FRNZ strikes again

The funny thing is that this tag appears to have been done on top of a hastily applied layer of paint hiding some older graffiti on this wall.

Flowers bloom in winter

(click for big)

Nice big, bold, colorful piece on the graffiti wall at Mother Fools right now. Adds some much-needed color to the otherwise snowy, muddy winter.

Chop from the top

I wouldn't go so far as to call this art maybe, but it's still important. The first #wiunion related graffiti I've seen in two weeks of protests.

At the fruit market

Looks like a few folks have been working on the back wall of Brennan's on University Ave. Thanks to tipster N for this spotting.

Northside graffiti crackdown

Looks like the MPD is "cracking down" on graffiti in the city, especially on the north side. They've gone so far as to release a summary police report on 8 recent arrests.

The report also trumpets "Graffiti is a 'quality of life' crime the MPD will continue to focus on. It is hoped these arrests will serve as a deterrent to others."

Read the full report here.

Thing is, I'm actually against the stupid, scrawled tagging style of graffiti (the stuff that any joker with a paint pen or permanent marker could make). My take is that they're pointless, obnoxious, ugly, and give a bad name to the kind of street art we should be encouraging--ie: the kind of stuff I try to post here.

If we want to make real progress in convincing the crotchety official types to allow for more public art space, one of the things we have to do is make some effort to cut down on tagging that actually damages property. There are a lot of negative, misinformed attitudes to overcome, and we need all the high ground possible to do that.

At least, I think so. Feel free to argue a different point. And be sure to stay alert while you're out there, kids. The MPD is on the we've-totally-got-our-priorities-in-the-right-place prowl.


(photo by Sean Future on Flickr)

Shepard Fairey arrested for old art

This isn't directly related to Madison, but I find it interesting and relevant to what this blog is all about: Shepard Fairey was arrested in Boston while on the way to his art opening, based on warrants issued for old street art he'd allegedly put up.

Fairey is the artist behind the blue and red Obama "Hope" poster, among other things. He's also currently dealing with the AP's (pretty ridiculous, IMHO) suit against him for alleged copyright infringement. He based aforementioned poster off an AP photo, but as far as I can tell, this is pretty clearly an instance of fair use, not infringement.

It ain't easy being an artist.

What do you think? Is this a case of someone being targeting simply for becoming a more prominent figure, or do these people have legitimate greviences against him?

Stuck and tagged

Sender-inner Michael alerts us to the presence of this presumably stuck truck in a small alleyway near King of Falafel in downtown Madison. I've passed this very truck myself, and kicked myself for not taking a picture of it. Michael offers us this cell phone cam glimpse of the extremely tagged back-end. I might go by and get another, clearer shot of it, too. Certainly adds an interesting splash of color to the neighborhood.

The one day wall

I'm somewhat surprised that I totally failed to catch this when it happened ("somewhat" because I was rather engrossed in my own project around that time), but I've just received an email from tipster Q about a really cool graffiti wall project that happened over at Brittingham Park back in July. Photos from the event are now available for your viewing pleasure here.

Sadly, the wall was only up for 11 hours, and though by its very nature street art tends toward the transitory, that's really a shame in this case. Still, I'm happy to read about the organizer of the event, Kimberely Coonts, who was also apparently behind the graffiti wall that used to go up during WSUM's Party in the Park. People like her do a great service for our community, and we should all do our best to support their efforts.

Check out the article about the event here.

Worth special note in the piece is this bit:

The problem arises when [graffiti] is without permission and has defaced businesses," she said. "There are a number of small businesses that are running on a very tight margin as is, and when they have to stop what they're doing to go out and undo the damage that somebody randomly inflicted on them, it's detrimental to the business owner and it doesn't reflect well on the neighborhood."

Thurber added that there is a city ordinance that forces business owners to remove graffiti in a timely fashion, or they can be issued a citation on top of the cost of removing the graffiti.

I've heard about that ordinance before, and honestly it strikes me as a silly and potential harmful way of dealing with the problem of tagging. Forcing the business owners--the "victims" in the case--to pony up money (this in addition to any cleaning costs) should they take a bit too long in cleaning it, seems ridiculous. And it can't help foster much in the way of a potential positive relationship between businesses and more legitimate street artists. Isn't there another way to deal with this? I mean, I'm not fan of tagging, and hardly consider it "art" on par with the type of stuff I post here, but this doesn't seem like the right solution. What do you think?