Animafitti?

Check out this for an amazing work of imagination - stop motion animated graffiti - made in Buenos Aires and Baden.


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, at a secret location near a large urban centre, in an undisclosed country...

ADICT has been busy.



Smurfs rule!!!

The Pit May 11, 2008

Nothing new at the pit this weekend (too cold, windy rainy, +/- police presence for IHAA traffic control). Since my last post, a new piece by ENDER and ?CEAS has gone up (and HIERO added some red highlights to his gold piece)

Underpass Pillars

The pillars under the Chain Lake Overpass offer some space to put up graffiti undisturbed, perhaps allowing newer writers to try out bigger fills and start towards larger pieces.

SAOS and BEAM both seem to have been taking advantage of this location recently, which has had a fair amount of turnover since I was last out there.

Wheatpasting

Wheatpasting is an art form related to graffiti, that derives from posters put up in public places with wallpaper paste - ie: flour and water, ie: "Wheatpaste"

The subject matter is often more artistic, or shaped, compared to the old flybills that were(are) put up for advertisement. Recently wheatpasting has been growing in popularity, and has been cropping up more frequently around town.

ACEs Low

I saw the tag above on a daily basis for weeks, without any desire for a picture of it. When I asked myself why - the obvious reason was that it has to be the single ugliest tag I've seen, not to mention that it is on a private residence, which crosses a line.

But then I wondered why the owner hadn't painted it over. The house was repainted a year or two ago. Surely there is some leftover blue down the basement. Maybe the owner knows what a lousy piece of work this is, and figures that the tagger should continue to see it and hang his head in shame as penance. Or maybe the owner just can't be arsed...

EHYO on the Right, HIERO in on the left...

The blank spot at the pit was filled in with a second HIERO piece, and at the far right - 3 new pieces from VA went up Sunday afternoon when the sun finally came out.

Under Construction at the Pit

ADICT's North wall has been painted over - with a promise of things to come. ZEAL neatly salvaged his defaced piece by re-working it. Today VA was busy at the south end, but it was too dark for any shots - maybe tomorrow.

You Tubed

I was looking at some video of graffiti in Halifax on YouTube, and much to my surprise, found my shots set to music, by c16green - check them out


ADICT


SAME


APER


ENDER

Oakland Road Railbridge

Here's what under the bridge as of April 2008.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Here are some of my favorite photos taken during the time I have been shooting graffiti around Halifax.

WSC/ACV

WSC is a crew tag "Weed Smoking Children" that was associated with 3 tags - SAOS, DEAR and PRIME. Recently WSC seems to have morphed into ACV "All City Vandals" - SAOS and DEAR again, with FAET rather than PRIME.

A walk down Quinpool the other day shows just as Blue is the new Black for 2008, SAOS is trying hard to be the new SAME.


PRIME


DEAR


SAOS


FAET

Eine, zwei, drei, vier... SYS

EINE/SYS is a tag that I first noticed after seeing SYS sprayed in the Old Infirmary parking lot, replacing the FYPT that had been there for agse until the wall was repainted. I had been seeing EINE/SYS around, mostly in marker/paint marker, then this week EINE has been popping up as a blue stencil almost daily in the South End.

Dartmouth Cove - April 2008

Dartmouth Cove is an excellent spot to easily see some great graffiti, especially the "Spirited Away" wall, which at present is the best themed wall up in town. Easy access, and always plenty of parking!

GHOST

GHOST is an older graffiti around Halifax, usually seen as a large painted ghost, but occasionally as a smaller cut-out ghost sticker. The stickers are interesting, both for their simple and effective design, as well as for the fact that two of them have the 'Cradle' logo associated with Town Pride. Are 'GHOST' and Cradle the same, or does it show a connection between GHOST and Town Pride? Who knows, but here's a selection of Ghosts from around Halifax.

Repairations at the Pit

Usually when a piece is defaced or damaged, it is replaced quickly, but clearly sometimes repair is an option (if someone's fast enough)

March 19, 2008

April 9, 2008

April 12, 2008

To see the rest of the graffiti at the pit click here .

