"Man paints own building. Graffiti vandals devastated."

[Omicron]

It further adds to the blight of the abandoned structure... the hopelessness of the area.

It creates the feeling that out of the rubble, life struggles to rise from the decay.

Whitewashing is a new beginning... a symbol of starting anew! Art!

Only after someone starts painting on that new blank white canvas.

I don't think that would stop them...

It has so far.

but I bet the neighbors would want you to... lets say... whitewash their art.

Actually, it would be city council, and if it happens, the deal is you paint it over yourself and then deduct the cost of the paint (but not the labour) from your municipal taxes, or you let the city do it, which most victims would avoid because the thought of city workers tromping on bushes and flower-beds all around your house is creepier than the graphiti.

What about inside your house? All the walls.

Not all the walls. But I do have a basement concrete wall along the wide length of the house that I applied a sealant to and which I've been painting murals etc. on for years... it's been completely done over about three times now.


In any case, if you really hate graphiti - presumably because you just can't stand the idea that some kids would find a way to turn urban decay into art - then use lye for the whitewash, so it disolves the material that the graphiti is being painted on.

That way you get rid of ugly urban decay by disolving it away instead of just spray-painting it over.

 

[petros]

That way you get rid of ugly urban decay by disolving it away instead of just spray-painting it over.

Spray paint doesn't last long at all. Far less long than proper paint.

 

[CDNBear]

It creates the feeling that out of the rubble, life struggles to rise from the decay.

Awww, that's sweet. irrelevant, but sweet.

 

[EagleSmack]

It creates the feeling that out of the rubble, life struggles to rise from the decay.

That is how some see it. Not all.

Only after someone starts painting on that new blank white canvas.

You will be the only judge on what is art and what is not?

It has so far.

Not if you make it available for them to use?

Or do you only enjoy it on others property... NIMBYish?

Not all the walls. But I do have a basement concrete wall along the wide length of the house that I applied a sealant to and which I've been painting murals etc. on for years... it's been completely done over about three times now.

Shouldn't the artist decide for you what should be painted? Which is the MO of vandals.

In any case, if you really hate graphiti - presumably because you just can't stand the idea that some kids would find a way to turn urban decay into art - then use lye for the whitewash, so it disolves the material that the graphiti is being painted on.

Graffiti IMO IS urban decay... a symbol of it.

That way you get rid of ugly urban decay by disolving it away instead of just spray-painting it over.

After how many thousands of years?

 

[petros]

Shouldn't the artist decide for you what should be painted? Which is the MO of vandals.

If you were core urban and could get a mural done on your garage or fence what would you have done?

 

[CDNBear]

If you were core urban and could get a mural done on your garage or fence what would you have done?

An 8' vag.

 

[EagleSmack]

If you were core urban and could get a mural done on your garage or fence what would you have done?

I don't think I would.

 

[petros]

If it eliminated being tagged constantly?

 

[EagleSmack]

If it eliminated being tagged constantly?

Whitewash.

Although murals do look cool when they are allowed.

 

[CDNBear]

Although murals do look cool when they are allowed.

And commissioned by the property owner.

 

[petros]

White wash with dots like a loaf of Wonder Bread. That would look cool.

 

[Omicron]

Graffiti IMO IS urban decay... a symbol of it.

To me it's a symbol of kids growing up in the midst of urban decay who aren't given anything better to do so they start slapping art on whatever blank slate they can find in order to not go crazy from boredom.

After how many thousands of years?

Okay, fine... insted of lye, spray the old bricks with aqua regia, until there's nothing left for kids to paint on.

Of course, *that* might be when they start going for the remaining standing structures, like your home.


If I was mayor of a town with run-down districts getting plastered with graphiti, I'd hire kids from among their ranks to be art critics licenced to selectively paint over the elements of graphiti that aren't real art, in order for spray-painters to come back and fill in the blotten out parts, in a recursive cycle until the critics can't find anything wrong with any of it, and voila... you've got the ugliness of urban decay now at least being something people can stand to look at.

Or... if I was a hardheaded mayor with uber-**** constinuents, instead of whitewashing the graphiti, I'd order it all sprayed with a solution rich in lichen spores, such that the graphitiologists would find their work constantly getting eated away by lichens as fast as they can spray it. The lichens would accelerate the decay and turn the rubble into topsoil, such that it would at least become greenspace if the owner isn't ever going to do anything with it.

 

[petros]

Okay, fine... insted of lye, spray the old bricks with aqua regia, until there's nothing left for kids to paint on..

Is there something wrong with canvas?

 

[EagleSmack]

To me it's a symbol of kids growing up in the midst of urban decay who aren't given anything better to do so they start slapping art on whatever blank slate they can find in order to not go crazy from boredom.


.

So the message is start a life of crime (vandalism) when you get bored. Or the only escape from boredom is crime.

Got it.

 

[Omicron]

Is there something wrong with canvas?

Canvas costs money, as do the brushes, plus the oil or acrylic paints are expensive compared to spray paint, not to mention how canvas art is hard to get on display... graphitiologists are definitly *not* doing what they do so it won't be seen.

 

[EagleSmack]

Is there something wrong with canvas?

Good question.

Omi?

 

[Omicron]

So the message is start a life of crime (vandalism) when you get bored. Or the only escape from boredom is crime.

Got it.

If they weren't taking out their boredom spray-painting art onto brick walls, they might take out their frustration on doing real crime.

 

[petros]

Canvas costs money, as do the brushes, plus the oil or acrylic paints are expensive compared to spray paint, not to mention how canvas art is hard to get on display... graphitiologists are definitly *not* doing what they do so it won't be seen.

Spray paint is $10 a can. The price of one canvas.

 

[EagleSmack]

Canvas costs money, as do the brushes, and the oil or acrylic paints are expensive compared to spray paint, plus canvas art is hard to get on display... graphitiologists are definitly *not* doing what they do so it won't be seen.

Agree with you on acrylics/oils and brushes etc. But cans of paint cost money too. I am sure these "artists" are getting money for cans of paint somewhere.

Part 2... so they KNOW nobody wants to see their so called art... so the "artists" will make them see it through vandalism?

 

[petros]

If they weren't taking out their boredom spray-painting art onto brick walls, they might take out their frustration on real crime.

Like going to school and getting a degree?