I'm sure that you won't post this on your website- you want the face
of graffiti
to remain seemingly "uneducated". So I challenge you to. If you are
honest, and
with principles, you will. In case you don't know what e-mail I'm
referencing,
I'll send it again.
I'm not sure who is the webmaster of your site, quite frankly I don't
particularly care. Rather, I'd like to call you and your supporters
into
question. What, precisely, do you KNOW about graffiti culture? You've
expressed
a frank misunderstanding of it on this site, more importantly, you've
expressed
an ignorance to it. Graffiti is art of the 21st century. Its an
artform that
actually extends further into time that you may or may not realize.
Its an
expression of creativity and culture, using as a canvas what was (and
is)
available to the artists. Have you ever truly looked at a piece? Have
you
actually taken the time out of your day to appreciate the detail and
imagination
that goes into the creation of a piece? Have you studied the lines and
the way
that the colors blend? Or do you only reserve that kind of attention
to
antiquated European art forms? What exactly is it that bothers you SO
much about
graffiti? I suppose your answer will be that its the defamation of
YOUR
property. I imagine that when the founder of this organization found
graffiti on
HIS house, he was outraged. He is, afterall, an American. And personal
property,
wealth, well, any display of excess, is by far more imporant than any
indication
of the evolution of society. Especially when the society thats
evolving is
"hip-hop", right?
I am appalled by the importance that you have placed upon fighting
graffiti
in our society. I'm actually frightened for you. It seems that you are
completely unaware of what is ACTUALLY going on in the world. An AIDS
epidemic,
mass starvation, excessive poverty, systematic killings, a war...
should I go
on, or are you being reminded of anything? And yet you've chosen to
make
graffiti your campaign. Graffiti. Art. In the face of a malicious
world, you
prosecute the artists. The question that begs to be asked is what do
you think
of the billboards that are now scrawled upon subways? The
advertisements that
cover nearly every building? Its obvious that we as consumer Americans
are
terrified of any wasted space. But should that wasted space be used in
a
constructive manner rather than the brainwashing of the American
consumer, we
run in terror, right?
Please, correct me if I am wrong in stating any of the aformentioned.
I would
love to be enlightened by you. I would love to go through life in the
same
terror of other cultures that you seem to. I think I would benefit
from it. And
I have a suggestion for you. Prioritize. Stop wasting the life (and
money) that
you have been given. You are a disgrace to humanity. I am embarrassed
for you.
No, I am not a graffiti artist. I simply recognize, and love art. (By
the way, I
was appalled at the ridiculousness of this quote "Art is supposed to
imitate
nature; art is supposed to be beautiful! " Good grief, how ignorant
can you be.)
And I'll be damned if I am going to be denied that pleasure by some
reactionary
group afraid of the value of their homes dropping.
Very sincerely yours,
Anne McDonnell
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: Furthermore
So you're not a vandal but you support vandalizing the
property of others? but you are the educated and civilized
one, is that correct?
As for what we or I know about graffiti culture, I can go
way out on a limb here and state that I probably have more
inside knowledge about graffiti and it's subculture than
most graffiti vandals themselves, I have studied it, I have
lived it and I have gathered every piece of work written
about graffiti over the last 15+ years, I have talked to and
interviewed thousands of vandals and real and true graffiti
artist. I have also interviewed and met with many of those
in every form of graffiti abatement. I have seen great works
of graffiti art, and I have seen kids ruin their lives for
throwing a simple and meaningless tag on a wall, just to say
they were able to vandalize some property. You seem to have
this whole idea that all graffiti is art, well I disagree
with you, throw a tag on a wall is not art, nor is it
artistic in value, it was never meant to be "Art" by the
vandal, it was meant to be a display of vandalism, nothing
more, and NO, it is not my view of it, it is from the
vandals themselves. Nograf works to stop this type of
graffiti, not stop Graffiti.
You also feel that it should be accepted because it is the
current "evolution of society" I am here to tell you that it
is not an evolution, this is something that has gone on
since the dawn of time, when there was no such thing and pen
and paper, they wrote on cave walls to tell their story,
then over the years, they evolved to the point where they
was no need to paint on walls as they had the tools to put
their thoughts done on paper, or canvas, or electronic. The
true fact of the matter is this, once "kids" grow up, they
move away from graffiti vandalism, Yes, there are a few who
will do it till they die, but they are few.
As always, we get e-mails like this and 99% of the time, it
comes from an .edu address. Someone who feels that they are
highly educated and whatever they feel or think, is more
important than someone else, They love to point out that we
should place their message on the web site, because it is
from "an educated person" not some brain dead vandal. They
also love to point out that there are other problems in the
world, An AIDS epidemic,mass starvation, excessive poverty,
systematic killings, a war....... War, Hmmm, isn't most wars
due to the people having mass starvation, excessive poverty,
systematic killings? And they want to stop it? So is a war
bad if it stops these things?
How about the fact that we spend over 30 billion a year
covering graffiti vandalism, if graffiti is so nice as you
seem to state, then why do property values drop 10 to 20% in
an area that has graffiti, why do people avoid businesses
that are in areas covered with graffiti? why are their
billions of people who despise graffiti vandalism? But this
is a popular sub culture you say, I would think that if it
were so popular, people would love to have graffiti on or
near their property, correct?
But hey, we must all be uneducated people here because we
feel that respect for the property of others is important. I
am so thankful to get your e-mail so I could see the error
of our ways, I see now that to be in the educated crowd, I
need to disrespect the property of others, do as I please
with no regard for laws (because they must have been made by
uneducated people also)
I think I will go ahead and shut this information web site
down, now that I know what the true meaning of graffiti
is... I thank you so much, now I will have much more time to
go out and put forth more effort into breaking laws,
disrespecting other peoples property, causing business
owners to pay out large amounts of money to remove
graffiti...But wait, graffiti vandalism is popular, everyone
loves it, these business owners will not care, the graffiti
will attract business, homeowners property values will
skyrocket, and all the troubles in the world (mass
starvation, excessive poverty, systematic killings) will go
away... How could I have been so foolish, I thank you again
for your educated view...
Randy Campbell
President and Executive Director
The Nograf Network Inc