In which I quote Gothamist and the NYtimes

Gothamist responds to yesterdays NYtimes graffiti story. Also, "The Times reported that since the formation of the new unit, there's been a 20% increase in arrests, contributing to a 78% increase in graffiti-related crimes for 2004. Tools that the police will be using: A database to track graffiti crime patterns (especially targetting repeat and the top 100 offenders), infrared cameras, and a reward program that offers $500 to anyone who reports a graffiti incident that results in an arrest and conviction."

Back from Pennsylvania, covered in welts

Monday round up -

Dondi White S'mores

"Get One. Get the Set. Eat the Chocolate. Save the Wrapper.Ten legendary New York City graffiti artists including Blade, Crash, Crachee, Crime 79, Dondi, Dr. Revolt, Iz the Wiz, Lady Pink, Spar One and Voice of the Ghetto (Stay High 149) have created one-of a kind works transforming wrappers for an array of new candy bar of which a portion of the proceeds will benefit the All-Stars Project."

New Graffiti story from the New York Times

“A lot of these photographers think they are intrepid explorers discovering these guys in the inner city, making crazy statements like they are going to take them out of the ghetto,” said Stacey Richman, a lawyer representing Tats Cru and the other muralists. “But these guys are acclaimed artists in their own right. Just put their names into any search engine. They are world-renowned. They’ve lectured at M.I.T. and exhibited at the Smithsonian.”

ALOE (Staten Island) is back in Court again today.

Bedstuy Chimneys

Two Graffiti articles in the Washington Post in one day?
Washington Post - "Global positioning systems (GPS), digital photography and computer databases are joining the humble paint can as U.S. cities battle to obliterate graffiti and catch its shadowy perpetrators."

WashingtonPost - "They have names like Wisk, Revok, Panic and Oiler. They work mostly in the dark, often above six lanes of hurtling freeway traffic, and their spray-can creations sometimes last only a day."

From the "brilliant police work file" - "Navarro said he tied graffiti scrawled along Whittier Boulevard on April 25 to Carrillo because Carrillo used the same tagging name he scrawled when he was arrested the first time."

Croatian Graffti - "Ella Dvornik and Miso are having fun whilst Lonac concentrated on painting."

Jesus Saves

"Jesus Saves" puts in more work then almost any other writer. He is everywhere in NYC.

Freight yard in winter

SAPD gets night vision goggles to help battle graffiti

The person who purports to be the artist makes no mention of influences on his Flickr photo gallery, chock-full of images of listen bird graffiti, and real dead birds. Listen1's profile says simply: "I enjoy various forms of vandalism" and lists his occupation as "human being."

Signs of Youth involved with Tagging?

1) Most taggers become obsessed with graffiti and will often times have "Tag Books" that they carry with them at all times to practice perfecting their tagging skills.

2) The taggers will collect pictures of graffiti from all over and will often hang the pictures up in their bedrooms.

3) The tagger will write graffiti in their own room, including furniture, desk, walls and personal possessions.

4) Look for a change in appearance (clothing, hairstyle), friends and grades.

5) Taggers tend to go on "Bombing Raids" (Tagging expeditions) between the hours of 2am and 5am. They often get little if any sleep on those nights and will be extra tired during the day. Look for a change in their sleep patterns such as naps during the afternoon when they never used to nap before.

Tropical fantasy

The times up for MFONE, Police: Pittsburgh man may be nation's top graffiti vandal. 12OZ Prophet discusses...

From the "toys getting caught" file.

Another Graffiti documentary?? Next: A Primer on Urban Painting.

Dirty dirty mattress van

My wife and mother-in-law noticed a dark spot about the diameter of a pencil eraser in the center of the mattress. It was surrounded by a fainter ring a little smaller than a dime. It appears to be a menstral stain. We later noticed this whole thing was surrounded by yet another, fainter ring about a foot in diameter. My wife guessed that it was a water stain from when the tried to clean the mattress. There were also dark hairs on the mattress.

Another Video

Sorry about the lack of updates I have been a busy boy lately. Here is another video I made awhile ago.


There is a great graffiti lecture going on in LA tonight.


LAist has has some great graffiti news of late.

Rambo - First Blood

Flickr provides a forum for Irak Vs. Rambo beef.

More Rambo Flicks over at Robots will kill.

Article: Tagging Iraq: Samarra's graffiti war

Article: KEMI (Florida) is arrested.

Coney Island baby

There is a great article from Der Spiegel on murals in Baghdad. I have pretty mixed feeling about the whole thing. I am for safety, security, and non-violence. But I am pretty against walling off cities. There seems to be winners and losers whenever that is done. It also doesn't solve anything. It's a complicated issue.

I found the following passage a little worrisome -

One of the artists, Talib Muhsin, told Associated Press that the project had two goals: "We are trying to help Iraqis to coexist with these concrete barriers and accept them in their life as de facto and can't be moved -- at least for the time being," he said. And he added: "We Iraqi artists wanted to say that Iraqis are like other communities who love peace and want to get rid of this situation to live normal life."

Accepting barriers? My prediction, look for some anti-barrier graffiti soon.

Percept

Hey everyone,

So I am gearing up for some interviews with writers, graphic designers, and other assorted artists. Stay tuned...

In the News-

-Graffiti on the rise in Canada.

- Vandalism does not make you glamorous?

Saturday - Happy Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone.

Cinco de Mayo("The Fifth of May" in Spanish) is a national, but not federal, holiday in Mexico which is also widely celebrated in the United States. It commemorates the victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín over the French occupational forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

It is also "Free comic book day..'

Police beat protesters in L.A.

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.
Sinclair Lewis (1885 - 1951)

New Obama video

Monday Morning.

-An interesting article on ancient graffiti - "Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan!"

-"Brazenly using ladders and large rollers, the gang spent two days daubing a giant deformed child’s head and lizard across a rooftop wall in central Bristol. Several onlookers called police but were stunned when officers said they could not enter the building on safety grounds and they did not have the resources to stand and wait outside."

-"Reminiscent of Wooster Collective's 11 Spring project in New York City last year, the Kelburm Castle in Scotland is the next building in line to be covered in street art."

Monk - King of Queens

and more Monk flicks here.

clips obama

more clips

More Obama clips

Graff videos = Lazy Thursday

There have been a glut of graffiti documentaries lately. The latest edition is "Bomb it." The trailer doesn't have a embed code with it so you'll have to click through. It does have Cornbread and Obey in it, I don't know, I am kind of over the graffiti documentary movie.