Painting Detroit

[canuck]

I just opened my eyes a little and still find it painful; not in anyway a happy thing.

[majohnson]

Wow, isn't it great? You can do whatever you want to do in Detroit.

You want to break into a building and cover it with paint? Just make sure you are in Detroit and call it 'art'.
Wanna take rip through the streets in a snowmobile? Just make sure you are in Detroit and have enough people with you to feel legitimate.


I have a problem with people who [[1) do wrong in Detroit and [[2) popularize their activities as cool.
They fail to see that illegal activities, when committed in Detroit, are still illegal.

"I am not a bad person, I am making the city more hip and thus contributing to its comeback."
Contributing to law-does-not-matter/criminal mideset is hurting Detroit.

How about actually contributing to society by doing something useful.
Create legal art or open an art gallery.
Create a business where people can ride snomobiles or motocross bikes depending on the season.

For clarification . . .
This is not about who commits the crime or even the obvious fact that people commit crimes.
It is the smugness that leads a person to draw public attention to the crime and the implication that flows from it- That the illegal activity is not a crime!

For example:
You are a bad person for beating a homeless man for no reason, you are worse for posting the video on Youtube.com.
You are a bad person for vandalizing community buildings and even a worse person for enshrining the activity with a public website and solicitng online traffic from those interested in the community generally.

[DetroitPlanner]

Nah I just want to litter my neighborhood with tire dumps, get drunk and pee in alleys.

I am glad I am not the only who feels ma's pain!

[jbd441]

Wow, isn't it great? You can do whatever you want to do in Detroit.

You want to break into a building and cover it with paint? Just make sure you are in Detroit and call it 'art'.
Wanna take rip through the streets in a snowmobile? Just make sure you are in Detroit and have enough people with you to feel legitimate.

Wow, you must have seen the YouTube video. I think some people feel legitimate by themselves.

[adamjab19]

That snowmobile video was pretty cool actually!

Anyway, not sure if you are saying, "Go away you unruly suburbanites creating the havoc in my city." But really it's been the city residents who have slowly shown that you can dismantle a city with petty crimes and unruly behavior and have no punishment or law come in their way. Not that this justifies anyone's actions, but it's a general feeling of the region that Detroit is somewhat lawless...

[WPitonya]

If I lived in Detroit, I would become an artist who does the complete opposite....I would "urban explore" and set up classrooms in schools, dentist's offices in the Broderick, paint a single wall to look like new, etc. This would leave a real impression.....imagine walking though an abandoned building that is essentially destroyed and coming across one tidy room!

I started typing this as a joke, but I think it may have some validity hahaha.

[WPitonya]

Please see my post in "Painting Detroit."

[citylover]

you sure can...

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110...body-under-bed

[bailey]

Wow, isn't it great? You can do whatever you want to do in Detroit.

You want to break into a building and cover it with paint? Just make sure you are in Detroit and call it 'art'.
Wanna take rip through the streets in a snowmobile? Just make sure you are in Detroit and have enough people with you to feel legitimate.

Wanna put up a statue of a dystopian sci fi character? Just throw out a tweet and 50k will show up in the mail to make it happen....and no one will note the irony of the subject matter.

[adamjab19]

If I lived in Detroit, I would become an artist who does the complete opposite....I would "urban explore" and set up classrooms in schools, dentist's offices in the Broderick, paint a single wall to look like new, etc. This would leave a real impression.....imagine walking though an abandoned building that is essentially destroyed and coming across one tidy room!

I started typing this as a joke, but I think it may have some validity hahaha.

You are right that would be a GREAT idea! Seriously. It's almost like when you drive through a shitty neighborhood and there is that one awesome house. Honestly, this would be very cool to see!!

And to the artist with this paint scheme. I don't get it and technically you are breaking the law regardless of your point. But between the orange dots and orange houses etc. abandoned things have been painted in Detroit before....

[WPitonya]

The ultimate irony would be if you were arrested or got a ticket for trespassing and you had cleaning supplies and brooms with you.

I seriously might do this or arrange for an artist to do this!

I am DEFINITELY opposed to defacing property that is not yours, such as throwing paint all over it and calling it "art."

[lizaanne]

John - you are a very selfish, childish, and woefully immature person.

You don't own it. You don't have a right to vandalize it. And I don't care what you call it - it's still vandalism.

This is the entitlement mentality that has brought Detroit to where it is. Time to stop.

