have a right to tell them how. If I clean up a street but do a half a
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:3, Informative)
1. The council requires a permit and presumably a fee for Advertising on their stuff eg a bridge or tunnel
2. Once this was pointed out to Smirnoff, they did clean it all off (voluntarily?).
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:5, Insightful)
A simple way for both sides to win in this dustup would be to require the advertiser to completely clean the surface after some reasonable period has elapsed. That way the city gets cleaned up and the advertiser gets their message out.
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem here is that the pattern itself conveys information independent of the medium. It doesn't matter much whether the pattern is formed from clean spots or spray paint.
If instead of spam, the guy had used cleaner to write offensive obscene or racist messages, nobody would be trying to defend him on this technicality.
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:4, Funny)
Satan must be out shopping for ski pants.
Intent (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:3, Insightful)
He caused an image to appear permanently (that is, for a non-brief period) on a wall that did not belong to him. He thought of a clever way to do it, but that is not the same thing as saying that he had the right to do it.
Re:The city was being reasonable, not Smirnoff (Score:3, Interesting)
No, he didn't clean the wall at all. At least not to me. I'm very familiar with this whole line of thought because my wife and I get into it all the time. The argument results from a fundamental difference in what different people consider "clean" which I think has to do with a fundamental difference in mental processing.
My wife would say that you're right, he cleaned the wall. I'd say you're wrong, he didn't clean it in any way. In fact, he may have made it more dirty. My wife judges "clean" by how
An ad by any other name . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:An ad by any other name . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
Clean that stuff up... (Score:3, Insightful)
You know, I believe in people taking initiative and helping out the community, and I also believe in taking responsibilities and powers away from government, so I think it would be wonderful if people would take a little bit of time once in a while and clean some random part of public property. It will only make the community a cleaner place to live. Ooooooh well.
So... (Score:5, Funny)
And "Smirnoff has removed the offending work - not because of the legality of the threat but by "its own volition" it said." but how did he remove it?
Go dump more dirt on the place, or clean the rest up?
Do people even understand what they're asking? (Score:3, Insightful)
The solution is, of course, for the City to keep everything clean, then this doesn't work. The (hidden) message to clean up the city is the one that the City really has the problem with because they can't claim that it is clean when a message 'written in clean' is easily readable.
Re:Do people even understand what they're asking? (Score:4, Insightful)
Should be -5 for painfully obtuse.
A blatant advertisement on public property and you have trouble with the concept of removing it because it was made by a removal process rather than a painting process?
Who cares how the advertisement was put there or how they had to remove it. It is not graffiti when it is an advertisement. And it is not anonymous when it is an advertisement, so the party responsible has to remove it.
end of story. Please mod parent down.
Re:Do people even understand what they're asking? (Score:5, Funny)
I think it is quite clever creating a message by removing rather than adding.
Whether you perceive it as an advertisement or not seems irrelevant to me; it's brilliant to me because it's a message that doesn't actually exist. It's the lack of the existence that makes you perceive it.
So, please
Do not screw with private property (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do some people think that they have the right to deface property they don't own in any way?
Some buildings benefit from a hundred years of "patina", and marring that affects their value.
Not only that, but it reduces the presentability of the neighborhood, reducing property values for everyone.
And it's just selfish, stupid, and ugly.
For those of you about to defend this... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not their place to be placing these messages. It's not a matter of betterment of public spaces, that's just a distraction from the fact that these are unwanted commercial messages placed where the advertiser wants them.
-PM
Corporate vandalism (Score:5, Insightful)
Old news? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.bizhelp24.com/marketing/guerrilla-mark
Graffiti tags (Score:5, Interesting)
Help with identifying 'tags': Tags are the distinctive signatures used by people who cause graffiti. The government has set up 'Operation Scrub-it', a partnership between the British Transport Police, Crimestoppers and transport providers. It aims to create a national database to record graffiti tags that would help prosecute frequent graffiti offenders. The reporting of graffiti is encouraged and there will be rewards for information leading to successful convictions. The public have been invited to help the authorities in identifying these tags and thus in fighting the graffiti problem.
