Graffiti and street art...

[fajrdrako]

I've been enjoying looking at pictures of some British street art by Banksy:



I found this and more at this site, with information about the English graffiti culture. And then I segued on to read about Blek le Rat.

Now, I've always thought Ottawa had some pretty spectacular graffiti artists. (And it does.) There's a few intersting pictures in a blog here by Robin Kelsey, and I think I need to go out with my camera and take some downtown graffiti pictures before it's too cold - because looking at these sites, I realize how ephemeral graffiti art is. The graffiti of 2008 is not the graffiti of 2209.

Then there's a whole other topic of art on walls or in public spaces that isn't graffiti, but put up by the owner of the place - there's some really nice stuff in Westboro and this bench outside the Second Cup coffee shop is only a couple of blocks from my place, where we have more coffee shops in a half-mile radius than many independent countries do, I'm sure.



Some graffiti is ugly stuff but I love seeing random acts of art.

Comments

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Wow, that (and all the others by this duy) is really great- I think I know what I'm gonna be doing tonight and it involves photoshop, icons and those pictures. Awesome!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Oooh, icons! I look forward to that. Such cool stuff.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

The graffitis are absolutely fantastic- I never liked graffiti much, but that? Is awesome. So, yeah. Icons *nods*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's all in the artistry. Amazing what a difference it can make.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! I love these and they are very much what I'd call art.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And we don't have to pay to see them. Entrance fees at National and Provincial art galleries annoy me.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Same here- well, whenever I have my moments of caring about art... *shifty eyes*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There's some ghastly stuff in our art galleries, but lots that's worth seeing, and lots that's interesting, and it annoys me that entrance fees (which are in my opinion extortionately high) make it a wealthy person's venue. All the more so in that I like galleries in small doses - half an hour of staring at one chosen painting, maybe, rather than three hours and sore feet trying to see it all. But at $20 to just to get into the building - I simply can't afford it.

It isn't as if our tax dollars didn't put the major galleries and museums there in the first place.

[lilithilien.livejournal.com]

Banksy is made of awesome! When I was in London a couple of years ago I got to see a lot of his art -- it's less free-form on the streets now and more in his shop and the museums, but he's still being wonderfully subversive, wot with his CD reduxes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharl/sets/72157594266743665/).

[chatona.livejournal.com]

T-twenty dollars? Seriously? Wow, that is ridiculously expensive. It's usually something like 5€ over here. In Ireland, the National Art Gallery is free and I like that. You can just go wandering in, 's nice.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Heh. In the US, you get a big sign that says some exorbitant amount, then teensy words under it "suggested entrance fee". You can then pay what you want, as little as one cent. If a museum accepts tax dollars from the US, it is only legally allowed to suggest an entrance fee. If they are charging a lot and it's not a suggestion, then it's a private museum.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I wish we had that system.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'd have to go to the libraries to check; but as I recall, last time I went to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (which is one of the best museums ever) it was something like $20. I forget what the National Gallery is now, but it's more than I think it should be. Okay, I looked it up: $9 to get into the gallery (about the same as going to a movie) and another $15 if you want to see the special exhibits.

I just wish it was more... accessible. When it was free, I'd drop in there on my lunch break for 15 or 20 minutes. I loved doing that.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I love that attitude to art - it's so expressive and anarchistic. Our world needs more of that.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

I'll admit that I'm not exactly a big art fan in the first place- if it looks nice, cool, if not, why am I looking at it again?- but sometimes I do feel the urge to go wandering about museums and art galleries. I just never do and yes, the price do play a role in that. In Ireland, though, I did just randomly wander into the National Art Gallery. So, yes. Completely with you on the question of prices.

Also: Icons. (http://community.livejournal.com/shorikurai/26187.html)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Lovely icons!

I suppose I could wander into commercial art galleries, but they don't have the same same. I do like looking at art, but preferably in small doses at a time.