CONSCIENCE UNDER PRESSURE
In March I wrote a blog post “Rebel without a Cause” about my experiences with the Melville Residents Association regarding the removal of graffiti pieces from the boundary wall of the Melpark Primary School. The piece referred to conversations I had with Cynthia Rose and a guy I called Mr. Jones and their negative views on graffiti and street ( Read more... )
I love art in all it's various forms and anyone who knows me knows how broad that appreciation is. I have a great deal of respect for the work of various Graffiti artists & I do recognize Graffiti as a valid Fine Art form.
My concerns regarding public art are: 1) The quality of the work. Although I recognize Graffiti as a valid Fine Art form, you would have to agree that not all art is good art. This was not a Faith47 masterpiece we are talking about, but a rather poorly designed & poorly executed mural. It was painted years ago & I am pleased to see how Nick's (who was incidentally arrested for tagging stop signs in Blairgowrie in the same year he painted the mural) work has matured with time.
2) The appropriateness of the work. This mural was painted on a Junior Primary School wall & it was the feeling of both the school & the community that it was time to paint something lighter, fresher & more appropriate. All the images in the new mural are designed by the children.
I still maintain that Graffiti is more of an Urban than a Suburban art form, but that does not mean that it cannot exist in a suburban setting...however... which leads me to my next point...
3)The rights & wishes of the community. The community & the school had made a decision to paint a mural. You challenged that right & my response was I am sure more than a little rude...but please understand the context. We have a community that are sick & tired of the tagging & vandalism of our properties (I am pleased to see that you do not endorse tagging).
I think it is high time that Graffiti Artists engage with authorities & communities, rather than acting like living martyrs when their unsolicited work is inevitably removed.
I think that there is a great deal of discussion that still needs to happen re graffiti, but for now please note that the Melville Community do not wish to have graffiti & tagging in our village. To not respect the express wishes of our community by continuing with the spray painting of our suburb, constitutes a willful act of vandalism.
Warm Regards
James (aka Mr Jones)
Reply
Yes, I don't endorse tagging and it's the part of the whole graffiti/street-art scene that I don't agree with, but I also don't agree with a lot of other defacement of public property for example the sticking up paid ads on lampposts etc.
What I'm aiming for is constructive engagement and using street murals in a positive way - and not the summarily dismissal of the possible artistic merit of work of others, even if its an art form that we don't understand - As I said in the post - I don't see any merit at all in Damien Hirst dunking a dead sheep in formaldehyde or whatever and calling it art.
In my interaction with graffiti artists I had no sense that they see themselves as martyrs when they're works are removed or painted over - it's the nature of the animal - what do get to them though is what happens when Nike uses their work as a backdrop (see previous post) - although Nike says that wasn't their intention.
Thank again for the reply and keep in touch. I'm sure we'll meet further along the road of life (or in the streets of Melville)
Keep well
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