Wikipedia has a detailed history of graffiti. It has been with us since ancient times.

A quote from Wikipedia: “Sometimes graffiti is employed to communicate social and political messages. To some, it is an art form worthy of display in galleries and exhibitions; to others it is merely vandalism.”

Another quote from Wikipedia: “There are many different types and styles of graffiti and it is a rapidly developing artform whose value is highly contested, being reviled by many authorities while also subject to protection, sometimes within the same jurisdiction.”

I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure “tagger” is not the right term for the people who created these pieces. Taggers leave their marks and go. They do not create intricate, large paintings with multiple colors.

I agree: this posting is unfortunate. I was at a meeting with Chief Meehan recently in which he said he was mystified by Berkeley’s tolerance of its overwhelming graffiti problem. I live in West Berkeley, where, as you’ve kindly pointed out, graffiti is ubiquitous. Thank you, Laura Menard, for making the obvious point that is also frequently gang-related, and a symptom of some of the larger criminal problems we face in our neighborhood.

Painting graffiti is a crime, period. Artistic merit is irrelevant, it is criminal and by definition victimizes property owners and neighbors. In a city as highly supportive of public art as Berkeley is, there is no excuse for blighting other people’s property and neighborhoods with your own personal definition of “art.”

In fact, if this form of “art” is so integral to the urban experience, perhaps the city should sponsor the decoration of vacant buildings in other neighborhoods. The old Elephant Pharmacy on Shattuck could use some color. I wonder how the residents of the Gourmet Ghetto would feel about having this “art” imported into their own neighborhood.

I’m just curious but what’s the difference between graffiti and street art:

http://www.inberkeley.com/2009/09/25/street-art-raises-questions/

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2009/10/30/street-art-mystery-solved/

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/01/18/street-art-watch-and-then-there-were-three/

Is it a falsely perceived black / white thing? Is it a false impression that Hazelip’s work is not rebellious against the dominant social order? That Hazelip sells prints on the side? The false impression that all of that stuff down by the tracks is a symptom of gang problems?

Also, if some of the property owners down there are so terribly damaged: why are some of those works over 2 years old with complaints about them pretty much absent except for, well, here.

As the founder and director of the Community Rejuvenation Project, we appreciate our inclusion in this discussion. I was surprised to find people including us, since we have no murals in Berkeley.

To be clear, first. Our murals derive from the work that is deragatorily refered to as “graffiti.” We are “writers” and our artform and the cultural expression that you see in our work has evolved from immersion in aerosol writing culture. All of the “beautiful” work that you see in our murals has grown out of a meticulous self-examination of our individual style through lettering that has grown into a larger prayer for the community.

People always want to distinguish us from those who simply chose to write signatures. We are one and the same. We will not accept the lot of being cast as “the good” muralists as opposed to the bad “graffiti.”

And why should the private land / property owner have the only say in the visual content that is exposed to the community? Isn’t business signage personal advertising? The community is forced to look at this everyday… And the business owners often don’t live in the communities where their business are found. Why should they have the only decision about what we look at?

Its clear that some people haven’t done a lot of research on our organization. Its understandable. We don’t advertise our use of recycled oops house paints enough. And we’ve never broadcast our research into refillable natural pigment spray paint. The fact is that natural pigment spray paint is generally to energy intensive to make on a regular basis currently. But its not like we haven’t made refillable compressed air spray (no aerosol) spray paint and pressurized it with bike pumps. But you wouldn’t know that, because we don’t advertise and you didn’t ask.

Nor did anyone bother to point out that CRP just opened its first community garden with the express hope of planting food and medicinal plants for the community in East Oakland. There’s more than one way to be responsibile and help the people. Second entry on our page, if you care to research.

For someone that has never made contact or attempted a personal dialogue, name calling is probably the easiest recourse. We have contact info on our website and on all of our murals. I’d be glad to discuss this further with anyone that wants to get to know us better. Integrity is easy to doubt when you are only reading about us online and driving by our art. Feel free to contact. We’ll give you a tour.

One Love.

LA Times story posted on North Oakland neighborhood yahoo group related to this discussion:

L.A. city prosecutors seek injunction against ‘MTA’ tagging crew

The legal action against the Metro Transit Assassins names 10 individuals, who could face millions in damages and penalties for 500 documented instances of graffiti vandalism.

