Tagged and Bagged

Animafitti?

2008-05-15T19:08:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-05-13T07:02:00.001-04:00

ADICT has been busy.

Smurfs rule!!!

The Pit May 11, 2008

2008-05-11T14:08:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-08T18:08:00.004-04:00

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

2008-05-06T19:43:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-30T20:13:00.001-04:00

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...

2008-04-28T19:37:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-27T19:59:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-22T07:05:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-21T14:53:00.001-04:00

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

These are a few of my favorite things...

2008-04-20T12:35:00.002-04:00

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

WSC/ACV

2008-04-19T18:56:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-17T16:27:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-16T19:03:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-15T14:21:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-14T16:17:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-13T16:11:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-12T11:23:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-10T15:21:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-09T09:32:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-08T14:34:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-07T15:20:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-06T14:41:00.001-04:00

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

HIERO in Evolution

2008-04-05T09:45:00.002-04:00

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

2007 Awards - My Favorite Sticker

2008-04-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-03T15:44:00.000-04:00

Psychiatric Sidewalk Stencilling

2008-04-02T09:30:00.003-04:00

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

2007 Awards - My Favorite Stencil

2008-04-01T20:40:00.006-04:00

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

2008-03-31T18:51:00.002-04:00

Jubilee Rail Bridge

2008-03-30T13:59:00.005-04:00

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

2008-03-29T10:23:00.004-04:00

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...

2008-03-28T13:42:00.001-04:00

Prince Street Railbridge

2008-03-27T13:45:00.001-04:00

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...

2008-03-25T10:02:00.001-04:00

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

2008-03-24T19:24:00.004-04:00

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

2008-03-24T12:53:00.002-04:00

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

2008-03-23T13:17:00.001-04:00

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

2008-03-21T12:44:00.004-04:00

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

2008-03-19T18:53:00.004-04:00

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

2008-03-11T16:25:00.004-04:00

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"

2008-03-03T21:32:00.004-04:00

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

2008-03-02T13:13:00.003-04:00

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

2008-02-24T17:03:00.007-04:00

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

2008-02-18T12:05:00.008-04:00

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

2008-02-17T18:51:00.005-04:00

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

2008-02-10T16:27:00.000-04:00

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

2008-02-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

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...

2008-02-03T15:18:00.000-04:00

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!"

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

2007-12-01T10:38:00.001-04:00

Another Walk Downtown

2007-11-29T20:13:00.000-04:00

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

2007-11-25T13:53:00.000-04:00

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

2007-11-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

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

2007-11-18T19:25:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-02T15:43:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-30T18:05:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-24T06:56:00.000-04:00

Under the South Street Rail Bridge-Currently

Coburg Road Rail Bridge

2007-09-23T18:54:00.001-04:00

Under the Coburg Road Rail Bridge-Currently

New YRON at the Pit

2007-09-22T05:37:00.000-04:00

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

Mumford Wall

2007-09-20T15:22:00.000-04:00

Currently on the Mumford Plaza Wall

New Tagging - WSC

2007-09-19T18:08:00.001-04:00

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

2007-09-12T15:01:00.001-04:00

Under the Mumford Rail Bridge-Currently

Context - Part 3

2007-09-08T03:22:00.000-04:00

Q.E.D.

R.I.P. Happy Cannibis Day

2007-09-07T18:08:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-05T15:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-03T20:33:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-31T05:28:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-30T15:55:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-28T20:01:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-27T15:07:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-24T03:49:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-23T03:42:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-22T02:58:00.000-04:00

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"

2007-08-20T15:11:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-19T14:49:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-18T14:39:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-10T20:42:00.000-04:00

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?

2007-06-29T14:01:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-27T20:24:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-06-26T20:42:00.001-04:00

Three New Pieces in the Pit

2007-06-26T20:24:00.001-04:00

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?)

2007-06-24T15:12:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-22T19:10:00.000-04:00

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?!

2007-06-21T14:33:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-06-19T08:30:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-18T08:18:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-16T19:04:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-06-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-11T08:44:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-10T20:38:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-09T20:38:00.000-04:00

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.

nastee noper?

2007-06-08T19:15:00.000-04:00

Comments re "Go West Young Man" " nastee noper said...

wow im glad i went over that west piece at the pit... "

So is this nastee noper then?

Army of Darkness Invades Water Street

2007-06-07T19:47:00.000-04:00

AOD, who basically owned the underpass I had gone to Antigonish to see, put up some new stuff at the Water Street parking lot this week. ZORA, a member of AOD, who also tags around town, has a piece which mentions Rosa and Pax, who were also noted in Antigonish. Perhaps its time for a return trip to the Antigonish tunnel...

Graffiti Gone...NOT!

2007-06-06T19:57:00.000-04:00

So the theory is, if you cover over graffiti quickly it discourages the tagger from repeating in that area. Sounds fine in theory, but what if the person who covers it over, carefully paints it out so it is still identifiable, as in these two shots from QEH. They are clearly SAME and HEU5. Several questions arise, such as have these guys been discouraged by this action?, and is the school just running low on beige paint, but reluctant to re-order as red paint will be needed at the new school next year?

POUTINE

2007-06-05T16:29:00.000-04:00

Given the late night, post consumption, meals of choice in Halifax - either a Donair or Fries smothered in cheese curd and gravy - how can you not love POUTINE? I don't see it around that much, but when I do, I just have to laugh. Someone emailed me and said that most tagging is done by drunk teenagers, so maybe POUTINE is a craving rather than a tag...

Go WEST Young Man

2007-06-04T16:11:00.000-04:00

Taking John Soule's 1851 advice as popularized by Horace Greeley to heart - WEST came to Halifax from Newfoundland this spring and left behind a piece at the Water Street lot, and some tags around the downtown core. Now a couple of months later, they are almost all gone.

Feedback

2007-06-02T20:03:00.000-04:00

This piece at BC Silver School has been labelled "Toy" by a critic. One definition of "Toy" would be "An inexperienced or incompetent writer. Someone whose writing is either wack, who uses sucker tips, or whose style is just plain cheesy".

Presumably this is the message that has been left in paint for the writer.

Boing-boing recently offered up a less destructive way to give feedback. Originating in San Francisco, the creator wanted to give feedback to local taggers

According to the creator, Brandon Thomas Baunach - "It’s a project I started a couple of months ago after seeing my neighborhood (The Mission District of San Francisco) receive an amazing amount of ugly, large, and talentless graffiti. I wanted a way to combat the ugly graffiti while at the same time give praise to the talented graffiti writers who I feel make the streets more beautiful. It occurred to me, that many of our local taggers don’t realize how ugly and talentless their graffiti is, so I wanted to give them some feedback."

Find the PDF for the form here.

FOES2

2007-05-30T17:51:00.000-04:00

FOES2 seems to be a member of VA, along with SAME, AP3R, HEUS, POP*z(YOOPZ), SODA, SIAMER. There are two versions of the tag I have seen - FOES and FOESTwo - which look similar, and I therefor assume are the same person, but who knows?

New Water Street ADICTion

2007-05-28T14:07:00.000-04:00

I had wondered how long the defaced piece by SLUG would last - the answer was not very long. ADICT came, scraped, topcoated, and put up a whole section of the wall on Sunday.

Bearly's Mural

2007-05-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

A new mural has gone up on the wall at Bearly's - a great combination of Graffiti and Advertising, which I think improves the overall look greatly, and hopefully reduces tagging on the wall at the same time. The top piece is tagged AP3R, but apparently it was not done by AP3R, despite the tag.