Art, Vandalism, & Advertising

To me the word graffiti is a lot like the word pornography- it connotes a value judgement by the speaker. I certainly don't see any point in repression or prosecution of spray-paint artists if the end results serves to make their cities more unique and visually interesting. There is certainly plenty of unique, meaningful and even beautiful street art out there that gets a negative rap because of the ubiquitous tagging in some places (while some tags are what I would call art, most are the human equivalent of a dog pissing on a fire hydrant: pure territorial marking). Then again, I regard most billboard advertising as visual pollution (I make some exceptions for especially amusing, attractive, or subversively altered ones)...

So I have mixed feelings about this story (via Neatorama) about a guy who makes graffiti by selectively cleaning the built-up dirt and grime off of his works. On the one hand, he has the authorities utterly confused about whether they can prosecute him for cleaning. Good for him. On the other hand, he seems to be more of a commercial artist/advertiser than a true beautifier of his urban landscape.

I guess it really all is in the eye of the beholder. Where should society draw the line, if at all?

Fido vs. Salvador Dali

What is it with dog/cat stereotyping?

From an article in the Village Voice, this paragraph struck me (emphasis mine):

The closest I've come to getting a handle on all this is something painter Eric Fischl has talked about. Imagine calling two pets, one a dog, the other a cat. Asking a dog to do something is an amazing experience. You say, "Come here, Fido," and Fido looks up, pads over, puts his head in your lap, and wags his tail. You've had a direct communication with another species; you and Fido are sharing a common, fairly literal language. Now imagine saying, "Come here, Snowflake" to the cat. Snowflake might glance over, walk to a nearby table, rub it, lie down, and look at you. There's nothing direct about this. Yet something gigantic and very much like art has happened. The cat has placed a third object between you and itself. In order to understand the cat you have to be able to grasp this nonlinear, indirect, holistic, circuitous communication. In short, art is a cat.

All I can say is Jerry Saltz, you may be a fine art critic, but you've never owned a coonhound. At least art doesn't eat Pottery Barn curtains while launching tendrils of saliva that would make a giant squid blush in all directions. More to the point, I've got a pretty strong feeling I could summon The Persistence of Memory to my front door with Jedi mind-powers before my hard-headed hound will act as you've indicated (unless I'm holding food).

I do give you credit for using the word "aholistic", though. Tee hee.

Linkage update

Check out my friend Jess featured on the cover of this photography magazine I never heard of. It's probably very prestigious- what do I know from photography? But I know what I like, and her stuff is cool. She also has some upcoming shows in the New York/New Jersey area. Way to go!

(This is my favorite photo of hers).