Street art in the Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, by Mongolian born Australian Heesco (Khosnaran Khurelbaatar).
The graffiti is not by Heesco, but I like the contrast between the commissioned work and the graffiti. It raises for me, interesting questions about when graffiti becomes art??? I also like the brightness of the orange tag.
I have a personal opinion about this, and I don't shy away from controversy. Clearly, Heesco is an accomplished artist, and strolling past work like this makes the experience a pleasure. The "Tagging", while bold, is akin to tagging around the world, and lacks artistic significance beyond, "I was here...see me as something important." (In the Los Angeles area, there's so much tagging on everything, it's an eyesore and I see nothing beautiful about it...not to mention it defaces property that doesn't belong to them, and others have to clean up after them..."
I was being a little bit provocative in my comments as I also have strong feelings about graffiti. I often ponder the difference between street art and graffiti.
I quite like good street art which is more usually images done with permission and is often commissioned to enhance particular spaces or streetscapes. Graffiti is often more about lettering, and can be invasive and damaging of other people's property as well as visually intrusive and often an expression of urban grunge. Graffiti and tagging often offend me because both intrude on private and public spaces and are costly to individuals and cities to clean up.
This photo, to me, illustrates some of the differences between graffiti and street art (urban art, public art, murals). The orange graffiti is an artefact that I thought worked well in the photo, but in actuality an accomplished piece of street art has had its impact lessened by graffiti and tagging. I particularly dislike tagging, which to my mind is just random narcissistic spray painting.
I appreciate your comments. I think it is an interesting area of discussion in relation to photography because both street art and graffiti can make interesting and effective images. @Weezilou@ludwigsdiana
To me I see two styles one being street art by an accomplished artist and graffiti which in my eye is an eyesore. Interesting to read the narrative above.
Our walls look alike. It's hot now and everyone show yours body. And you can notice that the youth is also full of drawings, this time called tattoo. They don't like empty seats!
Usually, when we capture a street mural and although almost all of them are fantastic, in many photos they lack something that associates with the mural and completes the composition. Sometimes you can catch people passing by. Here you have captured in an excellent way the structures, the buildings, the environment.... Even the graffiti controversy, which so often disfigures buildings, and some people accept this as urban art. It is a heavy reality of many cities. Others no longer look at it. You got a good PoV of this reality, which you can't pretend doesn't exist, just because it's common.
Obviously a FAV
Thankyou so much for taking the time to comment and for the favourite. As I said above, I have been thinking a lot about this form of art and the controversies that swirl around it. I wanted this photo to show some of the tensions and conflicts, even in my own thinking about it. @antonios
I quite like good street art which is more usually images done with permission and is often commissioned to enhance particular spaces or streetscapes. Graffiti is often more about lettering, and can be invasive and damaging of other people's property as well as visually intrusive and often an expression of urban grunge. Graffiti and tagging often offend me because both intrude on private and public spaces and are costly to individuals and cities to clean up.
This photo, to me, illustrates some of the differences between graffiti and street art (urban art, public art, murals). The orange graffiti is an artefact that I thought worked well in the photo, but in actuality an accomplished piece of street art has had its impact lessened by graffiti and tagging. I particularly dislike tagging, which to my mind is just random narcissistic spray painting.
I appreciate your comments. I think it is an interesting area of discussion in relation to photography because both street art and graffiti can make interesting and effective images.
@Weezilou @ludwigsdiana
@tinley23 @cindymc
Obviously a FAV
@wakelys
At the moment, Melbourne is having a big cleanup of unwanted graffiti and tags because it increased so much during the long lockdowns here. @haskar
@yaorenliu