Comments

1
If the city is filled with residents unhappy with rising rents and house prices, how exactly are you going to tease them with not being world class? I think they want to be a small town if it means they can afford to still live here. In my case, I don't feel like it matters what we do either way to influence whether we're called world class or not, or whether prices go up or down.

What I notice is how closely these taunts of not being a big tough gritty city are to taunts of not being a big tough manly man.

Calling out small town attitudes is not very much different than calling a guy a sissy. Just change a few words. The underlying machismo is the same. When I hear boasting about how graffiti doesn't scare you it sounds the same to me as boasting about the big long barrel on your big fat carry piece with its artful wooden grips [which is in no way a big fat penis substitute].

I like sissies. I like not being like the guys who carry big fat penis substitutes and I like it when big fat city urbanites say I don't measure up. I don't want to.
2
Seattle's "hatred" of graffiti shows tha
2
Charles, this has to be one of your dumber commentaries. You're free to welcome vandalism on the place where you live, but spare us the hipster attitude.
3
Seattle's "hatred" of graffiti shows that we respect the right of individuals, public and private institutions with respect to their property. And that we're not Mogadishu – yet.
4
If the graffiti artists approach the owner and obtain permission to create an art piece on her wall, then I am absolutely cool with this. It absolutely adds to urban life.

But you do not deface someone else's property without their permission. Even if you're the next Leonardo creating the next Mona Lisa. That's disrespectful of your neighbors and property owners are absolutely within their rights to get rid of your "art."
5
5Pointz is, rightfully, an internationally famous venue for street artists. Hell, I'm a 50 year old white guy and even I've gone there. I don't even like hip hop but I do appreciate art.

Celebrating actual outsider art is one thing. Putting up with obvious vandals is something else. Not understanding the difference shows a small mind. Not accommodating fools is part of living in a big city AND a small town.
6
Charles, the worker you observed was painting over graffiti because that's what property owners are required to do. Failure to timely remove graffiti can result in some pretty severe penalties.

You might want to familiarize yourself with Seattle's graffiti ordinance. It's been around for decades.

http://www.seattle.gov/util/EnvironmentC…
7
Charles, there's a difference between graffiti and tagging. Graffiti can be art but tagging is simply gang bangers lifting their legs to pee.
8
Taggers are just like male dogs, out marking their territory.
9
Tokyo is a world-class city with a general aversion to graffiti. Does that blow your mind?
10
No one should be surprised when their favorite pieces of graffiti are covered, scrubbed, or demolished. Outside of some historical significance, that's part of the deal.
11
Tagging is not graffiti. You need to get out of Seattle more often, Charles. Like go to Lisbon.
12
Respecting peoples' property is "old-school"? This is nonsense. If people want paintings on their houses, buildings etc. they'll put it there. Buildings are not canvases for dicks who just want to destroy shit. How about I tag your house/car/bike or whatever the hell you have compromised your communist ideals enough to own?

13
There are a lot of ways to be a “world-class” city. If I were to characterize the designation, I’d say it applies when an urban space reaches a certain size and desirability, and through the extreme variety of lives and experiences within it, takes on a life of its own. Some locations on the earth just become a place where masses congregate, and that energy sticks to that location in a way that rises and falls, but is always there in some very tangible capacity.

I’m reasonably sure that tolerance, or lack thereof, for graffiti, or tagging, or whatever, doesn’t fucking matter, however.
14
@13 To your definition, I'd also add that world-class cities don't fret over whether they are world-class cities. If you have to ask, then you're not.
15
So it's wrong for the construction worker to paint over what someone else painted on the owner's property? Because the idea of respecting private property is apparently "mundane?"

Where do these commie ideals at the Stranger come from? Every tagger deserves to have their face used as the canvass of the property owner who was victimized by the tagger. The movie "Colors" comes to mind.
16
Easily the most ridiculous thing I’ve read anywhere all year.

I even used to write graffiti in San Francisco (is that “world class” enough?) and nonetheless abhor graffiti unless in the right context- a “yard”/ legal wall, freight trains, corporate banks, etc.Its not appropriate and yes, IS (mostly) ugly as it’s usually just crappy tag bullshit.
Tagging is mostly for beginners that don’t know better yet- disrespecting others’ property.

And you should know the difference, Mr Big City man.
17
Blogger's ignorance of what street art actually is shows he is still a simple minded bumpkin.
18
Charles, I can show you cases (in Seattle) where taggers have tagged across alley murals when there is a bunch of blank walls nearby. Do you encourage such tagging?
19
My artwork involves breaking store windows and overturning garbage cans.

