delible ink

sunday night and with that ifidon’tthinkaboutitmaybestayupallnightperhapsmondaywon’tcome andicanjustkeepthinkingreadingcreatingdoing thing going on.  weightless, i’ve floated between reading a lackluster article on the social side of boomtown fort mcmurray’s oil rush to being near tears at the oil continuing to rush out of the ocean floor of the gulf of mexico, rushing onwards towards sensitive shorelines of ecology and local economy to getting up to speed on a new term and my new trade to observing art in its many beautiful forms.

so that last link, the graffiti.  victoria “urban living” mag boulevard arrives gratis, periodically, with my sunday TC.  today was the day.  and in it was one article that caught my attention: the rather ripped-off entitled “War of the Walls,” a piece focusing a bylaw officer’s paint remover on  the victoria graffiti scene.  no, that’s not correct – the article focuses on the graffiti and the nuisance it causes; there’s no scene painted.  near the end, the author gets something of a second opinion from locally legendary ex-writer peter allen (check here for what he’s up to now) and with the opinion came an insight from allen that clanged:

According to Allen, …[it's] a graffiti writer’s job to hit forgotten areas. Graffiti is like a neglect indicator: the more graffiti, the more an area needs attention.

i closed my eyes and envisioned a walk through the city, searching for places we’ve forgotten, places now calling for attention in kaleidoscope hues.  could taggers be considered the leucocytes of urbanity, the first-responders to locations of neglect and illness?  will we find, nearby, decaying human tissue?

i thought also – again – of the definition and evaluation of art – what makes tagging a public nuisance while other outdoor art forms are heralded (no question mark).  realizing the depth of my ignorance on the subject, I sought out (also now inactive) local writer Effect (that’s his stuff leftmost in the “forms” link, above, and his tag, below).  the chat with him was illuminating and expanding, and i was sent away with a reading and viewing list i’ve scratched at, but will need time to make a more permanent impression.  there’s an article here – and perhaps a collaborative project – but the ideas will take a while to get out of the can and up onto the wall.