"The Pit" as of 7 am December 1, 2007

Another Walk Downtown

This all started with a walk with my camera downtown, while waiting for one of my kids. A little over a year later, waiting again, I walked around the downtown and took these shots - check out the great (Commissioned) THESIS piece from Barrington Street near CDPlus.

Spirited Away in Dartmouth Cove

A great new wall is going up in Dartmouth Cove - all themed from Hayao Miyazaki's amazing film - "Spirited Away".

Here is a preview of what's going up - make sure that you check Yubaba, Sen, No Face, Boh et al out in person if you have the chance - it's well worth seeing from the graffiti point of view alone, and if you haven't been to Dartmouth Cove for a while, it's worth going down there to see how industrial/public space are interacting there.

I've now uploaded some more shots of the final products.

SPACEd Out

SPACE(ADICT) has a great Halloween themed piece up at the Pit currently. Whether it's a celebration of Canada(Cannibis) Day, or an Easter coloured tyrptich, SPACE sometimes rises to calendar themes, with memorable results.

Here are some SPACE pieces from various locations over the past year.

RIP BC Silver

Sadly BC Silver School is in the process of being torn down. It was a great place to see good stuff, which turned over pretty regularly, but at the same time, lacked some of the 'hate' that seems to crop up more often at the Pit.

Below is the sum total of the shots I've taken there over the past year or so - 81 at BC Silver, 5,097 shots overall, 1,748 of them up here, but who's counting ;)

Dartmouth Cove

HRM recently was looking for some people interested in painting a wall (with the city's OK)in Dartmouth Cove. I don't know if anyone submitted any graffiti designs, but none were chosen for the final cut (having to submit a sketch, along with name rank and serial number, as well as a phone number, may have deterred some writers)

The chosen paintings are of the bar mural/maritime theme variety (though I did like the train and the boat/cello). They cover about half the wall, which had been a busy site for graffiti in the past. Half the wall remains uncovered. After one week, none of the paintings had been touched, although there were some comments on the wall.

The area is picking up - with a walking/cycling path, and more foot traffic. It's too bad that this didn't become another 'legal wall' where people could be exposed to some good pieces, if they were open to seeing them...

A New Thesis on Streetart

I had blogged previously about Thesis - a graffiti artist who has an incredible and distinctive style. I was driving past the Commons Skatepark and noticed a new piece - and sure enough - it was a Thesis piece.



I had a similar experience while going through an art gallery earlier this summer. A painting caught my eye - and I said "This is by Thesis" "No", I was told, it was by a particular artist.

His stuff is spectacular - both the art and the graffiti - show check it out! You can argue all you want about whether or not graffiti is art - but not in this case - it is! Maybe there are others in town who can turn a pastime into a career ($750 a piece!!!)

Has anyone else seen any Thesis around Halifax? (or the HRM to be politically correct)

South Street Rail Bridge

Under the South Street Rail Bridge-Currently

Coburg Road Rail Bridge

Under the Coburg Road Rail Bridge-Currently

New YRON at the Pit

A new YRON Piece has gone up at the Pit, along with a couple of minor revisions.

Mumford Wall

Currently on the Mumford Plaza Wall

New Tagging - WSC

The tagging side of graffiti seems to have had a quiet summer, what with SAME's apparent incarceration. However, Canada Post was busy repainting all their mailboxes, and now taggers are once again being drawn to the fresh canvas. I had noticed "WSC" tagged around town - "Weed Smoking Crew" (no points for guessing their ages). I also noticed CSW tagged a couple of times in the same ares - perhaps a dyslexic member of the "Crew Smoking Weed", or maybe a memory lapse due to too much of their namesake.

Mumford Rail Bridge

Under the Mumford Rail Bridge-Currently

Context - Part 3

Q.E.D.

R.I.P. Happy Cannibis Day

One of my favorite pieces on the tracks was the Canada Day themed 'Happy Cannibis Day' piece (by SPACE of ADICT I think) which is no more. Given the UN's report on drug use in Canada (#1 in the developed world for dope smoking - C-A-N-A-D-A!!!) it seemed not only good, but quite appropriate. Sadly it is no longer with us. In memoriam tomorrow, pause for a moment at 4:20, remembering it in an appropriate way.

Under the Quinpool Rail Bridge-Currently

Context - Part 2

The 'new' sty;e bus shelters have been appearing around town. Compared to the old one they have rounded supports (likely to be harder to write on) but most notably, have a wall of advertising. The ad blocks the view of the sidewalk completely from the road (think of a kid running out from behind). The ad also seems ugly and unnecessary (though no doubt it saves us all 2 cents on bus fare).

I haven't heard any outcry about the ads, as opposed to the graffiti on bus shelters. Both the ads and graffiti are attempts to 'brand' something to the public - is one worse than the other on our bus shelters?

The (Money) Pit

The paint for a piece can be pretty pricey, and therefor it must hurt all the more when a piece is quickly covered. APER put a new piece up Wednesday, it was covered this weekend, and the new pieces were both tagged "Toy" by Monday.





Any bets that there will be new work up very soon?

