Oh hell no. I used to have murder fantasies about taggers. Here in SF, if someone tags your building, you're legally responsible for cleaning it up within 30 days, or you can be fined. It gets old faaaaast, and it's a game for the taggers. They wait for you to clean up before striking again. It's especially frustrating when the building is really beautiful without the vandalism.

But she is SO cute and looks like such a nice gal that it's just sort of heartbreaking to think about her going to jail.

those aren't "tags" in the pictures shown. they are throw ups/throwies. tags are the simple lettering with no fill ins or letter thickness that can be done with pens, mops, paint, etc. not that it matters too much.

also, it is rare for graff artists to get busted while in the act of painting. most of the big names who get popped get busted by their sketchbooks or picture books or their family/friends dropping the dime on them.

and finally, i learned a long time ago that you will always be surprised who the face behind the graff pieces are. i once knew a borderline midget (dude was like 4 foot 9) who would rock the hugest pieces all over the freeways. if you didnt know you would think he was an 8 foot tall bastard.

honestly, a swastika would be funny for me. 2 of my good friends are 1 being jewish and the other black. that would be totally fitting...

I mentioned tags 'cause that's what I've had to deal with up close and personal. Nasty crap. I love good graf art though. A lot of small shop owners in SF and probably other cities commission graffiti artists to do murals on their buildings. It makes for a good "keep the peace" gesture and those murals usually don't get tagged much. Seems most of the public doesn't discern the difference, though. They think it's all vandalism.

sorry bout that Dean, i wasn't referring directly to your post. just commenting in general since the Utah pics shown aren't "tags".

LA does the same thing where they comission the bigger names to do walls, so most likely it will remain untouched unless someone really wants to start some shit

Nah, it's all cool ... you were right to make the distinction.

Unfortunately for me, as a guy with an insanely Germanic last name who also happens to look like an extra from Oz, I don't think I could pull it off.

The only person I know of that does graffiti is completely unassuming looking. He has transitioned into doing lots of commissioned murals for various cities and organizations. When his kids were old enough, he took them out late one night and taught them a few things at a few of his favorite spots. Which makes him a great dad, in my eyes.

This for/against debate kind of reminds me of an argument I had with the local laundromat owner this week. She caught me *gasp* filling up a gallon jug with water to water the plants in front of my building. I take a gallon, water the plants, walk into the laudromat, get another, plants watered. She scolded me about me doing that and her water bill. Fair enough. She does pay for it. Like 1/10 of a cent per gallon. Seriously.

But somehow she's got 100% no problem with the crackheads taking craps and smoking crap in her parking lot right across the street from a public school.

But I get busted over taking her precious water.

So my attitude is 90% of the tags and graff out there are in places that nobody care about and have bigger issues. So the graffiti artists are busted because they are the "low hanging fruit." Actually cleaning up your rat infested buildings and lot where the graff is takes too much effort.

And most "quality of life" issues are like that. Bigger issues ignored, but dumb shit gets obsessed over.

Blah, blah...

I see tags or throw ups or whatever in nice neighborhoods and places all the time.
They know its illegal, deal with the repurcussions if you do the "art."
I think she makes a great poster child for "even a 'pretty' girl can get thrown in jail for it."

I like some of the work, as I've stated. But you have to man up and take responsbility for what you do or don't do with other peoples property/money etc.

Really? What nice neighborhood? The part of Brooklyn I live in is split between "nice" and "bleagh" and there's no graf, tags or anything up in the nice areas. No cover-ups either.

It's not a plague that some make it out to be.

Its vandalism.

Visit DC, NoVa, etc.
Suburban kids in Ohio who see it on the tv and spray the local store, etc, etc.

So some "cute" girl goes vacationing in europe just to spray her ugly fake name on things, I say let her learn her lesson, and then I'm sure she will get some art shows and book offers based on her story anyway to profit.

i've seen tags on buildings in the city where I sometimes work. Some of those buildings have been there since 1400 (1400!), thats like years before the US was even a country. Or something.

Its an abomination.

So creative.

Reviving this thread for this bizarre news from NYC. So if you hate graffiti or like graffiti, what the eff is this about:

So let me get this straight: Real graffiti artists are being arrested and sent to jail. Then parts of this city are being luxurified (waaay past gentrified) in an attempt to clean up the neighborhoods and make them friendlier to the rich. Businesses get fined if they don't clean up graffiti, but this this luxury hotel that buys a building in a neighborhood that it's helping to "luxurify" is commissioning graffiti artists to add an "edge" to their building?

What a spoon-fed, curated world NYC has become. I can't wait until hotels stage muggings for patrons on request: "If you sign up now, in one hour we will get a genuine hoodlum to attack you and your date for the evening. Please let us know in advance if you want to be able to fend the ruffian off. Pictures available on request."

She's popular in jail with those big man hands.

Really like the second pic in the first post.
Nice choice of colour looks great against the tones of the building.

Not a fan of 'street art' or street art urban vinyl clothing fashion and all that dilluted garbage.. just my 2 cents.

i like a good tag and throwup tho and i like a good toy, just not fused together.

WTF?

LOL this reminds me of a thought I had when I was checking out a documentary on the Manson murders. I thought some of Mansons female companions where kinda cute,too bad they where crazy murdering bitches that had to go to jail.

if she was ugly, none of you would give a fuck.

Tags are idiotic.

Are you suggesting that looks can be deceiving?

Heh, specially that one. I know what she's getting ready to do with that wire too. I think I'll watch it again tonight

I'm actually indifferent to her looks, but obviously, that's why her story is getting the attention it is. The fact that she was busted for it and it seems to have been a rather large effort make the story interesting to me. But again, that probably puts me in the minority of people that care about this at all.

Nicely put El Maz


Fair enough, but whether we like it or not tags are here to stay.
Tags are the first step in developing a grattiti style. With graffiti art it's all about style.

The graffiti pioneers of the mid to late 70's started with tags, then progressed
to fattening up their tags with inner or outer key lines, drop shadows, stars and
patterns inside the letters and sometimes adding bubble backgrounds.
Without tags graffiti wouldn't be where it is today.



Some writers have no interest in developing his or her skills
and choose to destroy. These painters get credibility for quantity not quality.
This is called bombing and is a quick and easy way to get your name around.



Not all artists who paint with quantity in mind are crap. Just dedicated and evade detection.
The whole sticker bombing movement has come from this mind state.
Prepare your art or trademark at home, then slap them up quickly when your out and about.
Sticker bombing is like the new tagging of the 2000 era.

Here's a great example of an 'Evolution of a style' by Phase II
Most dedicated graffiti artists aspire to this type of style development.

Tag
(very quick signature)
|
Throw Up
(very quick outline with 1 colour fill)
|
Public / Straight letter / Bubble Style / Block Buster
(readable by the public and graffiti community)
|
Semi wild
(readable but with arrows and connections)
|
Wild Style
(virtually unreadable)

Not if enough enforcement and punishment occurs to deter it.

[quote="DeadboneFair enough, but whether we like it or not tags are here to stay.
[/quote]

First - DB, good post.
I miss those old tagged to hell cars in NYC.


That's just about the dumbest thing I have ever read.
So what? beat the population into submission?
The heavy hand of the law rarely deters anyone.
Sticking someone in prison for decades because they tagged the whole of a city is a complete waste of time money and someones life.
CCTV has very little effect on crime and most of the images produced from them are useless.
If anything telling someone that they caused 6 digits worth of damage and 300 acts of criminal damage is a badge of honour (I have just grabbed figures out of the air).

Seriously AD, say that was meant to be in purple or something