Thursday, October 13, 2016
Blog post #3
Having never been exposed to a lot of street art, Detroit was an eye opener for me. Meeting the artist behind many famous murals and graffiti pieces was one of the highlights though. Fel3000ft's emotion behind his work and the journey that many graffiti writers and artists have gone through made me comprehend the graffiti culture much more than I ever have. What really interested me was the way that he developed from a kid with some cans of paint to a renowned muralist that gets to do paid commissions. Every kid whose graffiti and tags we may perceive as 'unsightly' now, has the potential to really make a difference, and progress farther than they could've ever imagined.
Graffiti is although undoubtedly still a controversial subject for me, I wouldn't like to imagine a world without people being able to 'interrupt' public space. We want to be heard, we want to provoke thought, and we want to feel pride in ourselves. Although the line is thin (often, invisible) between vandalism and art in this culture, it's ability to provoke dialogue and create movements is of much more importance. It's affect on people, whether it be the writer or the viewer, is immense. It provides people with a certain comfort of belonging and being seen, in a world which is so otherwise occupied and pays no heed.
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I have been comprehending the culture of graffiti more than ever, as well. You're also not the only one who still finds graffiti to be a controversial subject. Like most of our classmates, I find a lot of the murals, including Fel's works, to be "real" graffiti, graffiti that is visually wonderful. So much emotion and story can be found in murals like the ones we saw in Detroit. What I can't identify as real graffiti is tagging, especially tagging seen in what feels like random locations. I'm still forming my opinion as we talk about it more in class. But, as of now, I really can't comprehend the point of tagging. I've just seen so much of it on city walls, dumpsters, and trains that I have become accustomed to it and, up to this point, I never really bothered to question it.
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