Graffiti? How do you see it?

On December 19 2008 13:04 drone wrote:
good graffiti that aims to be art looks awesome

can you post some of your work?

On December 19 2008 13:04 drone wrote:
good graffiti that aims to be art looks awesome

can you post some of your work?

On December 19 2008 13:11 ilistis wrote:


Exactly. I don't know why adults associate graffiti with hoodlums. Hoodlums don't even get close to doing anything creative except their gang name...lame.

On December 19 2008 13:30 gg_hertzz wrote:
so you paint on people's property without their permission? If you have permission it's okay, but calling something art doesn't mean you have the right.

On December 19 2008 13:23 iheartgna wrote:
Crateman!






Edit:

Also, to op, what method do you use, stencils?

On December 19 2008 13:30 gg_hertzz wrote:
so you paint on people's property without their permission? If you have permission it's okay, but calling something art doesn't mean you have the right.

On December 19 2008 18:28 mel_ee wrote:
wow that art is sick. Im always curious to how do you guys do this without getting caught? At night like ninjas?

On December 19 2008 18:28 mel_ee wrote:
wow that art is sick. Im always curious to how do you guys do this without getting caught? At night like ninjas?

On December 20 2008 01:10 Fen wrote:


Well you guys are losers.

The government is going to have to pay to have that sign cleaned. Therefore taking money from much more worthy places and increasing taxes.

Go get a life and try to amount to something other than trash, because painting over a street sign wont be something youll look back on where your older and be proud of.

Ive nothing against good graffiti art when permission is asked. Theres a tunnel near where I live with some awsome paintings in it. However you are just vandilising like an immature boy who thinks its cool.

On December 20 2008 01:10 Fen wrote:


Well you guys are losers.

The government is going to have to pay to have that sign cleaned. Therefore taking money from much more worthy places and increasing taxes.

Go get a life and try to amount to something other than trash, because painting over a street sign wont be something youll look back on where your older and be proud of.

Ive nothing against good graffiti art when permission is asked. Theres a tunnel near where I live with some awsome paintings in it. However you are just vandilising like an immature boy who thinks its cool.

On December 20 2008 05:43 D10 wrote:

So, id rather no one did it illegally, because it sucks to have a city where everything is fucked up

On December 20 2008 02:50 XDawn wrote:

Dude you just don't understand.

On December 20 2008 13:24 Fen wrote:


Yeah illegally destoying other peoples property is just a misunderstood field.

I understand fine. I think anyone who damages property that is not their own and thinks they are cool are losers. If someone graffiti'ed your stuff, you would be pissed. But its ok to go to it to others?

And Yes I think the op should go get a life. Your goal in life is to be a graffiti artist?

On December 20 2008 15:20 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:
lol dude as if you couldn't buy some piece of wood or something similar to practice with. Your just a fucking vandal and I hope you get caught and have to sell all your belongings to pay for cleansing and shit. Because I would prefer if my tax money is used to build a school to educate failures like u.

I understand fine. I think anyone who damages property that is not their own and thinks they are cool are losers. If someone graffiti'ed your stuff, you would be pissed. But its ok to go to it to others?

On December 20 2008 15:23 clazziquai wrote:
Shock that's SICK. Props to your friend, he's got balls.
I'd be sooooo damn scared hahaha.

But good grafiti like everyone said, is amazing.

On December 20 2008 17:28 ShoCkeyy wrote:
To do something like this on a train never knowing when they're going to come out and catch you is amazing.

On December 20 2008 15:19 XDawn wrote:


No I don't think so.

Why they do it on government property is to get their name out, to get famous within the scene.
With graffiti being one of the main elements of hip hop, along with emceeing, bboying, and DJing - it is an outlet for people for their creativity, stress, anything, etc. Expressing oneself. While some may do it 'just to impress', many do it to express ones opinions, views or feelings. (weather it'd be rebelling or supporting)
I know from another point of view they should just not do it, let the gov't spend money on something useful and whatnot but if not, it's just wasted talent. You work hard and master your craft and passion (whatever that may be) but if you can't get known for it (or somebody claims it's their own thing), then all the time you spent would be meaningless.

It's a topic that can be argued endlessly though.

On December 20 2008 22:27 NoobsOfWrath wrote:


lol uh no it can't

ya dudez i went to japanz i trained in da ninja wayz, how i get my name out if i don't throw throwing starz at policeman???

That's the dumbest fucking argument ever. Don't try to paint this shit as something it isn't. You're illegally painting over legitimate huge fucking highway signs that's gonna fuck up a bunch of people who don't know the area and cost the government thousands of dollars to repair and fix. Go graffitti somewhere where it isn't gonna fuck with other people, express it there douchebag, nobody but your other loser douchebag friends are gonna think it's sick or a form of expression. The side of a train car, the side of a bridge, that kind of shit is fine because the government does not HAVE to pay money to get it fixed. Painting over street signs is just plain old vandalism and is no different than me taking a sledgehammer and smashing it, because the end result of either is that the sign is now useless and unreadable. Yea I can take a shit in the middle of the street and call it a form of expression. Go express yourself somewhere else.

