Subversive Art... Or Lashing Out At Dad?
"Urban art" is for the untalented and their rich, white-dread-wearing minions
"Once you're aware of street art, it will change the way you look at the city," says Satta... with his dreadlocks tied back, the German graffiti devotee moves through the space like an urban archaeologist on a dig, pointing out new work by leading artists or pausing to admire a new development, such as text written with glue to create a tactile form of communication one that can be read and felt.
"Melbourne is much more open-minded than most places in Europe. People are interested in art here," says Satta. "In Europe, graffiti has a bad reputation, and people can't distinguish between the different disciplines.
"Disciplines"? You're a little up your own ass, aren't you? And what's so special about writing things with glue? Is this writer asking to be punched?
I've got to let it out -- I hate graffiti. "But Christy, what about these excessively manicured, puffed-up exhibitions that sell a non-existent art form to deluded bon chic bon genres?" Okay, some of these guys are pretty good. They tend to get paid for their efforts and given scaffolds -- in Berlin, at least. Unfortunately, we have to deal with the other 99.994% of tags and... wait, I'm not going to split it into "disciplines," they're all tags anyways. And what the fuck are tags, anyways? People seriously think tags are good, act like they appreciate them. I know young Germans love their "graffiti culture," but Jesus, am I the only person in Europe that thinks the city might look better without all the signatures?
Hey, man, I'm interested in art too, but I'm not that interested when a guy writes his name with bank signature flair on a bronze statue. Forgive me for selling out to The Man by liking a horse with foam running off its fetlocks with a guy on it killing a dragon better than a hastily-scribbled name. And seriously, the names? "Keg" and "Nut Waves"? I've never heard of these guys outside of the world of sneaking around at night and writing an alias on things, and I think it's alright to leave it that way.
But what else can I say that hasn't been said by Vice, that lovable Archie Bunker of youth magazines?
Comments
Kind sir, it figures you're a Vice Mag fan. It would also seem that you prefer your art well-framed, well-defined and well paid for. Lashing out at the lashers (?) seems a bit arch-conservative to me (like the co-founder of that magazine). In the Vice piece you link to it's clear that the racist, ill-informed grandpa takes the dominant position, being that he's much funnier. Don't get me started on that evil rag (good thing it's free). And please ease my suspicions that you'd like to perpetuate some kind of Vice "hipster" strategy over here.
bp; May 17, 2006 6:53 PM
Actually, dude, like I said above, I optioned some of these artists. Banksy is talented but esoteric, we have Mook in Pittsburgh, who paints like a samurai. The rest are the constituency. The problem here is I don't really know what you're attacking, besides me. Definitely not anything I covered in the post. You don't really have anything to say about that.
I'm looking at the front page of benperry.com and seeing Optimo, Tyler Durden, and the Autobots. You're going to come on here and call me a h******?
Christy; May 18, 2006 1:22 AM
OK, fine, touche, I guess. I'm just saying that streetart is kind of a straw man to attack, and then you rounding off your point on the back of Vice was just too much for me (full disclosure: I really loathe that magazine and it's whole Weltanschauung -- that article you linked to is typical of why it's so messed up: racism protected by snark & irony, i.e. hipster linga franca, (http://www.asfarasicantell.com/2005/01/000446/)).
I'm sure you're a swell guy and I mainly enjoy your blog's sort of fresh, libertarian take on thangs here, which further underlined my dissapointment on seeing you hating on graf and loving on Vice, whereas my love/hate axis pretty much flips to the other side there. I didn't mean to make it personal. Ah, freedom of speech is awesome.
bp; May 19, 2006 3:24 PM
First of all a tag is no more than a signature. Its a way for a writer to sign his piece or get his name up. I agree, writing on a statue is a dipshit thing to do, theres certain objects you should leave alone, but not all graf is bad. I agree that toys need to figure it out in thier scetch book before they put it on a wall. In regards to good shit, you cant be rippin on that. It is SUCH a hard art form to get good at, especially when your writing on a wall. Not only is thier little to no light, you also have to be out quick so you dont get busted and it actually has to look good. So I dont believe you should be rippin on something, Id be willing to bet money, you cant do.
Proj3ct; May 2, 2007 3:04 PM