Not dead yet

Whoa sorry, my bad blog readers. My academic, social, love, family life all went a little haywire for a bit there but about a year latter I return to talk about the place I love and all of the paint, stickers, wheatpaste, and whatever else poster all over it. I have a mess of mail and a large slush pile of photos to post. That said back to updating.

Great little editorial out of The Herald Dispatch about a "victory for the community"

"Two graffiti vandals, who were charged in April with defacing a traffic control box in downtown Huntington, will begin their punishment Monday, spending 30 days in jail under a work-release agreement that allows them to maintain their employment. That will be followed by five months probation, during which they must complete 100 hours of graffiti removal."

You got caught breaking the law so you pay the price. The problem here is both a legal, business, artist issue. Not everyone putting art up is Picasso or Banksy but graffiti is part of the narrative of a place. Admittedly this is not the narrative the lawmakers and business owners wish to tell. The artists only have control over where they put their art and subject matter, they lack control over the ability to produce art. The drive to create is inborn and can not be stopped. In the case of these two gentlemen the place was an electric box. Not a store window, nor a street sign, but a traffic control box. The City of Huntington owns the traffic control box and the artists are citizens of the city and I argue have as much claim to the ownership of the exterior of the box as the city. Designate public space for art and the graffiti will self-regulate in the unoffensive, thought provoking, harmless spaces. Cooperation not conviction is the key step in solving the problem.




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A big meaty bit of news and something from Monongalia county

Artist puts his yolk on city.
I've heard about these eggs in Charleston. Someone went as far as to paint bacon with one. Oh-No is painting eggs. Everyone eats eggs... not too big... its brilliant. A good interview with the Artist in this.

The Herald Dispatch has an Editorial about punishing Graffiti offenders which boils down to this.
"In theft cases, that threshold is $1,000, meaning that if the value of the stolen property is $1,000 or more, the offense is a felony with more harsh penalties. It's not clear why the threshold for a felony destruction of property conviction is $2,500, when the loss to the property owner is just as real. That discrepancy should be fixed by lowering the threshold for a felony charge when people deface or destroy property"

They also published eleven photos of graffiti downtown. The 4th and 9th photos are my favorite. They both feature visitor or one of the other wheatpasters. squid, zombie, deadface. also make some appearances.

A lot of this backlash recently is because the influx of people to Huntington in the fall. Two artists were caught in September behind city hall. bad timing? or a heavier police influence?

As promised here is some graffiti. which is from neither Charleston or Huntington but Morgantown.


political. nice.

wvu will die in 2012? vengeful.
I think the star of David gave you away.



asian stencil theme?


oh get over it.

50th post

This is my 50th post.

Scroll down if you don't care and just want to see the graffiti.

I found graffiti that disgusts me and delights me. What started as a fun hobby is still a fun hobby. A place to store these images before they are painted over and torn down. I have been supported by West Virginians who thought the paint and paper on the wall was more than gang markings or the byproduct of the skateboarder culture but a legitimate work of art. I like to think of Graffiti as an edit to the programing of a city or place. It makes the world we live in more personal.


For new readers who don't want to read the backlog but want to see some West Virginia graff.
A slideshow



Thanks to everyone who has sent in photos. Also I would like to thank The Charleston Daily Mail, The Charleston Gazette, and The Harold Dispatch for their work in covering graffiti in West Virginia years before me. Be it Civil War soldiers carving their names in a church or calling out the morons who paint on store windows, our local news is there.
Speaking of
The Harold Dispatch has published an Editorial on their website.
Anti-graffiti push needed in downtown Huntington.

Most importantly I would like to thank the graffiti artists who make this all possible.
And to speak of them here are some good ones





I looked at the other side of the mailbox from my last post and discovered this wheatpaste.It always cracks me up when there is graffiti on the Graffiti bins.

click this one and look at the detail on his chest and the head.
This is just a random mishmosh. By itself bizarre but collected together it becomes something more.

I have an Idea

Suggestions sought for floodwall art
A local committee soon will be calling on artists for suggestions, designs and renderings for concrete art panels that will line the floodwall in downtown Huntington.

The Floodwall Art Oversight Committee, organized by the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce's Young Professionals Committee, plans to publish a request for proposals by the end of the month

The committee is considering two themes for the floodwall panels -- a historic timeline of Huntington and the significance of the Ohio River and railroad -- but are open to more themes and different designs

The panels would be located near the main entrance of Harris Riverfront Park, facing downtown Huntington.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to make downtown look better but the cheapest option is to make the wall public. Open season on the floodwalls. At least then we can get some color. And a train? Trains already pass along the floodwalls. Do not be discouraged from submitting ideas, it is not exactly your $20,000 either.

Stickers!

40 new surveillance cameras in Huntington

keep your eyes open.



if this critter looks familiar I recommend looking here

This sticker tells a story about two cats and a poop. A true master at captivating the imagination. I wonder how it ended.

I wish it was that cold now.