Three Meditations in Marker

Rainbow of ribbons on a fence atop Montreal

I'm beginning to think that the category of "graffiti" includes more than the traditional painted tag. It could include yarn bombing,or ribbons tied to a fence as I once found in Montreal. Or it might even be a bizarre mobile made from doll parts - an image you'll see in an upcoming post.

But perhaps the simplest graffiti is written with a marker on a suitable surface as in the image below. These three sets of marker wisdom may have been written by the same person, but each could represent a separate philosophical statement. 

"HE LOVES YOU" is written beside an inverted pentagram with a goat's head inside that some read as the symbol of the Devil, or possibly the symbol of Baphomet. Hell or no, everybody knows that the Devil throws the better party and is most interested in our pursuit of pleasure and happiness - now that's love. Though the two characters are not equivalent, the phrase echoes the "Jesus Loves You" slogan so prevalent in Christianity. Recent photos however indicate that perhaps Jesus definitely does NOT love you. 

"WHO ARE YOU? WHO AM I?" is as existential as it comes and raises the question of identity - something we often take for granted. Recent news reports indicate that the human body, the personal "I" we think of ourselves as being, an integral, single, human unit is actually a teeming community of microbes and plenty of DNA that isn't even human. 

"LiFE'S A RIDE SO ENJOY" could be the Devil's advice, but it also seems like wise advice to celebrate life while you have it - before your ride is over (and who knows when that will be?).

borf?

Just a short entry today....

I took this picture several years ago on the walkway beneath the Lee Bridge. It's grey color gave it a subliminal feel, not immediately noticeable. Most significant however is the message in the cryptic statement - took me a lap around Belle Isle to figure it out (a bit slow).

Good advice, no?

Originally I thought "borf" was just the name of the tagger, but then Wikipedia expanded my understanding (oh, heresy!).

Graffiti Posters & Re-purposing Junk Mail

I may be expanding the definition of "graffiti" a bit when I include creative, non-commercial posters pasted up, not unlike what Shepard Fairey does with some of his potent designs.

Earlier this summer of 2013 I saw a set of traditionally printed posters with intriguing images pasted on the Northbank Park stairway:

I couldn't find much about the phrases on the poster "undisturbed conscience" and "the revolution has begun" but a Google search of "undisturbed conscience" brought up a flag-like image with the strange sigil in the upper left and the text of the First Amendment written on the white stripes...a tea party group? The sigil looks slightly fascistic to me, but I could be wrong.

The homemade poster below is cut from junk mail advertising and then decorated with paint and marker, perhaps a parody of consumer culture or a spoof on the fact that we all subsidize the junk mail we despise.

And there were other faces and posters pasted on the stairs...

         

Though I still don't know the origin of the "Undisturbed Conscience" posters, the corner of one that was ripped down wins my heart with it's image of Edgar Allan Poe with a halo...

Always a relevant reminder...

A good friend of mine contributed this image from a design he saw on a rock near Belle Isle. At first, it looked to me like a small design, maybe 7" across, but the other day when I was walking on the rocks on the south side of the island, I saw it and it's much bigger, more like three feet across. I think it's still there, so if you like it, go snap a pic.

What a beautiful, personal tribute, however hidden and temporary. Hand painted in six colors, it seems a memorial to "Rest In Peace" for someone named "BO", letters that could also be initials. The eyes of the flying skull look compassionate but the mouth grimly determined. It symbolizes the death of BO but also reminds us of our own death as it evokes the classic image of the flying hourglass, an ever-relevant reminder of the swift passing of time: tempus fugit - time flies. 

The first time I saw the flying hourglass image was on a tombstone somewhere. When I started getting tattoos in my late 20's that was one of the first I wanted. It is a reminder that always inspires to to enjoy today, to revel in the the fellowship of family & friends and bask in the pleasures of the body rather than be distracted by temptations of greed and ego.

In Hollywood Cemetery, there's a great flying hourglass image in the pediment

over the door of the Lewis Ginter Mausoleum.

When we are young, often it seems to D R A G on and onnnn but as we get older, it seems to pass more swiftly. Time as a system of measurement may be fixed, but human experience of time varies widely. This concept is explored in the famous short story "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce and the story was adapted to film by Robert Enrico and won and award at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.