Also don't make the title of your blog "WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT" and then be a little bitch to everyone who says they don't like it.

On December 20 2008 21:10 Trumpet wrote:


Any claim of doing this for the art is lost right there.

On December 20 2008 17:17 ShoCkeyy wrote:



I really wouldn't be pissed, because it's art. With out art this world would be a shit hole.

On December 21 2008 01:34 Fen wrote:


Your arguments hold even less weight when you lie

There is no way in hell if you woke up one morning to some guy spray painting your car you would be cool with it.

On December 20 2008 01:27 ShoCkeyy wrote:


Well, I didn't say I did that? Don't go off doing a tl;dr bullshit here. Because apparently you didn't read when I said "My friends." Besides if you knew anything about the graffiti scene, every graffiti artist has done this. It's a way to gain respect and fame. I usually do billboards, walls, freights and legal walls. Besides most of good graffiti art comes from illegal graffiti. How do you think you start? By playing with your balls then going and tagging up a legal wall? No... In order to even do a legal wall you have to be good; Really good and to get to that point you have to be doing things you shouldn't.

It's also funny how you tell me to get a life when you're the one that's trying to start a problem on a forum. So don't talk about something you never will know or understand and don't go off telling people to get a life, because it just proves you might not have one yourself.

On December 20 2008 15:19 XDawn wrote:


No I don't think so.

Why they do it on government property is to get their name out, to get famous within the scene.
With graffiti being one of the main elements of hip hop, along with emceeing, bboying, and DJing - it is an outlet for people for their creativity, stress, anything, etc. Expressing oneself. While some may do it 'just to impress', many do it to express ones opinions, views or feelings. (weather it'd be rebelling or supporting)
I know from another point of view they should just not do it, let the gov't spend money on something useful and whatnot but if not, it's just wasted talent. You work hard and master your craft and passion (whatever that may be) but if you can't get known for it (or somebody claims it's their own thing), then all the time you spent would be meaningless.

It's a topic that can be argued endlessly though.

On December 21 2008 00:56 ShoCkeyy wrote:


No, because you have a certain time limit to do it. You have to try to do your best work before they come out and notice you're there. That is why I say illegal bombing is the best form of graffiti, cause that's when you're true graffiti artist shows. That's when amazing art is born.

On December 21 2008 02:20 Trumpet wrote:


So the stated message is that true art has a time limit and that masterpieces which take years to complete are lesser works, at least in this specific realm of art otherwise known as vandalism.

The underlying message is that graffiti is only in its true artistic form when vandalizing something people actually care about, which is why you're on a time limit.

I'm having an increasingly harder time seeing the art behind the vandalism and a much easier time seeing the thrill-seeking vandal.

Art is definitely open to interpretation until being an artist and abiding by the law become mutually exclusive.

On December 21 2008 02:49 ShoCkeyy wrote:


I'm not saying that art that takes years isn't lesser art. The problem with legal walls is that some one with not a whole lot of skill in graffiti can make a masterpiece cause he has time and is able to decide what he wants to do with it. When you're on a time scheduled, that's when you actually try to do your best to prove that you were able to make something so great within 40mins tops. That's when another graffiti artist can say "wow this guy is amazing"

On December 21 2008 01:46 ShoCkeyy wrote:


My car does actually have spray paint on it, but i did it myself. Besides we're not that fucked up. We only do cars when they're abandoned. Like I said, learn about the graffiti scene before you take your head out of your own ass and talk shit.

On December 21 2008 11:08 Fen wrote:


You miss the point. Looks like ill have to write it out nice and clear for you.

If someone came along and started damaging your property, and claimed "Im expressing myself" you would NOT be cool with it. Yet this is EXACTLY what you are doing to others.

Anyone who thinks its ok to destroy other people's property is a loser. You are one of them.

EDIT: Also, that sign would have cost more than your car to replace. So yes you are that fucked up if you support the losers who did that.

On December 21 2008 11:08 Fen wrote:


You miss the point. Looks like ill have to write it out nice and clear for you.

If someone came along and started damaging your property, and claimed "Im expressing myself" you would NOT be cool with it. Yet this is EXACTLY what you are doing to others.

Anyone who thinks its ok to destroy other people's property is a loser. You are one of them.

EDIT: Also, that sign would have cost more than your car to replace. So yes you are that fucked up if you support the losers who did that.

On December 22 2008 04:31 D10 wrote:
You might be an artist amongst other vandals, but amonst society you are just trashing public property.

