Pittsburgh Street Art/Graff. (home, shop, pollution)

[fleetiebelle]

Some people do have artistic talent, you know. I'm of two minds on this--if someone tagged my house or shed or whatever, I'd be royally pi$$ed off. But if someone paints a brightly colored mural on the plain concrete underside of an overpass, I don't consider that vandalism.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Some people do have artistic talent, you know. I'm of two minds on this--if someone tagged my house or shed or whatever, I'd be royally pi$$ed off. But if someone paints a brightly colored mural on the plain concrete underside of an overpass, I don't consider that vandalism.

If it ain't their property, it's vandalism.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Copanut

If it ain't their property, it's vandalism.

Yep. I dunno why there are two ways about this. Seems like plenty of legit opportunities to put up a mural with permission, should an artist so choose. If you're that good, why not do it legit?

[hornet67]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Some people do have artistic talent, you know. I'm of two minds on this--if someone tagged my house or shed or whatever, I'd be royally pi$$ed off. But if someone paints a brightly colored mural on the plain concrete underside of an overpass, I don't consider that vandalism.

IF, and I repeat, IF someone was commisioned by the appropriate authorities to paint a mural on public property, not the mindless scribblings of some street punk, I believe that would be fine. Otherwise, it's still VANDALISM.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by hornet67

IF, and I repeat, IF someone was commisioned by the appropriate authorities to paint a mural on public property, not the mindless scribblings of some street punk, I believe that would be fine. Otherwise, it's still VANDALISM.

That's not quite right. For example, you could set aside publicly-visible spaces for art, but without specifically commissioning anyone to do that art. In that case, any resulting art in that dedicated space would not be vandalism.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Some people do have artistic talent, you know. I'm of two minds on this--if someone tagged my house or shed or whatever, I'd be royally pi$$ed off. But if someone paints a brightly colored mural on the plain concrete underside of an overpass, I don't consider that vandalism.

I agree, there is a fine line here.

Take for instance the retaining wall across from the Hot Metal Bridge. That used to be tagged with some eye catching graffiti, but it was painted over randomly with that ugly yellowish paint instead. I would have considered something like that art.

Or how about on 51 near Nobles Lane, people painted really cool faces on abandoned buildings. Yet this was painted over. The places are abandoned, what does it matter anyway?

Throwing a 2 minute tag on someone's house or car is despicable, but creating a piece of art on a colorless, lifeless, decaying area of a gray city is awesome.

[Rebelution]

Well to begin with to whoever said "who the hell is Shepard Fairly". Do you seriously live under a rock? He is an extremely famous street artist who started the OBEY phenomenon. Maybe you've seen his other work, the HOPE and CHANGE Obama campaign? He was the creator of that too, and was thanked and supported by Obama. (Said when Obama was making a speech)

Again, I'm not talking about small 2 second tags, I see where you're comming from, it's horrible. But the graff underneath the bridges and the pieces that aren't visual pollution to people... why can't we keep them? I would rather look at that every day than a god damn yellow square of paint that covers it up. But I guess that's just me.

Along with commission of street murals, it is a good idea. There's a lady here in Philly who put together a program for that, called the "Mural Arts Program" and it takes some of the most talented graff writers and painters and they make murals. There's a bunch of them on the sides of buildings all throughout the city.

Finally, the person who said that they should "set aside space" for the artists, they do. It's called a "legal wall" and there is (I believe) only one legal wall in Pittsburgh. (Not even one here in Philly) But this is nowhere near as much space as there needs to be. If there were more legal walls to paint on then maybe the illegal graff might go down, who knows..

[hornet67]

Originally Posted by Rebelution

Well to begin with to whoever said "who the hell is Shepard Fairly". Do you seriously live under a rock? He is an extremely famous street artist who started the OBEY phenomenon. Maybe you've seen his other work, the HOPE and CHANGE Obama campaign? He was the creator of that too, and was thanked and supported by Obama. (Said when Obama was making a speech)

Again, I'm not talking about small 2 second tags, I see where you're comming from, it's horrible. But the graff underneath the bridges and the pieces that aren't visual pollution to people... why can't we keep them? I would rather look at that every day than a god damn yellow square of paint that covers it up. But I guess that's just me.

Along with commission of street murals, it is a good idea. There's a lady here in Philly who put together a program for that, called the "Mural Arts Program" and it takes some of the most talented graff writers and painters and they make murals. There's a bunch of them on the sides of buildings all throughout the city.

Finally, the person who said that they should "set aside space" for the artists, they do. It's called a "legal wall" and there is (I believe) only one legal wall in Pittsburgh. (Not even one here in Philly) But this is nowhere near as much space as there needs to be. If there were more legal walls to paint on then maybe the illegal graff might go down, who knows..

It was I who asked who the hell Shepard Fairey is, and I don't live under a rock you immature twit. My interests don't cover "street artists".

[Rebelution]

Originally Posted by hornet67

It was I who asked who the hell Shepard Fairey is, and I don't live under a rock you immature twit. My interests don't cover "street artists".

Fair Enough. I apologize.

[hornet67]

Originally Posted by Rebelution

Fair Enough. I apologize.

Apology accepted, and I apologize as well. We will agree to disagree, at least on this subject.