New APER at the Pit

APER has been busy, tagging Spring Garden Road, painting at the pit, even posing for a photo in today's Chronically Horrid (Suitably hidden behind a respirator).



The Pit - Currently

QE2 Hospital Goes for a Record

Some graffitis go up and are then covered over fairly quickly, while some stays up longer. Usually graff on businesses seem to be among the former, rather than the latter.

The Queen Elizabeth Health Sciences Center seems to be trying for a record with this throw-up on the Bethune Building, University Street wall, which seems to be over a year old. (I'm sure the work order is in the mail...)

Bus Shelter WallpAPERed

This bus shelter on Spring Garden Road has been treated to a multimedia redecoration by APER - spraypaint, paint marker, sticker and scratched.

Context - Part 1

Imagine you are walking down the street, in broad daylight, when a man pulls out a can of spray paint and begins to deface the sidewalk. No one says or does anything. More than a month later, the paint remains untouched for all to see, throughout the Downtown core/ Spring Garden Road area. And it's not like there has been any sign of sidewalk repairs either.





It certainly is ugly, and yet there are no shrill cries for it's removal, no concerns of dropping property values, no councilors spouting soundbites for reporters. Clearly, in this specific case, the medium is not the message, or to paraphrase George Orwell, All graffitis are equal, but some graffitis are more equal than others.

I'm just saying...

A Reading Challenge

One time I asked one of the ADICT guys what a particularly cryptic piece he was painting said. He replied (very Kung Fu master-like) "when you open your mind to it, you will know what it says"

Anyone's mind (or Chinese-English dictionary) open enough to read this one?

The Pit as of August 22/2007

Things change at the Pit very quickly, so trying to get a current set of photos shot and posted, before they are outdated has been tougher than I thought it would be this past week.

Here, as of August 22/2007 is what's up at the Pit (The Water and Morris Street Parking Lot)

Free SAME

SAME has been missing in action this summer, after bombing Halifax all winter/spring. I had wondered if that suggested that he was a student, or had a summer job elsewhere, but a comment on the blog had a different explanation - "It's SAME, and he's in jail. FREE SAME!"

This seems to be confirmed by JEM on a wall in Spryfield.

Maybe HRM can give some of it's Graffiti removal crew a summer vacation, knowing that SAME is out of commission for a while. (But maybe they are too busy with APER for a holiday)

George Bush - "Errorist"

Say what you will about graffiti - mess, message, or medium is the message - sometimes a truly witty/profound graffiti comes along - like this one on a concrete drain pipe near an isolated HRM soccer field.

This deserves a wider audience. T-Shirts anyone?

Feedback Part 2

The Pit has been busy this summer. ADICT put up some new stuff, which APER quickly went over, followed by a new ADICT piece. (New Pit pics to come soon)

APER seems to have left a message for ADICT, covering over a SPACE piece. Unlike some writing, where the message can get lost in the style, this one seems loud and clear.

Or, maybe not, who knows?

Feedback/I'm Back Part 1

I was away for a while, and have been paying for my sins since by being extra busy at work, and subsequently have neglected the blog. No more.

Upon my return, I discovered one of the pitfalls of a blog allowing unmoderated anonymous comments - minor flame wars. There was some back and forth between APER, some of the ADICT guys presumably, and others - basically relating to APER's go overs at The Pit - style critiques and etiquette violations.

Ah well - as Brendan Beehan said "There is no such thing as bad publicity - except your own obituary. "

The ADICT Crew

ADICT is a large crew of at least 10 guys including SPACE5 SENS(AY) ZEAL CODER2 YRON SEAKING KOFI1 CEAS ZEAL HEROW and BES(O).

Although their tags can be found around, they seem to concentrate mainly on large pieces which can be found at the pit, at BC Silver School and along all the railway overpasses thru the peninsula. They share a similar overall unifying style, but each individual has his own very distinct style. When I've met them writing they have usually been friendly, informative, and not minded me watching or shooting them while working. On a couple of occasions I've had a chance to see their books of photos of their work, which are numerous, and impressive in their quality.

Say what you might about graffiti, I think it's hard to fault the look and quality of their big pieces. They add (ADICT) to Halifax.

Apologies for the scarcity of posting - I've been on vacation and internetless.

ADICT Tagging



ADICT Pieces

Dust-up at The Pit?

Pieces go up and down regularly at the Pit - the Lower Water Street Parking Lot, which is a "Legal" Graffiti Wall. It has not been clear to me what the rules/etiquette around covering up someones work are (other than, as the Gentleman in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' said, right before he recieved a kick in the jewels "Rules?! - NO RULES!")

Clearly when a piece starts to flake off the wall, its days are numbered, as they are when one is defaced. But what does it mean to paint on a piece just days after it went up?

This past weekend ADICT scraped the wall and put up three pieces One over a defaced ADICT piece, two ovwer older ADICT pieces), which by Thursday had been defaced. The APER piece to their right, shed some paint (?was scraped) recently. In (?)response, the ADICT pieces now have APER tagged on them, along with "pussy", "no respect" and of course "fuck you". One piece had a small "throw-up" over it.

