Berlin Wall

For those persons "d'un certain age" (ie over 30 or so) the Berlin Wall and it's fall remain a potent symbol of an age we (apparently wrongly) thought might be behind us. Little pieces of it are for sale on Ebay for $30-50. Imagine my surprise recently in Montreal to come face to face with a graffitied full slab on display at the Intercontinental Hotel.

What would it be worth? Much more than the perhaps $100-200 value of the slab of reinforced concrete. What adds the most value? My guess is that the rich graffiti on a piece of the wall is far more valuable than a bare portion of the wall. I remember full pieces selling for $5-10,000 as the wall came down - now who knows $50-100,000? (Or far more given this smallish piece on sale for $50,000)(No points for guessing which side was facing the West)

Changes - Water Street Parking Lot

Although paintovers are a normal part of a busy graffiti site, returning to the parking lot a day after my previous trip, I was surprised to find new areas painted over what had been there the day previously. A week or so l;ater there was more new paining. All the new stuff has been at the south end of the eastern wall - not over the fancier pieces elsewhere. Is there some sort of pecking order at work, or are some artists bigger than others, and enforce their territory more vigourously? I'm not sure, but here are the changes for your perusal.

Panel Three
______________________March 3 2007
______________________March 4 2007

Panel Two
______________________March 3 2007

______________________March 4 2007

______________________March 18 2007

Help Me Thursday #5

My kids and I walked the length of the railcut that runs through the Halifax peninsula last weekend. Needless to say, there is alot of graffiti along the length, especially on the underpasses (the rail cut is a popular spot for kids to hang around - as was in evidence even at 1 pm on a Saturday). This piece adorns the Coburg Road underpass near the Waegwoltic Club - it's clearly marked as a Crew name - but what does it say?

I need lots of help with this one - Opinions? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Banksy MIA

The "battle" against graffiti continues around the world - A large wall mural by "guerrilla artist" Banksy has been mistakenly painted over by a council's graffiti-removal contractors. The valuable 25ft-long artwork, on the side of garages in Bristol, was covered with a coat of thick black paint. Bristol City Council said it wanted an investigation into the blunder. The council has ordered all Banksy works in the city to be preserved. Someone has now sprayed the words "Wot no Banksy?" over the obscured work. Banksy has been accepted as a mainstream artist, and recently sold a piece for more than $200,000 Cdn. Adding insult to injury, the graffiti was on private, not public, property and the owner is 'exploring his options' with the town council.

It was not the first indignity inflicted on his work in 2007 - contractors in London covered up a pice showing a monkey blowing up a bunch of bananas in January. His popularity seems to peak Merseyside though, where several pieces have been liberated/chiselled free in Liverpool.
Before
After

FYPT - Tag, Crew, or Slogan?

I originally thought FYPT was a simple Tag, however it seems to be more likely a Crew Tag, as it exists in several styles, often with the Tags ENDER, GOER and SLUG. I have seen it at several sites with large pieces - the Water Street parking lot, the Underpass, and at the old Halifax Infirmary site. The two FYPT pieces at the Infirmary are tagged ENDER and SLUG.

What does it mean - 2/3 suggest FUCK YOU PARTY TIME, a third says FILTHY YELLOW PIRATE TEETH - given the nature of those who graffiti, I suspect the former is more likely than the latter.

A Google search further links FYPT and SLUG, a Halifax Tagger, although some images of FYPT are seen from further afield - such as Barcelona, but seem focussed on the HRM area. The work below, sold at the Khyber, seems to confirm that it is a Halifax Crew Tag, of which SLUG is a member.

Train Trouble

Everyone who has driven in a car with children of a certain age, knows the railway crossing ritual - everyone's feet off the car floor, chanting "Train trouble, oof!, OOF!". Likely the commonest spot in Halifax for this is on the road into the BLIP (Bayer's Lake Industrial Park). On the siding there, freight cars often unload/await some unknown cargo.

Rail cars offer an opportunity to exchange graffiti with parts unknown - mobile billboards circulating around Canada and the USA, seemingly at random - like a message in a bottle on the ocean. Some of Halifax's Taggers (ENDER, STARS) have painted a message in a bottle to whoever receives one of the boxcars currently on the siding. Enjoy the party!