Go away John, the city doesn't need anymore ruin porn.

[izzyindetroit]

If I lived in Detroit, I would become an artist who does the complete opposite....I would "urban explore" and set up classrooms in schools, dentist's offices in the Broderick, paint a single wall to look like new, etc. This would leave a real impression.....imagine walking though an abandoned building that is essentially destroyed and coming across one tidy room!

I started typing this as a joke, but I think it may have some validity hahaha.

http://www.reversegraffitiproject.com/index.html

this is a few years old.

[hamtown mike]

Painter/photographer, whatever you claim to be, there is no denying that you are a trespasser and a destroyer of property.

If you were truly doing this for the sake of art you would have no need to have your name attached to it.

bad form.

[Mr. Houdini]

When I lived in Downtown Detroit in the mid-90s, I wouldn't stop for traffic lights at night. I'd look both ways and drive right through. There was never anyone around anyway. Plus, I know that if I got a ticket, you can fight it in court by simply saying, "There was a car following me. I was getting away from them." I saw that excuse work in court. So, I'd drive up the curbs, down sidewalks, through red lights, speed. Whatever. It didn't matter. There was no one around to harm anyway.

[Downtown Lady]

I dont see it as vandalism, I see it as creating what I want.

...on property that is not yours to alter.

For the most part, nothing is broken into.

Which means that, sometimes, buildings are broken into.

I paint abandoned property without anyone saying it is wanted there; no vote will be taken because art in society is what I make it.

Dear John Kuhn:

I hope you get arrested. Other than that, I am amazed that you would go on a public forum and admit to these crimes and use your real name.

[Carey]

Outsiders disrespecting Detroit is an old issue, not that longevity makes it any less legitimate today.. The Metro Times did an excellent article on the subject about 25 years ago. And, in 1984, Detroit Police officials blamed the post-World Series riot on suburban young people [[who spent Game Five drinking outside of Tiger Stadium while the cops worried about the crowd misbheaving inside).

[Swimmaven]

I like the photos of the painting environments you did. The colors are perfect with the rusted "canvas."

When I took the train out of D.C. in 2009, I realized why some people do graffiti art. it's too cover up ugly places.

[Det_ard]

The buzz about Detroit being wide open for artist-types is attracting way too many simplistic, self-important and unreflective goofballs who think their idea of calling attention to abandoned Detroit buildings is 1) unique-as-a-snowflake, 2) helpful and 3) "art".

With each new "installation" I find myself liking 1990's Detroit more and artists less.

[canuck]

Yes, well if it makes you feel better, this kind of nonsense happens everywhere else; but of course, the problem in Detroit is the number of abandoned places and the lack of protection. I live two houses away from a high school and the kids break the tempered glass in the bus shelter every couple of weeks. There is a transit co. crew that comes and repairs this mess throughout the year.
Vandalism is vandalism period.

The only graffiti I respect is the mural work on allocated walls and there is a program by the city of Montreal to join up building owners and graffitti artists. I did a mural in 1981 which though faded is still there. I can handle the stuff on freeway ramps but not on public or private buildings without consent. Some of these murals are amazing, and the kids deserve to have access to space if their aim is to contribute something worthwhile. I think there are opportunities in Detroit for young artists who want to do that through similar programs.

[Swimmaven]

Same as it ever was . . . I used to root around in abandoned buildings in the the late 70's with my petty criminal friend, Bob Lane. [[ I expect he's gone from this life by now). We would take photos with slr's and have prints made up.

Wish there had been digital camera's back then. I could have taken thousands of pictures.

[Swimmaven]

Same as it ever was . . . I used to root around in abandoned buildings in the the late 70's with my petty criminal friend, Bob Lane. [[ I expect he's gone from this life by now). We would take photos with slr's and have prints made up.

Wish there had been digital camera's back then. I could have taken thousands of pictures.

. . .10,000 of pictures . . .

[East Detroit]

From now on, all tagging of buildings, tossing of tires into fields, and throwing of garbage out car windows will be done in Bingham Farms, instead of Detroit.

[East Detroit]

If CCS implicitly approves of this type of activity, they deserve a little less respect and maybe a visit from the cops to their event.

Wasn't it also a CCS project a few years ago where they were painting on parking meters, etc... some kind of fish or something stupid like that?

[jjw]

It's a lot easier to throw some paint on a wall and snap a pic than painting a mural--true urban artists. That stuff looks like shit. It's been done better with time.