Graffiti

Something that has always fascinated me is graffiti. I'm not talking about scrawling your name over a wall with a fat pen, I'm talking proper, artistic, beautiful masterpieces.

As I grew up, I found the drab greyness of suburban life rather a drag; the average building around where I lived (Uxbridge and Hillingdon, North-West London) was decidedly dreary in comparison to the beauty of the natural world. There were parks, sure, but they were boring, built not for attractiveness but for functionality: all children's play areas and football pitches. The urban environment lacked imagination, sparkle and colour.

I started to notice graffiti at quite a young age and immediately found it interesting. Why would someone go to the time of spraying such elaborate designs on a public wall? Why would they risk getting caught by the police for the sake of painting? The rebelliousness really struck a chord with me. I will be the first to admit, I was a  good kid. Maybe too good. I never did anything wrong, and part of me regrets that these days - to have been out there exploring and messing about must have been exciting.

My younger brother used to go out tagging at night, he would take a thick yellow or black paint pen and doodle his name or a signature 'tag' on some wall somewhere. He'd spend hours practicing on sheets of A4 paper, wasting hundreds of them, and it boggled my mind, how someone could be out there doing this stuff and not want to actually create something beautiful. At that moment, I realised I understood proper graffiti - it is art. Tagging is just destroying property, it's ugly and pointless, whereas someone who can put even a moment's thought into an original and quality design before spraying can be regarded as an artist who wants to brighten up the bleary, grey urban landscape.

For my birthday this year, my partner bought me a book called Graffiti World by Nicholas Ganz. If you've ever had more than a passing interest in graffiti, I highly recommend it as a rather detailed and thorough guide to street art all over the world. Reading interviews in the book with these artists has helped confirm my belief that ultimately, graffiti is a good thing. It not only pretties up the place, but it can also be used to convey important political or ideological messages, or simply provide a moment of insight and inspiration.

My favourite pieces are usually very simple messages that contain a great truth or idea in very few words.

My other favourite type of graffiti are those that combine epic characters and abstract murals and paintings.

Seak

Faith 47

rockGroup

Daim

Corail

Maybe someday I will try to develop and perfect my own writing style, but I am very unlikely to ever use it out on the street. Luckily, I am quite happy to bask in the magnificence of these writers and their art without going out and practising it for myself.