Next? - Who knows, but I expect that the defaced pieces are now fair game to be replaced.

New ADICT Triptych at the Pit

Replacing the Easter Triptych by ADICT that had been gone over in the past few weeks - three new pieces went up Sunday at the Lower Water Street Parking Lot.

Three New Pieces in the Pit

ADICT/SENSAY's new piece at the pit was short lived (less than a month), covered up last week by a pile of maple leaves, along with two other new pieces, all just painted over the old without a new base coat.





However ADICT was busy in the pit again this weekend. More on that soon...

Every Picture Tells A Story (Don't It?)

As Rod Stewart says - every picture tells a story - and the story I see here is on about drips. ZOMBIE did his throw-up in black and white, but with alot of drips (which I have seen called 'the mark of the toy' elsewhere) - some of which may have been deliberate, some of which (the blurred borders between black and white) are perhaps sloppy. Someone (DOPE3 to judge by the shade of orange used) felt the need to give ZOMBIE some constructive feedback about the quality of his technical skills.

Is this the only possible story - Of course not, but it's the one I like best, unless the whole piece was ZOMBIE's post-modern deconstruction of drips and their role in Graffiti.

HUE/Hué/Hue

When I first saw HUE, I just thought of Hué - the city in Vietnam. My first memory of war, was on the evening news watching an American tank retaking Hué, which presumably means that this was during the Tet offensive of 1968 (see the movie Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick if you want to see more of Hué/Tet). I didn't even think of 'hue' as in colour, which would seem to make more sense in a graffiti/graphical way.



HUE (with SHUK and SOUTH) seems to be one of Spring/Summer 2007 more prolific taggers so far. His style seem to be evolving - with some of the older tags (back of a building on Quinpool) looking more primitive, then a more graphical style with a looy 'E', and more recently a more angular look. HUE has also put some red hued throw-ups up here and there as well as tags (mainly at the rail overpass at the Bedford Basin and Joseph Howe Drive).

A Masterpiece at BC Silver?!

I once read that one way to appreciate an old masterpiece was to look at the perspective in the picture with both eyes open, then close your non-dominant eye. Paintings by the true Masters, pop off the painting into three dimensions. This certainly has been true for Rembrandt and Vermeer, compared to many of the paintings by their peers that I have seen.

What does this have to do with graffiti you ask? At BC Silver school there was a new piece up today, which between the high and rather flat light today at 1 pm, jumped off the wall into three dimensions. Amazingly this illusion held, not just with one eye open, but both. It gave a vary strange sensation, as my hand reached out to the wall, expecting to touch a letter that seemed raised by a centimetre or so, to touch the dead flat wall. Both my son and I experienced this illusion (much to the puzzlemant of a couple of city workers watching).

You may be able to get an impression of this, by viewing the
full size enlargement with one eye closed.

TASTY!

While walking on the tracks I met 'TASTY' as he was putting up a piece with a friend. He was kind enough to let me watch, and take some pictures of the piece - "AROW" which was going up under the Coburg Road Bridge. Another TASTY piece (AROW again) is to be found at present, under the Jubilee bridge.

BOS in the Pit

Despite a somewhat grim Saturday in Halifax - BOS put up a new piece at the Water Street Parking lot, aka 'The Pit'. On a background of graphic bricks the pieces are bold and colourful - and as my daughter said - her favourite to date.

Mumford Road Overpass

The overpass at Mumford Road was covered with new tags recently. They reflect what seems to be going on (at least on the peninsula) this summer with SHUK, SOUTH and FOE5 all getting up here, as they are elsewhere. SAME is still showing up, but seems to have been overtaken by SHUK in terms of sheer numbers. SHUK looks like he could use a new cap on his Hunter Orange paint though, judging by the drips

Help Me Thursday #5

Does anyone know where these pictures were taken? (all from Graffiti site Lounge 37, all in the Halifax area apparently. If you know, either post the location in the comments or email me tagbagger@hotmail.com.

Just Let Me Put Some Lipstick On...

Putting a splash of red lipstick on a black and white piece at the pit (Water Street parking lot) - perhaps a good graphical idea.



Doing such a lame-ass, looking like a well fed sloppy vampire, massive drips, job of it - definitely not priceless!

Chain Lake Overpass Pillars

The pillars at the Chain Lake Overpass - eight pillars, two sides each as of June 1, 2007 - another site well worth checking out in person.

Return to BC Silver

All the ground level pieces at BC Silver have turned over since I was there 6 weeks ago. Here is the new stuff as of June 2, 2007. Given that most of the pieces have been defaced, I suspect (and hope) they will be replaced with new stuff soon..

Check this place out before it's torn down.

There's even a new acronym for 'ADICT' - A Drug Intoxicated Creative Thinker.

Mumford Wall

It doesn't look like much from Mumford Road, and indeed is barely visible from the tracks, but the back wall of this building is covered with large pieces. It is heavily treed, indeed, as you can see from some of the pictures, the trees go right up to the wall. It is only accessible from the track, as it is fenced off - but as the photos show - well worth the trouble to get to. All in all a pleasure - all the better as it was unexpected.