Striking Gold at BC Silver

The guys from the ADICT crew had told me that I should make sure that I went out to BC Silver school in Spryfield if I wanted to see some good pieces. An abandoned school, it is the one of two 'legal' walls in Halifax for graffiti (the Water Street parking lot being the other).

As I pulled into the parking lot (top photo) I wasn't too impressed. However, if you ignore the first impression, and persist, the rewards are well worth the trip (as with many things in life). Around the back of the school, there are multiple spectacular pieces, many by the ADICT crew. Great care has obviously been taken including bringing staging in, to paint the second story.



While tagging may bring things down, this work does the opposite - amazes and inspires. It is a great pity that the school and it's artwork is due to be torn down. Halifax will lose 50% of is't legal graffiti walls, and all of us will lose something more, which most of us didn't even know existed. Like they say - if you are only planning to see one legal wall of graffiti in Halifax - this is the one. (Google Map Directions)

Arm Lot With a View

Nestled between buildings off Quinpool Road overlooking the Northwest Arm is likely one of the most expensive vacant lots in Halifax. A low wall adjoining the neighboring parking garage is adorned with old graffiti, including a spectacular piece by
THESIS.

The graffiti is older, and does not appear to have been done within the past few years. For some reason this otherwise ideal seeming site (easy to access, but hidden from view while working) seems to have become inactive.

Next time you are driving down Quinpool towards the Rotary, take a right into the driveway to nowhere, and at check out the THESIS piece - so far, it's the best I have found around Halifax in my travels.

Stickerfitti - Coming To a Surface Near You

He (or she) is not the only one. Some taggers prefer stickers to paint for their marks. Some, like SAME seem to do this for completeness (ie:covering all media) while others may choose a sticker for speed/stealth of application. Some likely choose it for the sheer humour of tagging with a "Hello, my name is" badge. Some choose commentary rather than the ego of a Tag. And others use postal stickers on Mailboxes in some kind of offbeat irony.

At least stickers are easier than paint to remove...

A THESIS on Streetart

Thesis is the 'nom de spray can' of a graffiti artist who paints internationally. It is a little hard to find out much about him as a Goggle search ends up flooded with Masters and Doctoral theses on Graffiti and StreetArt. I have found two pieces of StreetArt by THESIS around Halifax.



Anyone know of others?

If you want to pique your curiosity about the academic side of graffiti - just google "Graffiti Thesis"

If you want to see a wider selection of Thesis' stuff - go to Flickr.com and search for Thesis & Streetart.

And You SHUK Me All Night Long...

In the six or so months that I have been paying attention to tags, I find that I have become familiar with most of the tags that are on the Halifax peninsula at least. I have wondered if Spring and warmer weather would bring out new tags, and sure enough I have recently spotted several instances of SHUK. So far, I have seen SHUK at the Mumford Road Rail Bridge, and at the Skate Park. Note the one shot of the tag in white, likely done with an ordinary spray cap, as opposed to a cap designed specifically for graffiti - lots of overspray (fuzzy edges).

SHUK's style is still evolving, but they seem to be done by the same person (or at most two). My favorite is the one with the matching flourishes on the Lead S and Trailing K. So far SHUK seems to be avoiding the road of private property vandalism - we'll see what the coming seasons will bring...

Tuesday's Tag - APER

APER (or AP3R) is a fairly common TAG, which usually appears by itself. On a couple of large Pieces APER has been up with VA, suggesting that APER is one of the many in the VA Crew.