article about the changing graffiti environment in detroit

[edgar_rhode]

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/write...&ICID=ref_fark

[EGrant]

I'm all for the arts and I think some of this graffiti is incredible and even historic, but bemoaning the demise of graffiti opportunities on such immaculate buildings like Brewster-Douglass and the Packard is laughable.

[gumby]

And this is why I hate graffiti culture. Lamenting the loss of squalor? I am sorry I will take occupied structures and a safer environment any day.

[Hypestyles]

What happened to the Banksy mural that was claimed by someone?

[jt1]

And this is why I hate graffiti culture. Lamenting the loss of squalor? I am sorry I will take occupied structures and a safer environment any day.

The appalling thing about the article is that the writer and many of the taggers listed won't live in the overly tagged, destructed areas but will happily decry the improvements.

And, regardless of the writers credentials, anyone who considers the fire extinguisher taggers to be artists or someone worth mentioning shows they care more about destruction than art.

Fuck all of them unless they are willing to move to the city and live in the destructed areas and do something there

[kathy2trips]

Consider a maze in a Graffiti Park.

If I was a developer, what I'd do is 1) rehabilitate a neighborhood. 2) let them know that graffiti on community buildings is considered vandalism & and defacing The People's property. Prosecution, retribution and community service repairing the damage will occur because the developer will in return 3) build a maze in a park that will serve as a "graffiti park" in which artists can reserve a space on a section of maze wall to express themselves. Local artists can apply to have a section of wall.

Everybody wins with the Graffiti Park concept. Brick is essentially ruined by paint, and with so much brick in Detroit, it's really a problem. Our beautiful and no-so-beautiful buildings are no longer defaced. Our amateur artists are recognized in one space people can go to and appreciate, while having fun navigating the maze. Graffiti maniacs who don't care to use the maze will be publically shamed, outed and dissed by other artists and residents. Photos of each section of wall can be taken for portfolios. Who knows, careers can be born. After all the sections have been utilized for a year or two [[depending on demand for space), paint the cinder block over and the process starts again.