Nothing can really be that great if it inflicts pain on others, and I bet, that the thousands of people that wake up every morning to see theyr houses/shops graffited, are not happy, they dont look at theyr doors and say "wow thats such a piece of art"

If you are gonna "express yourself" in my property, take your fucking time and do something great, because claiming that a time limit makes you a better artist just means you dont want to risk getting arrested for it, you wont sacrifice yourself for your art, you are a poser.

On December 22 2008 03:09 ShoCkeyy wrote:


First of all, you don't know me so you can't say I wouldn't care. Which I don't if some one did it to me. First reason is 'cause I do it myself, it's called Karma. I know it will come back to me. Another thing, I'm an artist. If some one wants to express themselves on my car, go ahead.

I know it's not ok to destroy some one's property but what other choice do we have?

Also the sign got replaced within the next day so stfu. It didn't even get replaced they just removed the paint. There is liquids that can remove paint instantly that cost about 10$ in the store. Now quit your bitching.

On December 20 2008 17:17 ShoCkeyy wrote:


Failure? Funny how you're able to start judging with out knowing some one. First of all I'm actually in my 4th year of university and I'm studying Graphic Design. It's also funny that you say to "educate failures like me" because all I see is broken grammar and horrible spelling errors. Also a piece of wood isn't big enough to practice on; maybe just for throw ups and tags but that's about it.



I really wouldn't be pissed, because it's art. With out art this world would be a shit hole.

Everyone thinks graffiti is some form of gang shit when it's not. Probably gangs use graffiti to mark territory but not us graffiti artist. We use it to just express ourselves in the best way possible; it's our way of art. Illegal or not Illegal, it doesn't matter. We will express ourselves either way.

On December 22 2008 10:29 ShoCkeyy wrote:
Like I said in the beginning G.R.A.F.F said Gonna Risk All For Fame.

On December 21 2008 02:20 Trumpet wrote:
Art is definitely open to interpretation until being an artist and abiding by the law become mutually exclusive.

On December 23 2008 05:22 ShoCkeyy wrote:
None of you guys understand what graffiti is and never will until you actually put yourself into the "scene" of it.

On December 23 2008 02:28 KizZBG wrote:
I don't mind graffiti, as long as they are in similar quality to these:

..removed pics...

On December 23 2008 17:42 CharlieMurphy wrote:


PS- Shockey, why the fuck would you come on a 'nerd' forum and expect people to not argue at you? Are you a huge toy? Are those really even your friends in the video?

On December 24 2008 07:19 ShoCkeyy wrote:


Actually I just came on to see what people thought, lol. I knew there was going to be people arguing with me, and like I said, they wouldn't understand about the graffiti scene. Also, Yes they're my friends. Going to an art school, you meet a lot of taggers, bombers, what ever you want. I myself don't have a camera (Well I do on my phone but it doesn't have internet atm to send my pictures) so I can't upload photos.

On December 23 2008 05:22 ShoCkeyy wrote:
None of you guys understand what graffiti is and never will until you actually put yourself into the "scene" of it.

On December 24 2008 10:20 CharlieMurphy wrote:
u dont need internet on ur phone just send a text message to ur online email. takes 2 seconds

On December 24 2008 10:52 thedeadhaji wrote:
it's you that needs to understand why the vast majority of the population does not see grafitti favorably.

On December 24 2008 11:02 XDawn wrote:


and lots of money LOL

On December 24 2008 18:55 Bockit wrote:
I did a 3 minute film montage on graffiti in Sydney with a friend for one of my electives. I've always appreciated awesome graffiti and this just reinforced it for me. I have a bunch of pictures on my other comp I can probably upload some later (None of this is my work, just stuff I took). You'll find some suburbs will embrace graffiti, like, it seemed as if they were aiming in this one place to have every street lined with graffiti and they were systematically working through all possible walls.

If I was to draw a stereotype, it's the suburbs where musos, uni students just getting by and generally artsy/alternate people live where graffiti seems to be the most prevalent/accepted (at least in Sydney).

I make the distinction between graffiti art and tagging. Tagging I have an issue with because I don't see it as artful really.. it's just spraying a signature on something and it usually looks like crap (Maybe you guys have a different definition to me). I can accept the idea that all the artists start as taggers, but I wonder if it's not possible to train up on legal walls, if your'e willing to have your stuff covered over pretty quickly I don't get why this wouldn't work. Unless you don't have many legal places to do it, I know Sydney has a fair few.

I also think graffiti-ing highway signs, as in the ones which tell people what lanes they need to be in to go to their destination has a degree of malevolence that's not really necessary. There are hundreds of other places you could be doing it.

On December 24 2008 18:55 Bockit wrote:
I did a 3 minute film montage on graffiti in Sydney with a friend for one of my electives. I've always appreciated awesome graffiti and this just reinforced it for me. I have a bunch of pictures on my other comp I can probably upload some later (None of this is my work, just stuff I took). You'll find some suburbs will embrace graffiti, like, it seemed as if they were aiming in this one place to have every street lined with graffiti and they were systematically working through all possible walls.

