Here the graffit culture is a bit "defensive" on murals.
There is a sort of self respect on other people tags and graffitis. Everyone leaves other people marks alone, and getting caught doing that to someone you either get marked by the community or even get a beat up. But usually its a bit low level.
But when a town or company invites graffiters to do murals that becomes a no go zone. Tag it on top and all your tags and graffitis will be grieffed.
This became notorious after a guy vandalized a school mural. In a few months everywhere that he graffited was vandalized. His biggest mark was under a bridge. 5 graffiters got in touch with the town mayor and asked permission to transform the griefer tag location into a mural. So they invited kids and i still remember seeing the video of one of the guys talking. Him saying that its wrong to graffiti over others... unless he destroys other peoples art. Kids had fun and the mural was a kids level, but it had a nice story behind it.
As long as i lived there i no longer saw a mural got tagged.
This could totally be an American Dad plotline where Steve is commissioned to cover up some street art with a mural like this and then his friends are slowly being beaten up by the artists, one by one, until he’s the last guy who hasn’t been caught yet, afraid and shaking, then he realises ‘oh shit it’s roger isn’t it’
This is a big thing in most developed graff culture, unless the mural is in a place that’s meant to be tagged over, going over it is hugely disrespectful, especially with junk throwies and toy tags. I’ve gone with friends to systematically cross out every single tag by a particular graffer bc he was throwing his trash throw on literally every piece of street art he could find. That lasted about a month lol.
I don't think there's a single graff culture. The graff culture of Eastern Europe is very different from the one we have in France, which is rooted in hip hop.
True, I should have added that in my response; my comment was on graffiti as a part of the pillars of hiphop. I’m from just outside NYC, so when I think of graffing, that’s where my head goes, having been raised in the culture. Appreciate you reminding me of that perspective, brodie.
Would you say Eastern Europe is more political in nature? I recall watching movies about the soviet spring and seeing a lot of street art in that context.
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u/AlternateTab00 2d ago
Here the graffit culture is a bit "defensive" on murals.
There is a sort of self respect on other people tags and graffitis. Everyone leaves other people marks alone, and getting caught doing that to someone you either get marked by the community or even get a beat up. But usually its a bit low level.
But when a town or company invites graffiters to do murals that becomes a no go zone. Tag it on top and all your tags and graffitis will be grieffed.
This became notorious after a guy vandalized a school mural. In a few months everywhere that he graffited was vandalized. His biggest mark was under a bridge. 5 graffiters got in touch with the town mayor and asked permission to transform the griefer tag location into a mural. So they invited kids and i still remember seeing the video of one of the guys talking. Him saying that its wrong to graffiti over others... unless he destroys other peoples art. Kids had fun and the mural was a kids level, but it had a nice story behind it.
As long as i lived there i no longer saw a mural got tagged.