Better add Smirnoff to the list.
clean graffiti is graffiti (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but I agree that "clean graffiti" is still graffiti. No, this is not like the rain. If you don't believe me, then consider this situation: I make some "clean graffiti" in the shape of a swastika or making racial slurs. Are you offended, or are you happy that I'm cleaning a few selected parts of a gaffiti-covered wall? Personally, I would be offended if someone did this. So how do you these type of messages if you don't acknowledge that "clean graffiti" really is an unauthorized message (graffiti).
I did that once :) (Score:5, Funny)
I did that to the hood of my dad's old '63 Pontiac, which hadn't been washed in ages. Being a clever grrl, I used a rag dipped in Turtle Wax, so as not to be destructive.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the Turtle Wax would actually remove the dull surface of the paint, leaving the car forevermore to bear a (slightly bright) sign, quite legible from above, that read, "Wash me!"
My dad didn't kill me, obviously, nor did he take the hint. I guess I knew it was a forlorn hope, when he epoxied a chunk of plywood to replace the rusted-out floor in the front passenger seat.
He sure got his money's worth out of that car, though.
Graffiti on copper clad buildings using Brasso! (Score:4, Interesting)
Nothing new to Portland, OR (Score:4, Interesting)
obligatory paranoia against the "State"? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sorry, but did I miss a meeting? Is this now an obligatory inclusion in all articles? Must all articles now declare the state is going too far, our rights are trounced, or privacy is at dire risk?!?
I won't even attempt to argue the rights of property owners, the state's responsiblity to protect property, social mores, etc...
This happens around here all the time (Score:4, Interesting)
The local grafitti artists & taggers, some of whom I'm assuming come in from Oakland (the other end of the tunnel) have taken to using squeegees and water to make their signs. They just clean their tag into the wall of the tunnel and presto! It's there, reflecting in shiny white the headlights of passing cars, twice as noticeable as another spray tag we're all used to filtering out.
It's one of the reasons I love living here.
Obligatory Futurama (Score:3, Funny)
FRY: Well, sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio... and in magazines... and movies, and at ballgames, and on buses, and milk cartons, and T-shirts, and bananas, and written in the sky. But not in dreams, no sirree.
Anti-Social Behaviour Act.?!?!?!?!?! (Score:4, Insightful)
think the USA patriot act is scary, the title of that UK 'ACT' scares the poop out of me.
does that cover
smoking,
dreadlocks
Mohawks
cursing
smelling bad
not kneeling to the police as they pass by
anyone- info about same?
Re:Anti-Social Behaviour Act.?!?!?!?!?! (Score:5, Informative)
No. (IANAL)
You can read about it [hmso.gov.uk]
Overview
PREMISES WHERE DRUGS USED UNLAWFULLY (closing 'em & stuff)
HOUSING (Noise I guess)
PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES ( Truancy (parents can get taken to court for letting kids play truant)
DISPERSAL OF GROUPS ETC. (This sounds "evil", but walking to work with a gang of 20 10yrs chucking stuff at you is not fun. You can't retailate else you will be in the dock).
FIREARMS (Illegal in the UK anyway, I think it aso covers fakes)
THE ENVIRONMENT (Noise, graffiti, fly-posting, Waste and litter)
PUBLIC ORDER AND TRESPASS
HIGH HEDGES (again sounds evil, but a cause of a number of neighberly wars)
This is normal done with ASBOs (Anti-social behaviour orders), if you are a twat X number of times, you have an ASBO stapped on you (spray paint loads or something), then if you break the ASBO (they can be farily "open ended", such as going into the area your last victem lived, owning spray paint), you break that you get taken to court.
I agree with the mayor on this (Score:5, Insightful)
It is just another thing that catches your attention, forces you to read it, etc, etc. That is why billboards, for example are considered pollution no matter how clean they are. Its not pollution in the strctest meaning of the word, but it does make the landscape look cheaper and dirtier.
