The city of Ottawa wants to get rid of graffiti. War on graffiti, they’re calling it. I guess that’s because the war on drugs is going so well.
I really like graffiti, so this seems silly to me. If there’s all that money lying around that can be used to paint walls beige, why not buy a few buses with it instead?
On the other hand, painting the walls beige is like erasing the old graffiti so we can have new graffiti. Who wants to look at the same old graffiti all the time?
Here’s a wall on Somerset between Booth and Rochester. It used to have this fantastic face on it.
Then the city came around and erased it with their beige paint. But don’t worry, it’s renewing itself before our eyes.
I like the portrait up in the top corner. Maybe it’s not finished… doesn’t it need another eye?
And I’m thrilled that I got to see this guy in action. I don’t know what he’s doing. What is the OCR train? I’m sure all will be revaled in time.
That guy didn’t seem too worried about the war on graffiti. He had his lawn chair and his ladder and everything. At least one cop car went by while I was there, and it’s zero-tolerance week in Centretown, but they didn’t even stop. Maybe the cops don’t really want to fight the war on graffiti.
I like the renewal, but I have to say I miss the big face. I really liked it. Here’s another place where I posted a picture of it: Blue tears. And here: Fire, once more.
17 Comments
Maybe he was commissioned to do that? That’s what they did in Halifax as part of their war on graffiti — they hired artists to graffiti the walls that got graffitied the most. Apparantly amateur graffiti people are reluctant to graffiti professional graffiti.
I really enjoy your photos and your comments and I visit your site every day.Humankind painted (cave)walls since the beginning of time…..a habit, hard to break ,lol !!!
Graffiti is art and as you say it is always going to be renewed before our eyes .
XUP: Hmmm… good point. And maybe not a bad idea. I’d rather see good graffiti than bad graffiti.
An: Nice to hear from you!
Again I am afraid I find wooly thinking liberals running riot in Ottawa. The problem with graffiti is not that it defaces private property, it is that it is not for sale. Any activity in the brave new world “MUST” be of commercial value. If there is no commercial value then we have to have a war on it. The very act of war creates a value for the activity and therefore it is now a valid use of time.
If you ever wonder if something is good or evil there is only 1 question. Can a profit be made here? No profit = evil.
You’re welcome.
I heard there are “free walls” (like the one you photographed perhaps) where graffiti is allowed. But, I’m not sure if that is true. I saw this guy working the other day up on a ladder in broad daylight. A group of his buddies sat on chairs watching him create his mural. No one was watching out for cops so perhaps he was commissioned.
I distinguish between true graffiti artists and the tagging crap that is just used to vandalize. I enjoy the former but the latter is an affront to my senses. Tagging is illiterate and uninformed. Graffiti is a proud tradition.
In that sense, to me, what Halifax did (as per the previous comment) is a great idea. Give artists their canvas of choice and do more to crack down on feverish, thoughtless tagging.
Dave: You’re nuts :)
Ciaochow: Yes, I agree!
The OCR is the Ottawa Central Railway. That’s the company/group that owns a few of the railway lines in Ottawa (if you look at a printed map of the national capital region, the rail lines should be marked with who their owners are).
They also own the Walkley road rail yard where the O-Train is stored. They’re actually having an open house today (see http://www.octranspo.com/Whats_New/OCR_menuE.htm)
Thanks for the photos.
What a waste of talent and lack of respect for other people’s property! If your so called “Artists” are truly that “artistic” (few are) why hasn’t society embraced your Art? Why do we spend millions removing said art and repairing the damage these self styled rattle can Picasso’s commit. Why indeed!
The issue goes deeper to this and the previous generation’s basic lack of respect and common curiously for public spaces. These poor misguided youths who have been told they are special from day one, but who will one day find out they are all just like the rest of us only more rude than most. It’s all about ME! Sure!
To set the story straight…
The wall was not painted over by the city. They didn’t destroy that vintage peice of graff.
A new store took on the location (which had been vacant for a year or so)…and commissioned graff artists (like, Elroy/Barfoe and Sberks) to paint the wall. So they primed the wall (and sadly they painted over and destroyed that excellent historic Berzerker peice that was on the wall). I would have hoped that they could have worked around it an incorporated it into their new mural (as the old peice hadn’t been defaced or gone over at all)…
It’s a bit sad that new writers don’t have a lot of respect for the old masters…
The mural that they are putting up is an ad for the store (the store is going to be called The Layup…I think they’re going to be specializing in urban ware, graffiti supplies and I’d guess shoes [layups are a shoe brand]).
I’m waiting to see what the full finished peice….
Thanks John Smith!
John Smith is right about the store and yes it was infact commision for the Layup which will specialize in graffiti paint, and accessories, and vintage and hard to find kicks, the should be open for business now, and just to add the artist tried his best to incorporate the old design with his but there is no way it was going to work, no disrespect at all, sometime the old has to make way for the new.
and my mistake about the artists….I’ve been told it was Barfoe/Elroy, REDS, and Mopes…
I often see Barf tags with Sberks…so I thought they were doing it together…
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21488326890
its a new graffiti store in ottawa the reason the cops didnt stop him is becasue its someones store and they hirred him to do that therefore he is allowed
it was berzerker who did the far left, it was actually House who did the face. and yeah Barfoe, Red5 and i think mopes did the new one, which, yes, was legal and im guessing was a paid job
Thanks everyone for all your comments. Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I’d have to say that I prefer the original graffiti art: Blue tears. Too bad it got trashed.
so i just moved to ottawa and i have no clue where to get some paint and markers any one help me out????