Calgary News Watch

From names scrawled in 3D letters with black grease pencils to the more elaborate scenes encompassing every color of the rainbow, graffiti is everywhere. It hides on back alley fences. It lists who was where and when on bathroom stall doors. Occasionally, it increases speed limit signs with over-painted numbers. And sometimes, it’s a stunning display of a truly artistic nature.

The problem, besides the fact that it is plain illegal in Calgary, also lies in the definition. How do you regulate what is art and what is scribble? What makes it art? And what constitutes vandalism?

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the city is touchy on the subject. This week alone, city police confiscated hundreds of graffiti tools after a long 7 month investigation. The investigation centered on 120 displays and the questioning of 8 youths.

“It’s sad that these kids have to be busted the way they are when, ego aside, what they really want to do is create art,” said David Brunning, 28, a local artist who expresses his graffiti on the legal parchment of canvas, as opposed to buildings. “Some of them just want to do art work, so we need to figure a way work with the city to create space and to allow freedom of an entrepreneurial spirit.”

Certainly, all kids, especially at risk youth, need a creative outlet. Somewhere, there’s a middle ground on this issue, one that should be explored to its full potential. Under direction, and with permission, there are walls whose owners would willingly allow “graffiti” in it’s artistic sense.

Downtown lounge business owner Shayne Elliot did just that in 2004. He hired graffiti artists to decorate the entire exterior of his building. It gave the true graffiti artists a chance to show off their talents. But within a year, Elliot was ordered to paint over the graffiti.

Certainly Pablo Picasso didn’t have this much of an issue when he expressed himself differently than any of the accepted peers of his day. Source: Calgary Hearald

This entry was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2007 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Global News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or Search Engine Friendly trackback (rel='external') from your own site.