Awesome Graffiti in Toronto

[Tekkactus]

What about when somebody sits on a bench. They're in the way, right? How dare they block your view of the rest of the bench! You deserve that spot on the right hand side, not that duck feeding old man! And while we're at it, those ducks are blocking your path! You might have to step on one to get by! Those goddamn bastards, how dare they?!

People are different than garbage bro.

So is street art.

[watermelon man]

What about when somebody sits on a bench. They're in the way, right? How dare they block your view of the rest of the bench! You deserve that spot on the right hand side, not that duck feeding old man! And while we're at it, those ducks are blocking your path! You might have to step on one to get by! Those goddamn bastards, how dare they?!

People are different than garbage bro.

So is street art.

When the art is garbage, not really.

[kleptoman]

When the art is garbage, not really.

What, so you agree it's art? But it's a medium you dislike, so it shouldn't be allowed?

[pie]

Well you can call anything 'art', so it's an unbeatable argument. And it's not about the medium, it's about looking crummy.

[stock]

The comparison between street and actual physical garbage is a weak one to say the very least. Sure you can say that these pieces in your view are something that can be removed or disposed of, but it stands that you're just saying garbage because you don't want the work visible.

Sure, a lot of those quick tags that people do are pretty ugly and while they required thought it wasn't much more than thinking up a name and putting it down in a style that they've practiced several times. But I can't shoot down that work and then in the same breath say that I really enjoy some of the other work that is created through that same process. Street art (and I say that simply as a recognized term I'd rather not go into what is and isn't art) and graffiti can be really awesome looking and create fanciful moments sometimes when you see them. Hell when I was in California I saw a stencil of an old cartoon character I enjoyed and thought it was really awesome. And you know, the fact that it is something that has to be done fairly quickly/covertly and even then it's fairly transitory gives it another quality that I think is worth appreciating.

I don't get mad at my little brother showing me silly little sketches that "clog" my memory with arms that extend around houses and heads that look more like shattered rocks. and if I see some art on the internet I don't like I don't get mad at the person for producing it and wasting my time because I clicked a random link not sure what to expect. And the "BUT IT'S ILLEGAL" bit is silly. So is speeding, so is underage drinking. Maybe you don't do those things but they're fairly common and I've never slapped someone after getting out of a car for speeding.

[watermelon man]

But cops still punish those who break those laws, what the street art enthusiasts here are insisting is that it be just left there. So it'd be more like if cops never gave speeders a ticket or punished kids who are drinking at 15.

If you do the crime, you deserve to be punished.

[pie]

But I can't shoot down that work and then in the same breath say that I really enjoy some of the other work that is created through that same process.

I'm pretty sure you can, this is America.

[stock]

Well I have my own views about speed limits but that's not for here.

And people get punished for doing these acts. Sure it isn't all the time but that's mostly because it's easy to do it quickly most of the time, hardly enough time to stop them. Like I've said before though, it's just a law, those change all the time.

Yes pie, but that's not really the point!

[pie]

It's my point. My point is that tags suck.

[stock]

Well your point is stupid!

[pie]

No! Check out my image post. It makes total sense!

[stock]

Did you see mine! That was total gold!

[Ben]

Again Pie, you're argument is basicly "Only art that I like should be allowed" that's crap.

On the debate of weather it's art.

This woman coverd a public statue in red tape.
She got permission, so it's art.


Banksy errects a statue of the lady of justice as a whore
He didn't get permission, so it's graffiti.


Done on canvas and hung in an art gallery
So it's art.


Done in spray paint on a wall
So it's graffiti

I'm pretty sure you can, this is America.

Thjs is the internet. Not America. Neither me nor Bronze are yanks.

[stock]

Honestly the "what is art" question is not going to really accomplish anything (has it ever?) so it should probably just be avoided.

[pie]

I'm not saying anything should be 'allowed'. I don't even remember how this argument started, or what any of the major points were other than "things are subjective", "garbage is art", "grafitti is better than a wall". I never said grafitti wasn't art, in fact, I don't think art is limited to a definition in this day and age. To refer to something simply as "art" is meaningless; it encompasses so much. Basically, I've said tags look crappy, you've argued against and there's nowhere we can go from there. I'm not talking about anything being "allowed", I have neither the power nor inclination to instigate that, not to mention none of this is "allowed" anyway. I just think in some cases grafitti isn't necessarily better than a blank wall, as you believed it was. And somehow we've got 13 pages out of that.