Was it the boy camel or the girl camel?

Graffiti is totally on the increase in Seattle over the past 6 weeks. Areas of neighborhoods that don't usually get graffiti are seeing it--along with kiddie vandalism like eggings and what-not--and those that get graffiti are getting way more and different graffiti.

What gives?

I only tag cars. I think it's hilarious.

@2 - Too many immature shitheads with too much time on their hands.

Shit like this isn't art, it isn't expression, it's just garden variety criminal activity by a bunch of attention whores.

Yeah, graffiti is totally on the increase in Seattle -- and most of the staff of the Stranger is "pro-graffiti". So talk to your coworkers, Dominic. Particularly Jonah.

COMTE, I went out to check, and they looked the same... at first. I'd never realized the camels were ANATOMICALLY CORRECT!!!!

Anyballs, it was the boy camel. The girl camel now has a sign around her neck that reads, "Please to not graffiti our camels."

Yeah I agree, graffiti totally is on the rise. I often try to understand the psychology of the graffiti "artist." Is there self-image so low that they only way they can gain satisfaction is by seeing their name branded on public and private property? Do they enjoy living in an environment made ugly by their actions? Are they truly expressing an artistic urge or just being mischeivous bastards? What the case may be, I think they are massive douchebags and I wish I could catch one of them in the act. I have this fantasy of coming up behind them when they are scrawling their tage on a wall or garage door and plunking right in the back with a 90 mph fastball. And then imagine them being forced to clean up all the graffiti the neighborhood.

The house my family rents was recently tagged, twice. So weird and pointless.

Granite? Doubtful. That's super-hard to carve. I'm guessing sandstone.

tco, your fantasy is a lot milder than mine. Mine involves severed limbs and paint cans emptied into the miscreant's esophagus.

The motivation is the classic youth yearning to be a tough guy in a tough environment. Graffiti as an artform speaks of mean streets, slums, abandoned buildings, and sometimes works in that context. We don't have it, but we do have youth who crave it: look how street I am.

Alas, our "artists" are without exception talentless dweebs with incredibly stoopid choice of venues.

Wow. That sucks. Tagging is so...1990s.

Kind of like skateboarding.

I've read of a couple of studies in Chicago, and tagging has a lot to do with gangs marking territory. A recent upswing probably has more to do with the upswing in gang activity.

That and the fact that we have the worst mayor in America who seems to be diverting all the money I pay in parking tickets to his own accounts.

Where do they live or go to school and can you post a pic of them?

Hope somebody tags their face.

Indeed, every time I see a tag, I want to smash a taggers hand with a hammer. Useless little shitheads.

yeah...the CD is having ethical tagging problems....usually it's abandoned buildings, but recently it's been a lot of fences, trees, houses...

and if i see this solo! dude in the process of tagging...watch out.

@11

Don't associate me with the asshole that did this!

Taggers are a bunch of punks who like to force other people to deal with their bullshit. Most tags that I've seen lately are like this, inflicted on decent looking, if not attractive, buildings and public art, and also happen to be on materials that can't be painted over or cleaned effectively.

stop oppressing me!

For the record I think taggers suck too.

For the record I think taggers suck too.

And I have a stuttering problem apparently.

I was nowhere near those super-expensive houses that burnt down!

And somebody put my fingerprints on the igniter that failed to go off!

the wall under my dining room window, which faces the alley, was recently tagged, so I asked my black friend and former gangsta, Tyrone Strangeways (not his real name; honorary blood brother) to decipher what it meant. Apparently it translates as: PAF, DBTR which stands for "Poor Ass Fag, Don't bother to Rob"

I'm relieved, but chagrined.

re "ethical tagging problems"

that poor camel. it's when they disrespect nice public spaces with boring tags that I get pissed.

Otherwise, I love street art. Proper bombing, not just lame, one-color tags. Any asshole can do that. Assholes like this guy deserve to get caught and forced to clean everything.

It's really a shame because some street art is so good. http://www.graffiti.org/

Chicken kid stickers for the win, easily removable.

Graffiti is *not* an art form when it is merely a "tag."

I accept that some graffiti can be art or art-like, but mere tags are just a spray-painted version of pee marking.

agreed with #26, this is not graffiti, this is shitty vandalism, performed with all the skill of an 8 year old.

Let's see... Taggers do this crap so that people will see what they've done. The more people that see their tags, the better. Hmm, I wonder if posting this on the internets will increase or decrease tagging?

Graffiti isn't art it's vandalism. Basically, the losers who tag can not create so they destroy.
Beyond that their is the unjustified egoism of the taggers. Who is "MedC" and why should anyone care. If he/she were anyone that would not have to cowardly mark their name when no one is looking.

Some graffiti is quite stunning. I used to go out and walk around NYC just to take in the fresh works.

This, however, is stupidity. And the sculpture isn't even good, either.

Who is MedC? MedC is an unflushed toilet.

Turnabout is fair play. Since graffiti "artists" wreck other people's or the public's property but likely have no property of their own, they should instead have the logo of the Wall Street Journal tattooed on their backs.

I think you meant their foreheads, @32.

Dude, why are you busting on "Urban Art"? Blacks have to have a way of expressing themselves. And considering many of them lack respect for private or public property, let alone artistic talent, this is their only outlet.

Your post is racist to the core.

"May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits, crotch, and spray-paint nozzles."

Carnac, is that you?