Dunedin has a graffiti problem. Taggers will add their mark to just about anything. For me, it's become a new obsession to find interesting graffiti around town, to become fluent in the nuances and subtleties of the art form. And there are some. A good graffito is like a flower in bloom: it could be gone the next day, painted over, lost forever.
People here really really hate it. Earlier this year, a 15-year-old tagger was stabbed and killed by a man who saw him spray painting his fence. And there isn't anything artful about spray painting the word Smoke on every house, wall, fence and public building you walk past. It's the visual equivalent of littering.
Nevertheless, some of the graffiti here are art. They have humor and irony and technique. Over the next few weeks, I'll share some. Here's a favorite, in the style of Banksy, half hidden down a damp forgotten alley on George Street. Could it be a Banksy original? Maybe. Banksy pops up everywhere from London and New York, to Rome, and the West Bank, but it's unlikely he found the time to claim a dark wet alley in Dunedin.
It's fun to imagine that perhaps he did. (ck)
People here really really hate it. Earlier this year, a 15-year-old tagger was stabbed and killed by a man who saw him spray painting his fence. And there isn't anything artful about spray painting the word Smoke on every house, wall, fence and public building you walk past. It's the visual equivalent of littering.
Nevertheless, some of the graffiti here are art. They have humor and irony and technique. Over the next few weeks, I'll share some. Here's a favorite, in the style of Banksy, half hidden down a damp forgotten alley on George Street. Could it be a Banksy original? Maybe. Banksy pops up everywhere from London and New York, to Rome, and the West Bank, but it's unlikely he found the time to claim a dark wet alley in Dunedin.
It's fun to imagine that perhaps he did. (ck)
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