A little graffiti/street art rant..

Below a selection of wicked pieces from Vandalogs

‘graffiti vs street art: a debate I don't understand’

So, Vandalog, its documented many great things and everyday I flick through the pics in my daily email, read some blurb, etc and that's wicked, its also one of the first blogs I ever followed, that, unruth, and Hooked. So big up for that. However this blurb from 'graffiti vs street art: a debate I don't understand' annoyed me a little [its not the first time I've been annoyed]. My annoyance is stupid, but I have a very definite description about what's what. Saying that, its just an opinion, and as open to the same criticism as I am giving Vandalog. But to me its pretty clear.

Graffiti: taggin, bombin, piecing, getting up and your name [always an alias, always anonymous to outsiders] out there, always illegal [not always vandalism, but that’s a matter of opinion].

Streetart: art on the street [the name kinda clears that up] often takes the form of graffiti [normally not taggin, but sometimes] always with permission, generally daytime legal spots. Writers are artist, no doubt about that, even taggers are artist, just its not to everybody's tastes.

Recently graffiti boomed, and street art was born [or developed from murals to street art]. Writers have an opportunity to avoid the risk and make money and grow the name, some even turn it into a brand. But they’ve done there time on the streets, they’ve taken the risk. Pure street artist haven’t, they saw that graffiti was becoming cool, popular, fashionable, and took advantage [I don’t blame them], and in turn they have helped the scene grow. They use more than just spray, take longer, and create amazing imagery on the streets, just without the risk.

Personally I say this as I couldn’t be a street artist, I don’t have the skill, I love to paint, I love the risk, the adrenaline, and I love to walk past bombs from years back, with a little smile on my face, remembering the eyes peeled, the climb, the heart beating, the senses tightening, and sometime the chase after. I don’t have many bits still in existence, most been buffed or gone over [dam Olympics] but the ones I still have I go past as often as possible just to see them still there, big and bold, shouting my name to anyone who's listening! Fuck I love bombin. That’s all I wanted to say.

oh and PS I love this, stolen from Hooked