The 30 second Exhibition

So - Green shirt dude is a graphic design student and this was supposed to be an exhibition of some sort. He and his crew were sticking up huge sheets of paper - ie: NOT actually intending to paint on the walls - when the Blues turned up and shut it down. Green dude got some plastic cuffs put on and was charged with drinking a bottle of beer in public.

Moral of the story seems to be that the law doesn't like surprises - the dudes should have got permission, signed in triplicate, distributed to everyone in the neighbourhood, notices in the paper, had at least one sponsor and invited the Mayoress.


Thanks to BEWARE for the images and, green dude, if you read this and I've got anything wrong or you have anything to add, leave a comment.

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OK - may as well get everything else off my not so substantial chest while I'm here...

Two things about this article in the paper got me going a few weeks ago.
First - that they're assuming it was a/the tagger that beat the guy.
Second - that they've been encouraging people for a while now to ring 111 to report graffiti.
Using our national emergency line to report graffiti?!
What's that about?

No-one that I know of has tried to communicate with the graf community to find out what they want. If they have any suggestions on what would make them stop tagging. What rules they could make for themselves that they might agree on.
Yeah - I know - I'm sickeningly idealistic and we'd probably have more luck finding out Banksy's real name or who The Splasher is but is the whole crack down, arrests, pink vests strategy working?

Now there's an Inner City Business and Residents group being set up in the hood by ex-mayor, Mark Blumsky, and one of the bullet points on their agenda is graffiti. Naturally I had to join it, and I look forward to the next meeting - will keep you posted. Item #1: Distinction between tagging and graffiti ;-)

I don't see myself as an authority on what writers want or even get out of what they do but the very nature of the graffiti game is that the writers and artists stay low therefore don't know, or have any control over, the decisions being made that affect them.
I have absolutely no influence within the graf community and they couldn't give a fat cap about me or these sites but, regardless, I believe in them and their art form and, in the absence of anyone else, I can't not be a stoolie...