Graffiti 099: Graffiti is the new heritage

A village in Yorkshire, England, must consider the need to change its name, a name which cannot withstand the assault of crude graffiti writers.

Graffiti 098: NUG — “Territorial Pissing”

Here’s the flick. That’s right. The infamous TERRITORIAL PISSING

And here’s another of similar calibre:

Graffiti 097: Graffiti taken to new levels of subversion

Yes, friends, there is even graffiti for Jesus.

You might think I’m being ironic, but I’m not. This writer does not make illegal graffiti, but a writer could make religious graffiti and break the law. The law, after all, is for the earthly kingdom; Jesus is man’s connection to the heavenly one. There’s nothing wrong with transgressing earthly law in the name of heaven.

I’m actually surprised that there isn’t more Christian graffiti out on our streets.

NUG Translated

So I just used the google translator.

Here’s a neat article about NUG. I like the comments too.

Konstfacks = art college/faculty.

What’s interesting about this story is that it is tied to Konstfacks. If NUG were acting independently then he could do whatever he wanted to (and take responsibility for his actions if caught). By implicating an entire art college he’s upped the ante.

Can artists only practice “safe” art when in college?

What does it mean when a student from a public educational establishment destroys public property (and gets his degree)? It’s a paradox.

Graffiti 096: NUG, graffiti as art, graffiti as crime

I wonder why some people find it so troubling to say that graffiti is art AND crime?

Is it because they imagine that calling it both one thing and the other amounts to endorsement?

I can say something is art and not like it. I can call something art without espousing any of its values. For example, I think Soviet propaganda posters are art, but that doesn’t mean I’m a communist. Same goes for graffiti: I think graffiti is art and illegal. That does not make me a criminal.

NUG made art. I can say that without having to endorse (or even like) what he did.

Graffiti 095: Graffiti as Satire, Part III

(Continued from Graffiti 093)

“Satire pretends to be telling the complete truth about life but only presents a propagandist distortion. (Highet 158)”

“Genuine satiric fiction pretends to be true and real; but it is distorted through and through. (158)”

What distinguishes the propagandist from the satirist is conviction. The propagandist actually believes what he writes; the satirist takes an ironic stance towards his subject. The satirist gives the form of truth, knowing full well that it is false. It is a hyperbolic “truth,” employed for humorous and didactic effect. The propagandist’s truth is hyperbolic too, but lacks the ironic distance of the satirist. The propagandist thinks he’s justified in employing hyperbole. The satirist knows that he is distorting the truth; the propagandist might not (or he might be cynical and knowingly distort it for the sake of influencing his audience).

A graffiti writer might be more of a propagandist than a satirist. She treats private property with irony, but I seriously doubt there is a graffiti writer out there who can laugh at herself, or at her own work or the motivations underlying why she works. Graffiti writers write out of pure conviction, not irony… or so it seems to me.

The NUG phenomenon: to my Scandinavian readers

Dear Scandinavian readers,

We here in North America are very perplexed by the odd behaviour of the young man from Stockholm who goes under the name NUG. I’ve noticed that there is a lot of press on this person in Swedish. I can’t read Swedish, unfortunately. Please feel free to leave a comment (below) about what is happening with this story (if you can write in English or French). Have further charges been laid? Has a decision been made yet about the college’s accountability? Is NUG still active?

Best regards,

ostro

Graffiti 094

Skam, Toronto graffiti artist, working for Louis Vuitton. I hope they pay him better than well.

Graffiti 093: Graffiti as Satire, Part II

(continued from Graffiti 007)

Graffiti wounds private property. It points out its faults, reveals its hidden affectations, emphasizes its weaknesses and diminishes its strengths.

Or perhaps graffiti is just the envious destruction of the unattainable…

(Highet, The Anatomy of Satire 67-8.)

Graffiti 092: NUG

Nug says he was playing around with the idea that graffiti is “just territorial pissing”.

His reasoning here is funny. He took the common criticism literally. Yes, I suppose, it’s a commonplace to say graffiti is territorial pissing, but I think people mean that as an analogy.

Graffiti is like territorial pissing.

Graffiti resembles territorial pissing.

By bluring the line between marking his territory with urine and marking it with paint, NUG has revealed that there is not that much in common between graffiti and pissing after all… with the obvious exception of his own work, of course.