So, what's the point? 

Getting focused on getting the most out of life & giving of ourselves while we still can.

Being human. Being loving. Being enthusiastic. Being. Being here, NOW.

It may seem like a grim reminder, but it might rescue us from wasting our lives by living someone else's script and then suddenly waking up at 40 with a mid-life crisis over a misdirected life that we try to solve with a sports car - by then it's too late.

At first, I saw "Live with No Regrets" which can be read as a statement of defiance, but then I noticed the heart suggesting to me that with love, pointless selfishness can be avoided while the body & spirit can be fully and delightfully engaged.  

It can also be deeply wise advice - to live in a way that is honest and full and bold. 

Live so we do not regret missing the many delightful experiences life offers us. 

Live so we do not regret not having done something we wanted.

Live so we do not regret having treated others badly.

ambiguous relevance & random acts of art

A recent marker graffito on the stairway at Northbank park is not immediately clear, in fact, I don't understand it at all. "Where is your God now that clouds attack?" At first, it seems to make an oblique reference to the recent natural & nuclear disasters in Japan with clouds of radioactive material irradiating the populace....but now I'm not so sure. 

If this is what it means, then why the "God" reference? The Japanese are not especially associated with religion or Western concepts of deity. Is it some kind of Zen koan?

Further downstream, there are the remnants of a wooden platform, incomplete probably because the builders didn't realize they were building next to a dense mat of poison ivy. On the 4x4 posts, some local artists left us the following gifts...

                

BANKSY: Graffiti & The Academy Awards

The above image is not one I found in Richmond, it is a copy of one the designs by the elusive Banksy, an internationally known graffiti artist.  Just google his name and check the images link. Though this is not one of his stencils, a touch of his influence can be seen in a "tryptich" of images I featured in an earlier blog post.

What is most interesting about Banksy's work is that it is low-tech & low-cost yet has an international reputation. Though this is partly due to the ease of spreading images via the Web, part of his popularity is the resonance his images have with those who see them. 

Clearly these are thoughtful, politically significant designs. And the one below puts the "graffiti wars" in a larger anthropological context...imagine graffiti removal at Lascaux!

Most recently, Banksy has expanded the media of his visual expressions with a 5:15 minute documentary video Exit Through the Gift Shop (below) that has been nominated for the Academy Awards according to the NPR story "Shenanigans Are What He Does: Is Banksy Gunning For An Oscar?"

But what will happen if graffiti goes mainstream?

Wall of Shame, Seat of Fame

From time to time, I may post a "wall of shame" to mock the stupid, bigoted, hateful or otherwise mean-spirited graffiti we all see in too many places. 
Such sentiments are not only ignorant and ugly, they give graffiti a bad name. 
And besides, isn't there enough pointless rancor in the world?

 

Hemp Korn sucks dick? 

Probably not, but if so, so what?
(what is "hemp korn" anyway? can I get it at the movies?) 

And poor grammar doesn't make them look any better....it looks bad but it sounds much worse....can't you just hear the "duh" in the phrase "is a ugly bitch?"

In stark contrast to the nasty git-wit graffiti above, behold 

The Seat of Fame constructed by unknown evolved beings...

Just when I thought folks didn't hang out in the woods anymore, I came across a delightful little campfire spot built by unknown friends and freely offered to anyone who encounters it with the simple and reasonable request:

"DON'T FUCK THIS UP"  

"PACK OUT YOUR TRASH"

 

Maybe I'm reading too much into this spot, but when I found it, the economic concept of "the gift economy" came to mind. While this concept seems new since it is often applied to the galaxy of useful freeware programs designed and distributed on the Web, the gift economy is actually an ancient and powerful practice. In spite of the dogma of corporate propaganda, not everyone is motivated by greed - some people share freely. 

This freely offered hospitable circle invites a casual conversation around the fire, sharing a refreshing bowl of friendship and the joy of laughter and storytelling - powerful and ancient human traditions that clearly continue today. What some might see as a vandal's nest may actually be the work of cultural creatives who would rather circle 'round the fire than cruise around the mall.