It’s not a joke if your building gets tagged

by The Georgia Straight Staff on July 18th, 2013 at 2:50 AM

I take issue with Michael Mann suggesting that the “Mohinder” graffiti is “hilarious” [“Trying to tag Mohinder”, June 27–July 4]. No graffiti is hilarious for the poor, helpless property owner who is the recipient of such tagging.

A graffiti victim is faced with the task of performing the often-dangerous acrobatics needed to remove the tagging. And, no, the city will not do it for them. All the city will do is provide two cans of paint.

I am a member of the Dunbar community patrol. Our job is to be the “eyes and ears” of the police, who cannot be everywhere all at once.

One of the major problems in Vancouver is graffiti. The cost and bother of graffiti to the offended business or homeowner should not be minimized.

> David M. Johnson / Vancouver

Comments

7 Comments

David W Lemley

Jul 18, 2013 at 3:24am

Graffiti is urban art at its core. sure some of it is tacky and tactless. Some of it is down right obscene. However, it is still art.

Graffiti is organic and well reaching. There is simplicity in a "Mohinder" tag. Where there is complexity in other areas of the city with larger displays of the more colorful variety.

As a populace, in Vancouver, we've sort of come to embrace this art form. After all, that East Van sign near VCC-Clark Station IS a giant LED testament to graffiti.

So seriously, unless its a swastika or hateful slur, it hurts no one. It adds flavor and flare to our urban landscape. Sure, not every spray job can be a Banksy. But then again, not every painting is a Michaelangelo either.

vee

Jul 18, 2013 at 3:27am

sounds more like "one of the major problems in vancouver is uptight classist yuppies who get offended by paint on walls"

Argulion

Jul 18, 2013 at 7:02am

@David W Lemley. Graffiti is only art when done with permission, otherwise it nothing but vandalism.

Alay Layton

Jul 18, 2013 at 8:14am

David W Lemley - The definition of art is purely subjective and personal. Just because you say it's art does not mean it is. Most people hate this sort of graffiti and I can only see it appealing to very young people. To the rest of us, it's offensive and any message it may carry is meaningless and juvenile. We have to pay for it to be removed. The worst part is seeing murals destroyed by the damaged individuals who usually do this sort of tagging. I live in Mt. Pleasant and the local outreach program spent months helping kids from at risk homes paint murals on a number of buildings in the neighbourhood. Everyone took a lot of pride in it and it helped us feel like a community. Now they are all destroyed by what you would call 'art' and had to be painted over. So you know what you can do with your opinion on art.

westcoastboi

Jul 18, 2013 at 9:08am

I live downtown and tagging severely pisses me off.... the amount of money involved with paint and labour both for scrawling crap on someone's wall and then for covering it over would feed a village in Mali - what a senseless waste of time and energy. A task force should be set up to find these selfish, narcissistic reprobates.

whistlersled

Jul 18, 2013 at 1:56pm

To: David W Lemley
Please give me your home address as I have some tags I would like to paint on your home. I'll do it late at night and in a difficult-to-reach area so when you want to paint over it, you can risk injuring yourself. My tags are expressions of art even though it takes 5 seconds to spray my name on your wall. Just post your address here as I'm sure there are many other Mohinders who want to share their art with you.