I really like graffiti. Each city's splodges are slightly different, as is the tacit deal the splodgers make with the municipal authorities regarding the boundaries of acceptable splodging spots. Because graffiti are not just random transgressive acts, there develops an unspoken etiquette between the graffiti artists and the authorities about where gets sprayed and what gets removed.
I am not referring here to the ramblings of miffed adolescents who feel the need to scrawl their angst on the nearest pristine surface, what I am talking about are illegal murals which have a bit of style and ambition about them. In Britain, apart from the much anticipated interventions by Banksy, most graffiti is only tolerated in abandoned, semi-derelict places or out of the way spots like underpasses. At the other end of the scale in cities like Naples and Palermo almost anything seems fair game other than churches, recognised historical monuments and major municipal buildings. Here in Valencia it's a kind of half way house. Like in the UK derelict and out of the way places are fair game.
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| Crumbling wall next to remote metro spot - fair game anywhere.. |
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| apart from some quasi-fascist state like Singapore or Saudi... |
As for Valencia centre, parts are pristine - like the City of Arts and Sciences - but the old city by near the university has become a graffiti zone. Here it seems graffiti is not simply tolerated, it is celebrated as part of the vibe of the city, exuding youthful energy and a healthy grunginess to offset the grandiose utopian vision of the City of Arts and Sciences.
It would be odd if a particular style if graffiti predominated, after all it's an art of individual expression and you would expect it to be eclectic.
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| urban humour |
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| neo-manga |
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| comic book |
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| quirky |
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| the surreal - gable of Italian restaurant consumed by pasta... |
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| cute |
It seemed to me though, if there was a trend it was towards psychedelia, particularly the strange mix of Sci-fi and Tolkien you used to get on prog rock album covers - think Yessongs, think Roger Dean.
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| Yay! Roger Dean, prog rock...lost youth... |
The perimeter wall of Valencia's Graphic Design College had been painted black to showcase the students' talents. The designs were cool, but in a sense once you begin to apply standards of taste and decorum to something scrawled on a wall, then it immediately morphs from being graffiti into a mural. Tasteful graffiti is a contradiction in terms, like a polite fart joke.
Thankfully the nearby bottle bank was covered in posters of dubious design. Standards of bad taste fully reasserted, the district maintained its designer stubble ambiance.
On that note, please explain to me how a hairdressers can be organic?
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