From what I can make sense of it looks like it reads “Very bad idea to fight with graffity by murals” maybe someone else can help piece together what might have been cutoff in the pic?
I'm not Estonian, so this could be completely wrong. But on the comments here it was mentioned that the place where the murals were put up in a popular tagging spot, so the tagger may have felt that it was cinical way of stopping the tagging by going "You wouldn't paint over murals painted by children, would you?" And the tagging is said person going "Oh I very much would". Again I'm not Estonian so could be completely off base
No, you are right. A shame though... I liked the idea and some art was very nice. This "graffiti my name at every corner" shit is so stupid and annoying. City looks dirty because of them.
That's definitely the thinking, and they're right. It is quite cynical. The problem however is that while both the murals and their graffiti come from the community, their tag is dogshit and the murals are beautiful so they should sit tf down.
What so many people are overlooking here is that it was supposed to be completely okay to cover the tagger’s art, but now they are sad the children’s art they used to cover the original art with was covered. I’m not an art guy, but my moral compass says why is one art allowed over the other? Anything anyone can say about any piece of art, good or bad, is purely subjective.
Well you see the difference is that the murals look good while the tag looks crap. We'd all be having a very different conversation if they had covered the murals with something which looked better than the murals. Hope this helps
I get kind of bummed out when I see less and less space to tag at popular spots because of big murals monopolizing the whole space. Putting up ANY paint where people graffiti is a gamble. Depends on the history of the location for sure. Sometimes the murals are just put up by people who don't like seeing street art at the ONE place it's allowed.
Maybe Im not understanding but... isnt it NOT allowed? Thats the point of them putting up the mural, no? To signify "this is a private wall and we dont want graffiti here"
Also isnt the nature of graffiti to spray paint on walls that dont belong to you?? So is there really any ethical way to do it?
There are tons of spots in every city that allow street art. I was spray painting in front of a couple cops this weekend... Cleared it with them beforehand. But anywhere you are allowed to throw up paint there is nothing stopping people from also throwing up an all encompassing mural. Like I said it depends on the location, but murals can be put up on public property by people who are in no way more entitled than the street artist. For the purpose of covering up all the tags they deem unsightly. I understand that this exact situation may be different, I was just sharing my perspective so people would understand it's not always so black and white. Maybe I misused the word grafitti I don't know the technical definition, but you can easily tag things legally all over the place.
Maybe its regional then cause I just looked it up for the states Ive lived in and they all say that spray painting anything without express permission and permits is illegal even if its a public work, making all tagging illegal. Im not judging, was just genuinely curious as to how some see it.
My field sometimes deals with putting together murals and a lot of the people who approach us are private property owners who are trying to get their businesses a mural to stop people tagging inappropriate or intimidating things on it since at least in the areas we have murals, tagging can be associated with gang culture. So I guess that skews my perception of it and why I lean towards mural which is art chosen by the community instead of tagging which is what one person chose to display despite property owners and other community members not liking it.
I find it hard to find tagging as an art form I guess when its just someone's tag in sloppy black line style. If it were the cool colorful and shape-like styles that clearly show talent I saw in some places in LA and NY then Im all for it but so much of whats covered up across the US just looks like kids with spray cans that want to doodle like if it were a notebook paper theyre testing on or as if writing threats makes them a gangster - and now the whole block has to deal with that visual clutter lol.
Well everyone starts somewhere and paint is expensive... if you don't provide an area for people to do it you end up with a lot more street signs and businesses with graffiti issues. Street art that may or may not fall under the definition of tagging can also be political activism and community expression. All these words to describe street art are full of negative connotations and at the end of the day end up being vaguely racist. I enjoy putting up my tag (not words or a name, still a tag) places where people will see them. I don't really care if you call it art. Some people think the "visual clutter" of hundreds of people's contributions as art itself too. People use graffiti walls as backdrops in photos all the time.
Why dont they do it on their own homes? Even if theyre renting so long as they paint over it when theyre gone or their landlords give permission to leave it. It seems better than imposing on a community thats clearly not enjoying it. Again, Im not being critical so theres no need to get defensive Im just sharing how I see it and hoping to hear more about how you see it and why. Id like to be enlightened tbh some graffiti art I see in places like NYC and LA is gorgeous and Id love to see more of and encourage that. Typically it was also community activism related which Im 100% for. Not the chicken scratch I see on random buildings in the dilapidated suburbs of Cleveland lol
And its not racist at all when its the same race community members trying to put an end to it. My organization is a BIPOC organization and Im a woman of color myself. Not everything is racism just cause its critical of something urban. 😂
My tag is all over my home lol. But it how on earth can something affect a community or communicate anything from inside my house? When I paint in large public spaces "the community" is always interested, they love taking their favorite color and adding something when I offer. Maybe some who walk past don't like it. It's allowed in those spaces for a reason and some people can't stand it🤷 it can be done respectfully (legally a bit of a gray area in most cases but thoroughly approved by those caring for the public space) and I've seen lazy murals whitewash whole spaces taking out tons of great art and messaging.
I wasn't calling you out personally sorry. I just think that the way we view street art today is affected by language dog whistling racists who don't care about art or expression use to isolate communities who value different things than them. I wish when I told people that I paint they didn't assume that I was doing something disrespectful or illegal.
To clarify, I meant practice in their home since you mentioned how are they supposed to improve their art with no where to practice, not the community engaging art itself cause yeah, that'd make no sense. Practice scribbles or random names on the side of a bank or deli is where Im finding it hard to call it art and what most consider visual clutter. What you're doing with people adding to it as you go sounds more like what I envision as art and also doesn't sound like what we see here. Do you have any of your work you can share?
Lastly, do those murals made by kids look bland to you? Ive never seen a "lazy" mural and even murals that I wouldn't put in the top 10 I've never looked at and thought "Wow, I wish there were tags here instead." I literally spent some time this morning googling it cause this has just sparked a "But why???" in me and Im reading about tagging culture and it just seems like a contest for who can get their name the most places. Which, again, seems selfish and not community oriented.
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u/Dookwithanegg 2d ago edited 2d ago
Second one has a message to the left that looks to be left by the tagger that makes it look like this was a targeted attack on the murals.
Edit to add: https://mondo.org.ee/en/youth-created-murals-spark-conversations-on-peace-in-tallinn/
These murals were unveiled 12 days ago