I’ve always appreciated the work of graffiti artists and in Melbourne, Australia, spectacular graffiti art seemed to be everywhere. Bursting off the walls in vivid explosions of color, the urban artworks brought their surroundings to life and helped give the neighborhoods that much more of a pulse.
Melbourne has a rich and impressive selection of graffiti art lining its streets and alleyways. So much so that the British street artist, Banksy, said it was arguably Australia’s most significant contribution to the arts since they stole all the Aborigine’s pencils. However, it’s not just other street artists that think highly of Melbourne’s graffiti, as Australia’s National Trust and Heritage Victoria are both in favor of protecting the city’s graffiti art.
Unsurprisingly though, not everyone considers graffiti as a valid art form to be celebrated. Scott Hilditch, chief executive of Graffiti Hurts Australia says that protecting graffiti would signify the acceptance of society’s decline and open the floodgates to vandalism by sending a dangerous message that graffiti is acceptable.
According to The City of Melbourne’s own figures approximately $700,000 was spent cleaning up illegal graffiti over a 12 month period spanning 2007/8. That figure has been rising steadily since 2001/2 when the local government spent $358,000 on graffiti removal.
However, unlike the ugly graffiti ‘tags’ I saw in Zadar, Croatia, much of the graffiti I saw in Melbourne was ingenious and engaging. Indeed the city government recently conducted research and community consultation which revealed that while most people agree that ‘tagging’ is unsightly and unwelcome, ‘street art’ graffiti is widely appreciated.
I wish I could give full credit to the artists who created the fantastic works and stunning murals featured in this post. Unfortunately though it’s extremely difficult to identify the artists involved, even when the works are completely legal.
I very much enjoyed wandering around the streets of Melbourne looking at and photographing graffiti art that turned ordinary walls into galleries. My only complaint was that there was no map that would help me navigate my way around pieces of particular merit or interest. However, I suspect that’s part of the what gives graffiti its value. It’s ability to grow from nothing, like a seedling taking root where utility had perhaps all but suffocated creativity.
As I wandered from street to street browsing the graffiti, I found myself looking at various pieces and thinking about how a bland and ordinary brick wall might dream of one day becoming the home of art. How some bricks might aspire to be a part of a wondrous work of architecture, and how others might long to become an essential piece of an artists expression.
I remembered how the influential architect, Louis Khan, once suggested that even a brick wants to be something. So as my eyes studied the artfully adorned walls with their colors, messages, declarations and emotions, I couldn’t help but imagine how these bricks might very well be happy with their place in the world.
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Escape – Melbourne Graffiti website
Victorian councils trial use nanotechnology to halt graffiti
Melbourne graffiti considered for heritage protection
Art on the street
Graffiti hurts Australia
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Wrote the following comment on Feb 19, 2010 at 11:48 am
Awesome graffiti :D :D the graffiti in Wellington was nice as well :D but didn’t spot any exiting ones in England except for Banksy.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 20, 2010 at 6:56 am
That is some wildly cool graffiti dude! The last but one picture is awesome.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 21, 2010 at 2:32 am
Simon, graffiti is not art. It just isn’t! When you paint on, tag, scrawl, or otherwise deface property that does not belong to you it is pure and simple vandelism. I’ll grant you that there is a skill to creating the murals which you have featured in some of the pictures here, but the practice of illegally painting on walls is vadelism and should be punished – no matter what Banksy says!
Australian authorities spend $300 million a year cleaning up illegal graffiti. Money that could be, and should be, spent on other things like improving public services.
Frankly, blog posts like these and comments like those made by Banksy (himself a glorified vandel) are unhelpful. To glorify and validate vandelism as art is to miss the bigger picture that this is not a victimless crime – add to this the fact that the money spent on clean-up is more often not being taken out of the pockets of every single tax paying Australian!
The side of my office building (which I own) is always being ‘tagged’ and not I have to employ an agency to clean-up the mess every single week. This cost is passed onto my customers who perhaps don’t realise that they are paying to clean up what some of them might otherwise consider to be harmless acts.
One ‘solution’ that we have previously considered is allowing ‘graffiti artists’ to use our side wall as a ‘canvas’ for their art. However I steadfastly refuse to relent on this. If an ‘artist’ comes to me and negotiates a price for the use of my wall then I might consider it, however, to date no ‘artist’ has ever done so.
Wrote the following comment on Feb 22, 2010 at 8:22 pm
@ S. Jennings – I think that art is often times subjective.
Wrote the following comment on May 8, 2010 at 4:23 pm
I think at one time graffiti was considered a nuisance and ugly. Sometimes, in fact, it still is. However, these pics, along with ones we’ve seen all over the world, can be considered modern art. It’s the new medium of the day, get used to it. :)