And the Tate Modern currently has an exhibit of Urban Art. Indeed, they covered the front of the museum for it:


At the same time, however, just blocks away, the members of the DPM crew were sentenced to 18 - 24 months in prison for creating the type of work being exhibited:

http://www.independent.ie/world-news...e-1434089.html


And, alas, Banksy was "outed" this week -- wouldn't be surprised if he finds himself on trial as well:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7504132.stm

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---Shosh

Those people had permission, but like I said, if someone tagged, painted, mural whatever, to my home without permission, and I was there, there would be problems for them.

What if I just walked up to your car and started to paint a really nice picture on it? It's the same thing.

I'm working on a documentary about graffiti in Philadelphia. For those who start doing this, rich or poor, it's an illicit thrill and an act of rebellion. They know they are breaking the law and defacing property and they love it. There are ordinary taggers who do it for a few months and stop, maybe because they got busted by their parents. Then there are those who enter a very orthodox culture of Philadelphia graffiti that has rules and traditions dating back to the late 1960s. Here are some rules: You don't hit a church or a car; Houses are off-limits to a certain extent - that's why you see tags accumulate on abandoned properties. But there are some who don't follow those rules because they are totally out of control. For many it's something they do in their youth and then adult lives and responsibilities take over. There are a few that just continue to do it. I know a school teacher in his 40s who is heavily involved. Others repeatedly retire and come back. It's a world that exists all around the city involving hundreds of hardcore writers and thousands of dabblers. I talk to people in the city's anti-graffiti cleaning operation and one of the top officials figured if they stopped cleaning, the city would be consumed within three months. The simplest explanation for all of this is that graffiti is the easiest way for someone to mark their mark - literally - in this world. The fancy artistic "pieces" are just a small part of this culture. It's all over the world and I've seen photos of western-style graffiti in places such as Iran. I bet some people who complain about it here probably think it's cool there because it gives the Iranian authorities headaches. It all depends on who is getting the business end of the bull's horns.

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The Dream Police, they live inside of my head

That's the thing...That is tagging and most of the time it's as good as the writing on a napkin. You rarely see good tagging anymore. Hell look at most SEPTA buses in the back...That **** needs to go away....


Now if you can walk up to my car and left a piece of art in a matter of mins, then hell you can tag anything that you want. ;-)

Speaking of SEPTA:





I don't know I think it gives the BSL charm, tho my partner disagrees....

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TAFKATLB(TheArtistFormerlyKnowAsTheLoveBelow)

That top photo is Revok from Mad Society Kings in California. He and some other artists - and he is an amazing artist - had visited Philadelphia last year to do a piece on South Street that had been commissioned by Boost Mobile. Then the guys decided to do the subway. You never see anybody locally attempt this on a subway car anymore, basically because they know SEPTA is very swift in removing anything from the cars. I got a kick when I first saw the photos of this last year.

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The Dream Police, they live inside of my head

Ok, what I want to know is, is all public art known as graffiti or what? Were the truisms of Jenny Holzer graffiti?

Short answer:

The umbrella term is either Street Art or Urban Art -- meaning art placed in a public area, usually (but not always) without the consent of the owner of the property on which the art is being placed. Then there are subsets of such art:

Graffiti originally was used to describe spray-painted letters or words (from "graph" - meaning to write), but has come to include any form of painted picture, whether or not it includes or consists of lettering.

Sticker Art is exactly what it sounds like -- if you look on light poles, newspaper boxes, etc., you'll often find stickers with drawings or pictures on them.

Wheatpastes are posters that are pasted onto walls, and run the gamut from crude to amazingly subtle and imaginative.

Stencil is another form of street art in which the artist makes a stencil in their studio and then stencils the art onto walls, sidewalks, etc.

And then there's tons of art that doesn't fit any of these catagories -- there's a lot of 3-D stuff out there, some ephemeral stuff done with chalk, scuptures, etc.

With all that being said, graph artists do think of themselves differently than the other street artists. Specifically, many graph artists contend that part of the "art" is being able to create a piece in the dark, under pressue, without much time, and without detection, and that the other forms of urban art -- which are planned and created in advance and can be put up in seconds rather than hours -- resides on a somewhat lower artistic plane, or otherwise betrays the essence of true street art.

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---Shosh

If you're doing it with consent its pretty artistic.. and normally looks good..

If you're doing it on buildings without consent ... well its probably still just as artistic.. But its illegal and its being artistic doesn't change that or make it legal or more okay.


Spraying someones house even if it looks great isn't okay..

I think it all looks pretty cool, but I don't want it on my house.. or on random buildings... Keep it in places designated for that kind of art.

That reminds me anyone see that episode of Boondocks:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Wuz_Here

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TAFKATLB(TheArtistFormerlyKnowAsTheLoveBelow)