Los Angeles city prosecutors sought a civil court injunction Wednesday against the Metro Transit Assassins tagging crew, known for a massive, quarter-mile-long graffiti “bomb” of its acronym along the Los Angeles River.

The injunction, which names 10 individuals, would be the first to specifically target a group of graffiti vandals, according to the city attorney’s office.

Unlike many “turf-based” anti-gang injunctions that create safety zones by limiting the activities of street gangs in a particular area or associating with one another, the injunction against the Metro Transit Assassins, or MTA, would impose a broad list of prohibitions against the crew.

If granted, the court order would bar members from associating with each other, institute a mandatory 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew and prevent members from possessing “graffiti tools or weapons.”

The civil suit is scheduled to be heard Aug. 31. It seeks $250,000 in civil penalties and $3.7 million in damages for what the city attorney’s office described as 500 documented incidents of graffiti vandalism associated with MTA.

Part of the damage was the massive MTA moniker that stretched the equivalent of several city blocks on the west bank of the Los Angeles River. At one point, the river was one of the largest open-air tagging canvases in the region, with thousands of graffiti tags covering its concrete banks.

The MTA “bomb” was removed in October as part of a $1.3-million graffiti abatement program by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As one of the largest tags in the United States, its three block letters covered a three-story-high wall and ran between the 4th Street and 1st Street bridges. It could be seen from the air.

In seeking the injunction, city prosecutors filed a criminal complaint that includes 52 witnesses and 101 photographs, and documents damage to highway signs, sound walls, billboards, bridges, buses, passenger trains, freight train cars, trucks, homes and numerous commercial buildings.

The city attorney’s office cited figures from the office of community beautification estimating that the city spends more than $7 million a year on graffiti abatement and other cleanup costs related to graffiti vandalism.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0624-grafitti-injunction-20100624,0,870383.story

Its funny the people who think graffiti is vandalism when its actually the most important Urban art around the globe at this point. I have done extensive mural work in spraycan all over the bay area at this point and it stops the tagging i am proud to be in this part of the Spraycan culture. if you want to see the best in the field im curating a show in berkeley at sacred rose tattoo shop gallery reception with the artists is sept 18th 6 to 10 at 1728 University ave the show runs till Nov. and the best of graffiti art will be represented even the Osgemeos brothers art from Brasil will be on display at the show their “graff” pieces sell for 30,000 and up. . taggers beware we are the real deal and its here in lil ol Berkeley !

Perhaps this is not the best place to post this comment but here goes. Nothing so far has been really said about the children who are doing this tagging, other than to try to label them either as a gang member or perhaps part of a crew. This is all true and not true. They are distinguishing themselves in our culture, and making a statement, like any artist who has some experience of life, and is not just a consumer in it. The fact that something is illegal warrants the attention of the law, but many acts of vandalism and acts of defiance of our culture has changed it for the better, even though there will always be a large chunk of the culture in its consumer driven echo chamber. Some of these kids will earn respect from their peers, and go on to live better lives for having made this sort of achievement rather than the acts of excellence we project upon them. They may not be the doctor or the lawyer or the professor or the college undergrad you would want them to be, that may not be their calling. They may be looking for their calling by achieving in their own way in their own terms in their own solitary lives. Please have forgiveness in your hearts when you reflect upon the true meaning of your life and theirs. I say this for my son was apparently a very fine graffiti artist, and died recently. I will always honor the fact that he had achieved something that HE WANTED, and that i probably encouraged by the purchase of many articles for his work. Now every time i look at a spray can, an airbrush, the work of other graffiti artists, i will be reminded of the temporal aspect of our lives, of their work. Let us try to heal our differences in this world and try to understand it, rather than to try to rise above others with our petty voices of discontent to each other. With peace and kindness towards youth.

Mike that is not graffiti, that is art.  Don’t be upset you are an artist too, you just don’t know it.  If you feel bad about / don’t like graf, i recommend a trip to Italy or somewhere else in Europe. I was in Bern (Switzerland) last year and there it is subtle, just little bits around the city. But in Venezia, Firenze & Milano it is everywhere & it is amazing!  They don’t take it down, the writers are respectful, on comm’l building, metal doors & such, not on churches / historical landmarks. I found it fascinating culturally that they let it go over there and we don’t over here in US. (mayor cuomo, ‘broken window’ theory, i recommend you watch ‘Style Wars’, it will school you & perhaps open your mind, even a little, if you are close-minded to new & different art forms). I also found a lot of it really beautiful.  and yes, much of it is political!