If I was to draw a stereotype, it's the suburbs where musos, uni students just getting by and generally artsy/alternate people live where graffiti seems to be the most prevalent/accepted (at least in Sydney).

I make the distinction between graffiti art and tagging. Tagging I have an issue with because I don't see it as artful really.. it's just spraying a signature on something and it usually looks like crap (Maybe you guys have a different definition to me). I can accept the idea that all the artists start as taggers, but I wonder if it's not possible to train up on legal walls, if your'e willing to have your stuff covered over pretty quickly I don't get why this wouldn't work. Unless you don't have many legal places to do it, I know Sydney has a fair few.

I also think graffiti-ing highway signs, as in the ones which tell people what lanes they need to be in to go to their destination has a degree of malevolence that's not really necessary. There are hundreds of other places you could be doing it.

On December 25 2008 01:41 ShoCkeyy wrote:


The highway sign thing is just a way to get your name out in the graffiti scene. When people hear about you doing that, it's just like a way that you earn respect because you really risked a lot just to do it.

On December 25 2008 01:55 inReacH wrote:


Do it on a fucking police stations door or something, a highway sign means you are literally fucking over potentially thousands of people.

Your the one who doesn't understand, not the other way around.

Highway sign is one of the worst places I can think of doing it, it's worse than someones car.

On December 19 2008 13:11 ilistis wrote:


Exactly. I don't know why adults associate graffiti with hoodlums. Hoodlums don't even get close to doing anything creative except their gang name...lame.

On December 25 2008 01:41 ShoCkeyy wrote:

The highway sign thing is just a way to get your name out in the graffiti scene. When people hear about you doing that, it's just like a way that you earn respect because you really risked a lot just to do it.

On December 26 2008 00:33 .MistiK wrote:


you should all just play MMORPGs. you become the highest level player with the best equipment to get your name out on the rankings. when people hear about you doing that, it's just like a way that you earn respect because you really wasted a lot of time just to get there.

On December 23 2008 17:42 CharlieMurphy wrote:

you think people can just come out and throw down some crazy shit like that? They have to learn somehow/somewhere. You can't say you like 'good' graffiti and then say you hate 'tagger' graffiti. Everyone of those pieces' artists started as a tagger. Its either you like it or you don't. You gotta take the good with the bad or nothing at all.

On December 26 2008 14:21 ShoCkeyy wrote:


Lol but in mmorpgs you dont leave a mark in society like you do with graffiti, that and you actually make a living off graffiti.

On December 26 2008 14:49 LosingID8 wrote:

i find this a very very weak argument. they could have practiced on the side of their house over and over if they wanted to get "better".

btw i know you were referring to tagger vs amazing stuff, but i mean just in general, when people say "you have to start small and tag everywhere etc etc" that's just a really lame and weak excuse.

On December 24 2008 14:27 ShoCkeyy wrote:


AND I was trying to show you guys the way we see it, but everyone is pretty stubborn.

On December 26 2008 16:05 ShoCkeyy wrote:


ACtually the side of your house isn't the same at all. Especially in big cities, like in miami. No one owns a house here anymore, so they can't really do it.

OH and another time I was in walgreens, I was like 8yrs old at the time pokemon came out. They had like 13packs there and I grabbed them all and went and opened them while I was walking and stuffed them into my pocket then i dropped all the packets and started walking out...

people go and beat on homeless all the time lol...we usually buy sokkum boppers or w/e they're called and beat them with that :O and late at night we use eggs. but i havent done this since i got caught by police....but we did it to bums we knew so we never really got into much trouble ;o also like i understand doing what i do it doesnt really hurt them O-o...they usually eat the eggs we throw...but still beating them with rocks and bats and shit

On December 25 2008 08:47 ShoCkeyy wrote:


No cause on a highway sign, everyone sees it. You want everyone to see your work. Like this: These guys are the best graffiti artist in Miami. They have been around since the 90's.

On December 25 2008 12:16 GearitUP wrote:
This is in an alley in height street in san francisco on the side of amoeba music store its awesome you walk into the alley and on every wall every piece is covered

On December 27 2008 06:13 Falcynn wrote:
One of my friends told me about this British graffiti artist Banksy, and some of his work is actually pretty cool.

Here's some of the stuff he made on the Israeli West Bank barrier.
+ Show Spoiler +

On December 27 2008 07:59 Chef wrote:

This is actually really, really cool (and hey, what a fucking shock that an actually talented artist didn't make his name the centrepiece of his work ^^). It also makes sense to use this kind of medium for his work, since it would not be as effective otherwise (unlike so many other works posted in this thread, which don't even contain anymore artistic talent than the doodles of a comic strip).