How dare you replace my art with new windows and garbage inside right-side up cans!
20
You’re a snob, Charles, and probably proudly so at that — but you’re neither talented or acclaimed enough to justify that snobbery.
21
Isn't that the same exact tag on the building facade behind the fence? Better grab a ladder and some beige spraypaint, dude.
22
I remember few years ago some tagger tagged a series of Native American murals at a Seattle school. Never found out who did it though.
23
Putting aside the obvious trolling of The Strangers readers, let's actually discuss this on its merits.
I suppose your reaching for something more than this shitty excuse for graffiti. A more open and accepting society perhaps? But graffiti is hardly the vehicle to bring us there. Consider that the tags you love are usually made by middle class white kids from the suburbs acting out. Ask the cops who've busted them and it's a pretty common profile. There really isn't a message in these tags and the artistic value is pretty much nil. The bubble letters may have been cutting edge nearly a half century ago in the Bronx, but now it's just a hollow echo being repeated by those who've coopted so much other original content to make it bland and annoying and completely lack any understanding of its original value. Is that what your world class city should have? A cheap gentrified copy of an old style with none of its original value?
24
Here in Vancouver the term “World Class City” has been thrown around since the 80’s an now you want to use it to elevate the stature of Seattle. It is a term used to convince mainstream individuals that they live in a city striving to be like NYC or London. Developers use this crass term to convince people that only they can create a city equivalent to citys like NYC. It means nothing, it just makes some peopke feel they live in an important place when they realy live in a follower city by using this term. Graffiti will not make you a great city. Vancouver BC has lots of it, it is a follower city. Its biggest fashion statment while slopping around downtown on a rain soaked day are UGGS, indoor slippers created in Australia. We can’t get any traction with home grown ideas because developers flogging the term “World Class City” keep eracing identity. Sooo we have borrowed fashion and also graffiti so we can pretend we are worthy, a “big city” a “ World Class City”. The spin is sucsessful. We think we have made it because we are passified with shopping for UGGS a heavy rotation of stale looking grafitti and Developers spinning us. Welcome to mediocrity now that you are throwing around the term “World Class” Charles.
The ironic thing about a place like Vancouver and even Seattle is the Vancouver based artist Richard Hambleton. In the 70’s he did a home grown graffitti on the streets of Vancouver and some in Seattle and being the follower cities we are we didn’t even recognize his form of street art and embrace it. He left for NYC and along with Keith Herring and Basquiat helped put graffiti on the map. He was shadow man.
We seem to be in awe of all the big development and businesses that promise sucess or having some borrowed urban art as a measure of acheivement but most of the time we are just stupid followers that can’t see we have or had unique amazing shit happening already that makes us great. Borrowing graffiti is not going to make you great, only home grown will. Take a look around you are great for other reasons. Stop using the words “World Class City” it is just spin, developer graffiti.
25
I don't know about Seattle but here in Minneapolis most graffiti is either some shitbag's name and/or gang members claiming their territory. Guess what, my home is already claimed territory. If you try to claim my territory I will shove that spray can up your ass. You want to paint shit? Paint your own shit. If you want to paint other people's shit then get their permission first. There are a lot of murals in our city. All you have to do is ask and if you're an artist, not just some shitbag tagger, there's a very good chance people will let you and maybe even pay you for it.

Graffiti make neighborhoods look shitty and they make regular folks feel unsafe. How are your Socialist values served by making the people around you feel shitty and endangered?

You're an ignorant, self righteous fuck Charles. You go ahead and invite all the taggers over to make your home look like shit all you want. Do it to my home and you'd better not let me catch you.
26
I rather like the various "grey squares" that get painted over graffiti like some sort of visual "patch" repairing spots where a bit of creativity came loose and got out of control. No two shades of grey exactly alike, each overlapping the others in archival layers, like some careless Mondrian in his "Grey Period".

I'll someday collect a large number of high quality photos of these "graffiti cover-ups" and then display them in a proper art showing. They are often peacefully, if chaotically, beautiful.

There used to be some really, really good ones on these warehouses just down by the water from Dexter. But those buildings are long gone now. Such is the temporary nature of ephemeral art effacement...
27
Graffiti is like dogs pissing on a fire hydrant. The only other ones who understand it are other dogs.
28
I'm going to guess that Charles Mudede's readership was down and he was out of new ideas, the remedy being to take a stupid position and pretend to defend it. Welcoming graffiti onto your street makes about as much sense as welcoming rats and rotten garbage into your house.

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