this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2026
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Lol sorry, are you anti graffiti? On the bear site? Its one of the most basic forms of resistance against the concept of private property there is! Street art is often the expression of the creative who lacks the tools, resources, and space to be creative. Its a form of radical reclamation in the face of the enclosure of public spaces. It is the art of the oppressed and marginalized. Hobos created entire forms of language expressed through graffiti to communicate to other travelers if places where hostile or safe, if they had food or would provide lodging.
It is proletarian through and through!
I'm not against street art, I think it's really cool. I'm mostly just wondering what will happen next and keeping my favourite bears updated on what the taggers do and what the city does in relation to these DPRK tags.
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i dont think they're against it, look at the last post, they just posted because of the DPRK tag
Why is street art in quotes then? Seems to imply it's not art.
graffiti includes things that aren't reasonably art, like whoever wrote hemp on that dumpster in normal ass letters. i'd scarequote "street art" because it's euphemistic and because in context we're including stuff that's less artistic than drawing a dong on the bathroom stall.
All art is a form of progression from crude to elegant. In fact, you can even see that there are relational forms inside that specific tag that also appear in some other more "elegant" tags. For example:
The M in HEMP:
Other Ms in the image:
There is a pretty clear language of strokes and movements between these characters. Some of these are done in paint marker, others in spray paint. Learning how to control a spray can is an important skill to hone. Often these people lack the space to practice this, and even practicing it (if they are a youth) can be viewed negatively within their own home. These could be part of an initiation process as well. I really don't know. However, to say that this is not "reasonably" art is, I think, disingenuous because art is a process that you hone over time. I don't think people go out into the street and write HEMP on a dumpster for no reason. They do it because they are either A) being initiated into something or B) practicing. The reason you would be out in the field practicing is because the activity isn't just about producing the art; it's about producing the art without getting caught.
This. I'm a big fan of street art... when it comes to graffiti on par with/below bathroom stall dicks (which I'd argue can have some artistic value, depending on the amount of detail and if it's drawn doing something, even if it's "gross" subject matter) for artistic meaning, well, I can appreciate the "fuck the system" of it, especially on the property of corporations or shitty governments (less so on municipal infrastructure in a city that does its best to meet public needs, though), but I can acknowledge that a lot of it is kinda ugly.
Actual street art, though, graffiti with artistic meaning and aesthetic value, I'm a lot more in favour of, because yeah, it can look quite pretty or interesting, and I appreciate the effort that goes into it. Street art is a valid art form, and I dislike the use of that term as a euphemism for low effort tagging.
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defacing public infrastructure isn't art. And all it takes to be creative is a pencil and paper. A lot easier to acquire and use than a spray pain can.
Lmao. You think taggers and graffiti artists don't do that already?
If taggers do that they apparently aren't sharing it with the world.
Lol yeah OK. I'll just post some concepts I've sketched out of my illegal activities on the internet. That's a very good idea.
Most of the tagging in Seattle isn't even block lettering. It's some random scribbles. They probably aren't even in a normal mental state doing this stuff. People will go out of their way to draw a couple black lines on a random object. It baffles me.
lol