Under Tower and Young Bridges

I hadn't been down to the end of the tracks for a while - about a year. This end of the line seems fairly static - maybe it's watched more closely given the presence of trains, or maybe it's just not safe to spend the time needed to put up a proper piece.

Here's what's up under the bridges...


Young Ave


Tower Road

Smog Rolls In

Among new tags around Halifax this spring, there was one that I thought of as 5-Nov, and one (a drawing of smokestacks) that I thought of as Smokestacks. I had not made any association between the two, until a found both on a piece of rail in a bright yellow paint marker. The final piece of the puzzle was one of the Town Pride stickers which had both tags, and 'SMOG' written on it.

Looking at the pictures I had taken over the past few months, the story I came up with was "SMOG', a member of Town Pride, starting out with tagging SMOG, then the modified SMOG (5MOG then 5MoooG) and finally SMOG(smokestacks). A perfectly sensible evolutionary theory from my perspective - except it's likely wrong. Looking back at older photos I find a 5MOG at Dalplex in October 2006, and a big Smokestacks at the Pit in April 2007, long before the first simple SMOG's in March 2008.


Evolving SMOG

Nonetheless - SMOG is an interesting tag - the '5MoooG' tag is one of the wittiest I've seen, and Town Pride seems to be an interesting bunch - more graphic - like AOD(Army of Darkness) at this point, rather than tags/fills. More on Town Pride later...

Mumford Mall Wall

The back wall of the Mumford Road mall is a little harder to get to, but now is a good time as it is heavily treed, making it hard to photograph in the summer. Here it is as of early April.

2007 Awards - My Favorite StreetArt Graffiti

There has been lots of good stuff around, but the best I've seen was this older piece by THESIS - truly spectacular.

Bayer's Road Railbridge

Another nice day in Halifax, so at lunch I dropped by Bayer's Road, Belmont and Oakland Road, not having been down there since the winter started.

Mumford Rail Bridge

The Mumford Bridge is the easiest to get to, accessible without any climbing. Here is what's there as of early April.

Coburg Rail Bridge

Here's what's up now under the Coburg Rail Bridge

HIERO in Evolution

A HIERO piece goes up over several days at the Pit.

2007 Awards - My Favorite Sticker

Stickers seem to be a gateway to proper graffiti - a way to quickly and quietly get a tag up, without having to use paint or a marker. However some stickers are more sophisticated, almost miniature artwork - such as those by ZORA(AOD), or Town Pride. My personal favorite sticker from 2007 was by WULF(AOD) - my kids loved it too, and indeed collected a couple.

New Tags Around Town - BUENO

Psychiatric Sidewalk Stencilling

No, it's not in Halifax, but given my close contact with shrinks, this caught my eye.

2007 Awards - My Favorite Stencil

There are a fair few stencils around - some are art - such as flamenco dancers or sailing ships stencilled on the sidewalk; some are political such as "Too Many Cops, Too Little Justice"

My favorite this year was found on a concrete pipe, beside a soccer field, on the way to the way to the N.W. Arm Drive Overpass (a great graffiti site)

My Favorite Stencil in 2007 - "George Bush - Errorist"

Currently at the Pit

Jubilee Rail Bridge

On a warm day last week I checked out the Railcut again - Jubilee and Coburg bridges. Pretty much everything there was new since the last time I had photographed it.



I returned a couple of hours later with my kids, and there were two new outlines up. MASE had been through as well as there was a packet of "MASE" stickers fallen on the tracks




Then, in the time that it took us to walk to Coburg and back, a third went up - nothing like a warm sunny day to get back outside after a long winter.

Dyslξxic WSC

I saw this one the other day on Oxford Street across from Dal - I get that it was probably hard leaning out and spraying it, and this led to some disorientation which led to the curvy "E", likely supposed to be an "S". Or it could just be "I meant to do that...". The good news - it will be covered by siding fairly soon.

