Sampling Montreal's Graffiti

I want to talk about the graffiti in Montreal and in general… I gave you a little taste at the end of last sesh (session) so you could pick up the beginnings of the tune and begin to follow.

So like every other remotely big city, Montreal is covered in tagged spaces (areas covered in graffiti). A lot of the tags, even if you can read them or take a bit of time a decipher them, are eyesores, dried vomit spewed from spray paint cans on to walls….they are some kind of expression, maybe only : "I'm angry", or maybe just.."look at me", but definitely not anything interesting….just ugly pointless shouts at the ever-growing fear of being surrounded by an ever-expanding landscape of grey buildings, vinyl siding and strip-malls. But writing "fuck" on a wall doesn't make you a graffiti artist and it makes you sound like a moron who has nothing better to say; understand here I am not preaching against cursing….I've been know to thrown down harsh expletives with the best of them, but if it lacks poetry and  adds nothing but clutter and vacuous neon urine stains of ugliness, why even say it? If you don't have anything interesting to say, don't say nuthin' at all.

So for me and for those who began it, graffitti is street art. It is freestyle jazz of the art world, often performed or laid down wild under the cover of night. Often, taggers are chased by police for purported vandalism on private property. I remember before the word handle was in common usage guys with cans of spray paint (those dirty criminals) were signing their Work with a handle. Today it is used to describe an online personality. Graffiti art is a movement, by the people for the people, that broke with the art mainstream. The message and style of graffiti can contain graphic art/design, political statement, social commentary, philosophical discourse, collage, tribal tattoos, symbols, or ambience. Although there is local specificity to graffiti,there is a universalism and humanism which is, at the very least, global. Graffiti alters urban spaces, by beautifying  the boring, offsetting the mechanical with organic (human painted) form and expanding the surfaces where it was acceptable to create..........

and some not great work which managed to create some interesting ambience anyway......

And still beautiful achievements, but designed by a person and constructed for several for an industry, although...they are quite striking: mosaics and stained glass in the Métros (subways):

And a small sample of graffiti from other parts of the world, with the aid of a list of links:


simply an amazing concept and a huge amount of work, Brazil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4


Belgian Born, Now UK, Julian Beaver:
http://blog.eatflylove.com/2011/10/anamorphic-chalk-drawings-by-julian.html


Japan
http://www.fatcap.com/country/japan.html


Israel, stop-motion.....warning: the music is loud...you might want to turn it down:
http://vimeo.com/groups/25222/videos/10555187

Melbourne, Australia, Oh Yeah Wow, Producer - All India Radio, Music:
http://senseslost.com/2011/05/02/rippled-all-india-radio-stop-motion-animation/

And to sample an old Master:

Rejoice you have no choice.