Harnessing the art in a spray can
When we went to London recently (see ‘an Afternoon in London‘) we took the District line which although part of the underground goes overground. As we went past various housing estates, factories and parks we saw a group of workmen painting a long stretch of wall in dark brown paint.
All along this stretch of the ‘outside’ underground has been visited by those lads with their spray cans. Some of it is decorative but much just vandalism in my mind. So, when I saw a wall being prepared like a blank canvas, I did comment to hubby that it seemed a little daft. I also said that if I were in charge of that wall, I would like to speak to the various ‘crews’ who daub the walls and give them a commission to produce some artwork. It could hold their tag (name of the artist) and would be seen by a great number of people travelling to and from the centre of London.
Imagine my surprise at the coincidence the following day when we walked into the centre of Bristol. This is what we saw!
This time it wasn’t workmen in high-vis vests but the artists themselves. This is a main thoroughfare and they clearly had been given permission to prepare it for art work. Further on we found the first masterpiece being created.
I have a fascination for street art. Maybe it is because I live in Bristol and we claim Banksy as ours. I don’t know. I wrote about the dilemma between art and trash HERE several years ago.
What do you think? Should we harness this talent and brighten some of our bland walls or should they be kept clean and fresh? I suspect if the latter, there will always be a battle with the boys and their cans!
In some more enlightened parts of town street art is valued. 🙂
I say let the artists at the blank walls. I love street art. I’ve always been saddened by the fantastic art the bad boys spray on walls because it’s in the wrong place and without permission. Must find a middle ground, like here. 😀
Totally agree Tess!
Yay. <3