A Good Question...

Prince Street Railbridge

Having rappelled down the slope of the Quinpool Railbridge, the Prince street bridge was just a short walk away, and the graffiti has been entirely replaced since I was last down there.

Current



Past

Not Quite the SAME...

Someone defaced two of the 'Spirited Away' Pieces that are up in Dartmouth Cove - which is a pity as they were really part of the best themed graffiti wall in town. Whoever did it appears to be only able to (barely) write 4 letters - SAME on one and MASE on the other - neither bearing any resemblance to the two original tags (and in drippy yellow paint to boot)

Pity...

Gansta Giraffe Rubbed Out

Much to my daughter's dismay, her favorite 'Gangsta Giraffe' was covered over after just a few days back at the pit. The offending piece was put up by 'NOPE'

Was my daughter happy? - NOPE...

Quinpool Rail Bridge

The Rail Bridge at Quinpool Road has been the site of recent rehabilitation and construction. Industrious CN Crews have shotcreted the bridge walls (and some of its surroundings including trees) providing a fresh canvas for writers. So far, there's only tags and crap up there, but given that this is usually an ADICT location, I'm sure that there is more good stuff to come as the weather warms up.

Current



Past

2007 Awards - My Favorite Easter Tryptich

Happy Easter to any of you Candy Lovers/Christians out there.


In a fairly limited category - here is my favorite Easter themed work from 2007 - a Tryptich from the ADICT Crew, that was put up in the Pit on the Easter weekend last year, and stayed up for quite a while after. For some reason, the white background, light blue colour and black stripes evoked the HMCS Sackville for me, so this really had a sense of place in Halifax for me.

Town Pride Stickerfitti

The "Town Pride" Tag and 'Logo' have been cropping up around town recently, but over the past few days I have seen several stickers on News and Mailboxes as well.

Gangsta Giraffe Guest Blogger

That is soooo cool. I love the gangsta giraffe. I have seen it before in the pit, but it was painted over. The cartoons are my favorite kind of graffiti like the mini bombs.

-O-

A New York Graffiti Challenge

Why does this shot belong here? (And no, it's not the graffiti on the upper right of the building)

This shouldn't be too hard for some of a certain age... Or those with good visual memories.

Put the guesses in the comments.

March 14, 2008 - Time to put the 58 potential viewers of this since Tuesday out of their misery (if anyone was truly miserable that is) - It's 96 St. Mark's Place, New York City - Also known as the cover of Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" (with the top story removed by some old fashioned, non-digital photography tricks) It was also featured in the Rolling Stones video, "Waiting On a Friend". The street itself has been home to James Fenimore Cooper, W.H. Auden, Leon Trotsky, Lenny Bruce, and Abbie Hoffman over the past 200 or so years.

From a graffiti perspective, number 51 was occupied by "51X", the art gallery that brought Jean-Michel Basquiat and graffiti to mainstream acclaim.

Not bad for a little street in the East Village...

2007 Awards - Favorite "Career in a Year"

A typical writer's 'career' starts with tagging, and progresses through larger outlines into more complex pieces. This one may be limited by my ability to recognise and associate a particular tag with the larger piece, which I no doubt miss sometimes. Around town last year the most common examples belong to one person - a distinct (and now readable) tag, and a distinct interwoven style for larger pieces. My favorite "Career in a Year 2007" - was APER.

Tags


Throw-ups/Fills


Pieces

Queen Street Sobeys

A quick shopping trip to Sobeys this morning revealed a bunch of new graffiti ardorning the store - including some tags that I hadn't seen lately - SARS and JEM, plus the 'Christ in a Cradle' of "Town Pride"

Here they are with much less discomfort than I endured in the bitter wind this morning...

2007 Awards - Best (Biggest) Ups

Although most of these will be my favorites, as opposed to the "best" - the recipient of this, was clearly the best last year by almost any measure - numbers (given a run for the money by APER though), visibility, in your facedness, etc..

