West Saint John railway graffiti

In west Saint John this concrete wall that I believe to be former railway infrastructure has been painted with interesting work for a long while.  I finally headed to get some photos this evening.

Broad Street creatures

The purple people eater and a skeleton are just a few of the creatures painted around on the concrete that remains at an industrial property on Broad Street.

Consequences

I support the idea that graffiti can be both a form of protest and an art form.  Still, I respect the fact that property owners or those responsible for public property have the right to protect the places and buildings they care about.  If an artist believes his or her work belongs somewhere and puts it up without permission, they have to be willing to accept and even expect consequences.

The taggers who sprawled paint across the rear of the Imperial Theatre have been arrested.  According to 94.1 FM news:

“The two men responsible for spray painting the Imperial Theatre and the area behind the Hilton are facing charges.
Staff Sergeant Jim Fleming says the two men caused at least $20,000 dollars in damage and will appear in court on July 6th.
He says charging them is a key step in preventing more vandalism because it will stop young people from doing the same.”

Maybe I’m going soft in my anti-authoritarianism as I age, but this is similar to my thoughts about people getting arrested for illegal activities at protests.  If you believe that doing something illegal is necessary or “right” you should be willing to deal with the consequences – fair or otherwise.

Private property

The president of Hayward and Warwick wrote a letter to the editor expressing disappointment about graffiti at the rear of his building (the owners painted over a picture of a girl with balloons, and apparently someone with a spray can came back and tagged the wall). 

While I liked balloon girl, I respect the right of a building owner maintain the exterior of his building the way he finds fit. 

I still find graffiti interesting but wanted to balance this interest with a respect for property owners. 

It would be great if artists could work with interested property owners to create interesting aesthetics – that way owners wouldn’t have to paint over unwanted work.

Interestingly located tagging

This building on St. Andrew Street is boarded up and clearly not inhabited, but someone seems to have thought a fresh coat of paint was needed to make the property less of an eyesore.  Someone with a spray can seems to have thought a new canvass was  created for his/her work.

Around the corner from the fresh painted boarded-up building is this crowned work (not dissimilar from the Harbour Bridge support pier work I posted a while back) which is also located two blocks from PULSE Inc.’s Wentworth Street office.  I’ve read that one of the goals of this South End group is to get rid of graffiti.

Balloon girl is gone

The silhouette of a girl holding a bunch of balloons in the alley by trinity Church has been painted over. Here’s what the kid with balloons looked like when i snapped a picture in April.

Saint John 225 Celebration Chalk Art

This chalk art is located in front of Harbour Station, where Saint John 225 festivities will be kicked off tomorrow. It’s worth a walk-by before its rained away. 

Worm on Harbour Passage

I wanted to get a photo of this crown wearing worm before the section of Harbour Passage under the Harbour Bridge is blocked for bridge repairs.

Balloons by a church

This balloon holding child is in the alley to the south of Trinity Church.

Train tags

Rockwood water tower

I went out last evening to take some photos at Rockwood Park.  I took this shot of the water tower late into the evening and played around with the colour settings in IrfanView.

Tin Can Beach graffiti

I thought this graffiti was in an interesting spot – it must have been done at low tide, or the artist got his/her feet wet.

Skate Park Stencil

I noticed this stencil on a pillar supporting the overpass above the Station One skate park.

Train tags

D’Funk’d at Cape Spencer

Tin Can Beach can see you.

Wild Art

I heard an interesting radio documentary on The Current this evening called Wild Art. The documentary discussed the out-sider art world of Vancouver and how drug treatment programs and support for those living in poverty has helped some struggling artists turn their work into careers.

North End Tags

I saw these tags on the back of the school near Shamrock Park.

Ack!

The Telegraph Journal published an article today about a chemical PULSE plans on using to scrub away the graffiti in the uptown and south end of Saint John.

Tags on a train