Dated a few artists, have you?

If the owner of the now graffitied wall doesn’t want the “art” on his property he has to pay for cleaning materials and possibly a tin of paint to restore his property to its original condition.

It is a very big “fuck you” when someone shows no consideration for another person’s property. Or I suppose you wouldn’t mind if we came over to your place and drew penes all over your walls?

Myself, I find beauty in a well-executed piece of “street art.” However, I also get angry at kids who run around spray-bombing everything in sight, just so they can achieve some sort of misguided fame.

Who are you to tell me how I should feel about either one?

As agents of gentrification, and especially after posting this holier-than-thou academic snippet (in a primarily Spanish speaking neighborhood) did you ever once consider you deserve a “fuck you?”

Graffiti is pure evil. It is is not self-expression, it is narcissism.

Whether it is in a private bathroom, a train car, a bus stop, or the side of a beautiful turn-of-the century building, graffiti is ugly. It doesn’t just give the finger to the property owner, but to everyone who encounters it.

Graffiti does as much as crack and Republicans in creating despair in our cities.

Thanks for calling me rich.(I wish) And yeah, thats pretty much the point I was trying to make. Having kids doesn’t help ether.

But I guess, when you get down to it, many of us just don’t give a fuck about the sacred “private property”, and feel that exposing the public to experience interesting and artistic spaces is a greater good than any damage it may do to someone’s public or commercial property.

Also, the “in your house” thing is pretty hackneyed by now – very little graffiti is done in people’s personal living space, and bringing up that possibility is just appealing to people’s natural fear of having their home invaded, which is closely associated with a fear for personal safety.

All graffiti is cowardly. These people seem to be saying “I have something to say but I’m afraid to say it, so I will write it on bathroom walls, dark alleys, anywhere I cannot be seen.

At best it’s a pathetic cry for attention. “Look at what I did! I exist! Notice Me!”

http://www.iloveyougalleries.com/gallery/Fgallery2-10.jpg

Zikzak, you clearly missed the point. My comment had absolutely nothing to do with home invasion or personal safety. I was drawing a parallel between the restaurant’s bathroom and Monument’s living room; neither owner appreciates unsolicited/unwanted art in their house.

“But I guess, when you get down to it, many of us just don’t give a fuck about the sacred “private property”, and feel that exposing the public to experience interesting and artistic spaces is a greater good than any damage it may do to someone’s public or commercial property.”

This is perhaps the most narcissistically ignorant statement of them all, and it gets right to the heart of the matter. You don’t give a fuck about private property. You feel that exposing the rest of us to “art” is a greater good. Well, who are you to decide? In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re not alone in this world, nor are you the sole arbiter of what is interesting and artistic. Most of us live in a large society in which we all must coexist, and that includes not stealing from one another, whether that theft is of physical property or of the value of my unaltered bathroom wall.

Perhaps by your definition the object isn’t destroyed. What if the value I place on it includes its visual appearance? In that case, you have indeed destroyed it.

“Power without responsibility, the harlot’s prerogative” If you are truly an artist, you must have courage and stand up for your art. Take honest risks and earn respect I want to respect you, really, I do.

Or is the power trip of ramming your art down peoples throats the good part?

You don’t have to tag a wall to be a narcissist. You can plug away at your computer, call yourself a “Lefty”, and scoff at the things around you that you can easily call evil. I think you need to fine-tune your definitions, son.

That people associate graffiti with the desire to break someone’s arm or have their homes decorated against their will is telling, not ever once stopping to consider the difference between private property and a commercial bathroom. Not that this should cause you to like graffiti (that doesn’t hang in a gallery), but you might pause to consider the tendency of public spaces to attract public behavior. I mean jeez, it’s just a pizza bathroom in the Mission (or is it Noe Valley?). Little Star ain’t Gary Danko.

Oh, but let’s cast the net wider than Little Star so we can make our point 110% better. “You hate private property!” “Free Mumia!!”

Burns:
In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re not alone in this world, nor are you the sole arbiter of what is interesting and artistic.

In case YOU hadn’t noticed, in a world where 99% of art is garbage nobody can agree on what the remaining 1% is.

That’s pretty close to art by committee. Did you forget your meds this morning?

I can’t tell you how many times I spraypainted “Free Dessie Woods! Smash Colonial Violence!” all over San Francisco at 3 AM.

1) Tagging – basically pissing on a wall to mark your territory

2) Angry – pissed off and wanting to ruin something

3) Political – speaks for itself

4) Art – actually intending to create an art piece, legally or illegally

I love #4, but it probably represents 1% of what’s out there. I accept #3 as part of life in a world of haves and have-nots, and it also represents a tiny portion of existing graffiti. The other 98%, I could live without, but it doesn’t bother me. It’s just another layer of culture.