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.
k