His tags were the talk of the town last year - prominent, annoying, getting conversation and media coverage. Always large, usually in spray paint, not usually marker, always in plain view on the streetfront.

So - Best (Biggest) Ups for 2007 - another easy one - SAME

2007 Awards - Favorite Place to See Graffiti

From my perspective this one is easy - BC Silver School has lots of space, and therefor lots to see. The turnover rate was fast, so there was always new stuff up, each trip I made out there. Given the quiet nature of the area, and its status as a 'legal' wall for graffiti, time was taken putting up some great pieces, including going to the length of bringing staging in to add a second storey of pieces..

Sadly, it's all gone now, torn down to be replaced with who knows what. On the other hand, "The Pit", coming a close second for this has the inside track for 2008. Thanks to SPACE of ADICT for telling me about BC Silver - I'm glad I got to see it before it was no more.


Favorite Place to See (have seen) Graffiti in 2007 - BC Silver School

2007 Awards - My Favorite Tag

It's awards season (SAG, Academy, Grammies etc..), and it's also cold outside (less new graffiti, and more importantly, my hands get painfully cold while shooting it). What better solution than some awards for the best (and possibly the worst stuff I've seen over the past year). My opinion only mind you...

What better place to start than with a Tag - given that Tagging is the entry point to graffiti for most writers. A can of paint, some initials, a bit of style, a few thousand repitions, and someone may develop enough respect to progress to bigger things.

The following is excerpted from How To Read Graffiti - "How does one judge the quality of a tag? I believe that similar criteria to the critique of calligraphy should be used. A tag is a calligraphic form and volumes could be written on the calligraphic qualities that this work has introduced. The artist Ramellzee introduced the use of calligraphic naming devices and his own personal extensions of these terms to describe features of tagging and piece styles. These language he developed is a deeply personal one and almost illegible to outsiders. Flow is a common term, applicable both to tags and pieces. It describes the harmonic usage of curves and the ability of the letters to flow into each other when reading. A good tag or piece is said to 'flow'. The flow of a tag or piece is broken by excessive ornamentation, disjointed lines and line work or poor paint work. Writers also describe flow as 'funk' in certain groups. The opposite is also true though. Innovation is just as important to the tag form as other forms within graffiti art."

So - My Favorite Tag in the past year - Easy - "The Artist Formerly Known as YOOPZ" - the Tag was ubiquitous early last year (less common now as he has moved on to a new Tag), it's flowing loopy style was indecipherable to me until I found an readable early version, and suddenly it was clear it read "PopStarz" rather than YOOPZ. (which also perhaps explains the subsequent transition to a new Tag)


My Favorite Tag 2007 - "The Artist Formerly Known as YOOPZ"

If you have suggestions for categories, just use the comments...

Cool (literally) New Stuff at the Pit

Much to my surprise, there has been alot of activity at the Pit (the Old Cunard lot at Water and Morris Streets) over the winter, despite the cold days.

My hands were hurting just taking these pictures on a clod day - I can't imagine painting in much of the weather this winter - But clearly the ADICTs, ENDER, and APER et al can and do.

Isn't it Ironic Part 2

Graffiti/City Scourge/Urban Blight

A sign of Halifax's deterioration according to some

Meanwhile, in London at Bonham's auction of Street Art - a Banksy Stencil was knocked down for 228,000 Pounds (yep - almost a half million dollars.

Check out some of Halifax's Blight thru new eyes... The Parking lot across from Electropolis or Dartmouth Cove are great places to start.










Laugh Now - Banksy
















Moona Lisa - Nick Walker (sold for 54,000 Pounds)

Isn't It Ironic...

It seems that Alanis Morrisette has been let loose with a spray can in the South End recently - "Town Pride" has been cropping up all over the place. I had seeen the pictogram (which looks like Christ in a cradle to me - but that just may be my cultural hemline showing). Now both are showing up together, as tags and stickers, around the Southend.

As Borat would say - "Town Pride.....NOT!"