People say "it would just be dirty nevertheless". Well it sucks the city has not cleaned this stuff up, but even if the wall was covered with dirt, it will not be so bad, because it would be unform dirt, that just fades into the background, does not call attention to itself, and thus does not bother people.
And also when you clean some letters into a wall, you are not really doing any cleaning. When someone cleans "wash me" into a dirty car, is the car any cleaner? Not really.
Put this in Perspective (Score:4, Insightful)
In deciding whether or not you support people "cleaning" their message onto property that does not belong to them, ask yourself the following question::
How would you like it if representatives of Coke, Smirnoff, Pepsi, etc - kept their eyes open for your dirty vehicles, house windows, and actively posted their messages
i.e. "buy our products, or at least clean up your stuff"
all over your property? Would you say that it is your own damn fault for not keeping your stuff cleaner, or would you protest?
not prosecuted for defacement (Score:3, Interesting)
But Leeds City Council insists his work is illegal because any advertiser needs a permit. The Crown Prosecution Service says he may have been in breach of last year's Anti-Social Behaviour Act.
In short, he isn't being targeted for 'defacement' but for using a public space for commercial ends.
Similarly, if I go downtown and try to sell things on the street, even if I cause no disturbance whatsoever, I can still be held accountable for performing a commercial act in a space that I'm not allowed to do so.
It's a shitty kind of law that needlessly restricts freedom. I'd love to have more street vendors selling without the high overhead that the local shops do, provided that they're not too obnoxious. But the local gov was following the law, however stupid that law was. Maybe he could get a liscense to advertise?
Giuliani on SNL (Score:5, Funny)
reverse graffiti but not as advertising (Score:3, Interesting)
See also this campaign [rca.ac.uk] to highlight smog and pollution effects, where messages were made by cleaning dirty (not graffitied, just plain old dirty) walls around London.
UK graffiti (Score:3, Interesting)
It was actually thought to have been a publicity stunt by sometime dance artists The KLF - the same guys that set fire to 1 million UKP on a Scottish island, because they could afford to.
'Clean me' (Score:3, Funny)
I hereby patent... (Score:3, Funny)
Pink and green text is an option if you supply the pickled beetroot and asparagus spears.
Vodka (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Vodka (Score:3, Insightful)
Georgia Tech (Score:4, Funny)
Some studious student took bronze polish to the old statue, giving the man a nice shiny bikini.
Technically, they didn't damage the stature, just polished it selectively.
Eventually, Tech put some brown stuff over the bikini lines, but you can still see the outline of his previous selection if you look real close.
pressure washers (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:"Clean Me" on the back of cars (Score:5, Funny)
I figured out the soultion to this a long time ago. Just don't wash your car. Ever. Not only can you not see the scratches or small dents, but after awhile it is much too dirty for anyone to want to touch it. Kind of like the soot on the back of a bus. You don't see anwone writing in that do you?
Re:"Clean Me" on the back of cars (Score:3, Informative)
Re:"Clean Me" on the back of cars (Score:3, Informative)
Almost anything (besides water and chamois, et cetera) can leave a scratch on the car's finish. That's why it's best to keep any area you're cleaning completely wet and saturated - water, soapy water especially, keeps the dirt moving and suspended so it can't scratch.
Re:"Clean Me" on the back of cars (Score:3, Funny)
On that subject, we just had a clear shower screen installed. When it fogs up, two letters (6a) can clearly be seen in it. NOTHING will remove it. Soap, alcohol, turps. Nothing.
Re:Well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
*rolls eyes* art students, god bless 'em
It goes like this
One person's "Art" is another person's "Crap".
You may have been making an artistic statement about garbage and the way people treat their environment.
The guard was also making a statement about garbage and the way people treat their environment.
Seeing as the guard was employed by the school to keep *their* walls the way *they* like them (to whatever asthetic standard they desire), your art and its associated statement (which, by the way, I have difficulty extrapolating from a bit of cigarette paper stuck on a wall above a bin), had no place there.
Had you truly been a sensitive artist, you would have understood this. It's not about The Man trying to Crush your Expression and Artistic Freedom, it's about their stuff and the way they want their stuff. Leave them be.