graffiti
Somebody tried replacing the obscene anti-Urban Outfitters graffiti in front of the unopened Harvard Avenue store with a more charming love-of-Allston message. Allston City Limits says it's an improvement.
Tim Lyons posts a photo of a jerk tagging Red Line car 01710 this evening (part of a triptych - another and another).
Councilor John Tobin (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) plans a hearing on whether the city should stiffen the penalties on people who mark up or otherwise deface "historic landmarks, monuments and structures."
Tobin says one of the reasons to get even tougher on taggers and their ilk for these violations is because graffiti can be harder to remove in general from the brick, brownstone, limestone and marble often used in such landmarks and because "cleaning graffiti from historic properties can require more testing to find the right technique and products to complete the job, which can make the removal more expensive."
Via ParkwayBoston.com.
Cleveland Circle explained. From Boston.com:
MBTA police are investigating the defacing of 14 Green Line trolley cars at the Reservoir Yard in Brighton. ... Nine of the cars have been cleaned and returned to the tracks, Pesaturo said. He said that service was not affected because the T owns a surplus of Green Line cars.
One thing about Mr. Pesaturo. He sure can tell a convincing fib with the best of them. Read more
The Dorchester Reporter reports state workers spent this morning painting over anti-black and anti-gay graffiti and swastikas somebody sprayed along the Neponset Greenway over the weekend:
... "The whole wall down there had graffiti all over it. One of the murals down there had nothing but swastikas on it. They demolished the mural there. We had to wipe it out because it looked so bad," said Stephens.
...
Danielle Bremner, 27, of Queens, is due in court this morning on 34 graffiti charges related to incidents last year in the Back Bay.
Also due in court today: Mr. Obey himself, on new charges brought by Boston Police.
Both are due for arrival in separate courtrooms in Boston Municipal Court, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
Bremner is charged with spray-painting "Utah" between January and June of last year on Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester and Newbury streets, the DA's office says. She's also wanted on a previous case involving graffiti at the Orient Heights Blue Line stop.
She and her boyfriend face charges around the world for their graffiti:
The Queens couple had reportedly fled to Europe for three months, "where they dined, partied - and tagged their way through 10 or so countries." So their legal problems aren't just in the city, allegedly France seeks to prosecute them.
Bremner was arrested on the Boston charges in October.
Innocent, etc.
A man already facing numerous gun charges was arraigned today on new charges that he spray-painted racist graffiti and a call to assassinate the president on a black man's house, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
John Sieckarski, 49, had his bail on the gun charges revoked following his arraignment in Chelsea District Court this morning, the DA's office says.
Sieckarski, arrested on 22 counts of illegal gun possession and improper gun storage in November, is charged with spray painting a former neighbor's house with a variety of anti-black slogans, including one advising him to die, and another declaring that Barack Obama should be "assinated" (sic).
The DA's office says it is considering civil-rights charges and that the Secret Service has been notified.
Innocent, etc.
The Crimson reports that when the night was done at a Chinese Students Association "graffiti-themed party" Friday night, organizers were outraged to discover that some of the wall messages were anti-Chinese.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or, in the case of the Arborway overpass by the Forest Hills T stop, when somebody paints over some graffiti, take advantage of that by drawing a head and hands atop the "body" (his left hand is actually on the other side of the pillar). He's been there for several months now, too.
Lorianne DiSabato notices that one Green Line scrawler corrected another scrawler's bad grammar - and ponders the aggressively obnoxious dating ads that promise to rub out people not fit for the gene pool:
Booking photo courtesy Suffolk County District Attorney's office. Art via Obamafy Yourself.
The Herald talks to Boston's top graffiti cop (yes, of course Boston has one) about his arrest of the street-art guy:
... "He's always been a big problem," Kelley said. "He'd go from city to city to do this." ...
He's also the guy who brought down the tagger known as Spek.
Mery Mery photographs somebody's riposte to the annoying Aruba windsurfer dudes on the Orange Line (make sure to mouse over the right side to see what exactly that answer is).
The Herald plays it straight:
A globe-trotting graffiti goon accused of desecrating historic Back Bay with her artistic upchuck was held on $10,000 cash bail yesterday after several of her victims painted a picture of solidarity by standing up in court. ...
Boston Police report on three incidents yesterday: Read more
Boston Police report a rooftop arrest of a South Boston teen for painting large balloons without permission on the side of 285 Summer St. shortly after 3 a.m. today:
According to the police dispatcher, the suspect was spray-painting a wall on the 9th floor in the rear of 285 Summer Street. On arrival, officers observed the suspect standing on a fire escape. Upon seeing the officers, the suspect climbed up on the roof of the building. Upon reaching the roof of the building, officers located the suspect. Officers observed that the suspect was covered in paint.
On Friday, Steve Garfield photographed some stupid graffiti scrawled across the width of one of the paths around Jamaica Pond. Today, he reports, the scratchings are gone.
Graffiti stenciling workshop in Davis Square:
The immediacy and poignancy of stencil art has made it a prominent tool in DIY political, social and artistic movements. Stencils are a creative and easy way to express opinions, spread messages and expand the boundaries of your artistic language.
This workshop will teach you how to make your own stencil from a found or original image for use on clothing, in fine arts, as wall decoration, or for any purpose you choose. Among the topics covered will be altering images to translate to stencil format, single and multi-layered techniques, large scale and portable stencils, types of paint and stencil frames to use, and how best to use your stencils on different surfaces.
Back in December, somebody with a Sharpie modified the historic timeline display at Davis Station to include "Native Americans, wholly mammoths." Christina J. Hodge, MA, PhD, RPA, senior curatorial assistant, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University and a research fellow in the Department of Archaeology, Boston University, places this act of consciousness-raising defiance in its proper milieu with a detailed post (complete with footnotes):
... My gaze tended to slide over the Davis timeline because it was static, familiar, of the background; dangerous and powerful qualities (Miller 2005:5). I did not engage actively with it until after it was graffitied. I acknowledge the graffiti authors for bringing my attention to the installation and for amending it. They inspired me to bring professional agendas more critically to bear on everyday praxis. Whether we recognize it or not, we all engage in a physically- and textually-mediated dialogues with the writing on the wall.
Via MetaBoston.
Marty photographs some not-so-animated animated graffiti in Allston:
... Some neighborhoods have gang-related graffiti, others have large artwork. My neighborhood has film criticism.
Sam Baltrusis declares:
Looking for a good debate? The men's restroom in The Coop in Harvard Square always has some interesting--and generally anti-Harvard--discussions.
With photos, so you can see for yourself if you can't get there in person.
The Salem Gazette reports Salem police have arrested a man wanted in connection with 10 years' of graffiti on MBTA trains and on buildings across the North Shore and Boston.
Adam Michael Brant, a.k.a. SPEK, was arrested Wednesday on 16 counts of tagging and 16 counts of malicious destruction of property.
Some examples of his oeuvre.
Bryanmick23 takes a camera into the men's room at the Abbey Lounge and comes out with some photos, including one of a call for Basque independence.
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