Street art is no vandalism. In my eyes at least. Wandering around an abandoned building you most certainly will see graffiti - and some of them are even beautiful. I'm talking about street art and no scratchwork.
I guess you have found some crazy murals yet too. Show them, I'm curious.
In this cinematic compilation I'm showing my favorite pieces of art. Some of them are really spectacular!
Street art is all well and good but in a abandon location i find that it has no place. It makes the location feel abuse and traveled almost as if it was not really abandoned.
In somewhere that is completely, utterly, totally trashed a good bit of graffiti can be a welcome relief.
This was an abandoned nurses school in Belgium which was absolutely destroyed but had been turned into an unofficial art gallery by one of Belgium's most famous street artists, near enough every room contained something stunning.
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who wish abandonments existed in some kind of capsule so that they can do Urbex: the Hobby free of any intrusion from the real world
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who only like art when it's in the right place
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who think the man-made world lies in some kind of interminable stasis
Posted by mookster It's a polarising thing thats for sure.
In somewhere that is completely, utterly, totally trashed a good bit of graffiti can be a welcome relief.
This was an abandoned nurses school in Belgium which was absolutely destroyed but had been turned into an unofficial art gallery by one of Belgium's most famous street artists, near enough every room contained something stunning.
Posted by Bldg30 lol @ the pure folks in this thread who wish abandonments existed in some kind of capsule so that they can do Urbex: the Hobby free of any intrusion from the real world
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who only like art when it's in the right place
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who think the man-made world lies in some kind of interminable stasis
and no I don't paint
lol, those with the wherewithal have shot tag free or virtually tag free time capsules like Beth Steel and MAB Reading, repeatedly.
-or this-
Some prefer just the tags that are suppose to there... imagine that.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
I normally do not take pictures of graffiti, but here is one photo from a while back.
Posted by Bldg30
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who think the man-made world lies in some kind of interminable stasis
Anyone who has been exploring for any length of time will know that statement is false. And it is because locations can change so quickly, that if one has the chance to explore, they ought not wait around lest finding the location scrapped and covered in graffiti. I personally have never left a location disappointed because it was lacking in graffiti, but I certainly have left places wishing it didn't have any.
[last edit 2/6/2017 7:22 AM by pip lol - edited 1 times]
Posted by Bldg30 lol @ the pure folks in this thread who wish abandonments existed in some kind of capsule so that they can do Urbex: the Hobby free of any intrusion from the real world
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who only like art when it's in the right place
lol @ the pure folks in this thread who think the man-made world lies in some kind of interminable stasis
and no I don't paint
Some of us just prefer to see a building being reclaimed naturally, not by human intervention. If a place is tagged up, there is a high likelihood that it is known to more than just one person, and the chance of someone harming the location goes up.
There's also the issue of taggers who don't care about the building, so they don't take care if it. I've seen tags high up on abandoned buildings, and that is going to attract a lot of unnecessary attention, that may make exploring difficult.
There are some brilliantly stunning examples of graffiti art out there, I will admit.
However, the problem is that these are few and far between. Most graffiti looks less like the above examples, and more like this:
And that's not art. It adds nothing to the aesthetic value of the building, nor to the history. Art like what Mookster posted has a story behind it, a message. Most graffiti doesn't. Swastikas and penises don't add beauty or expression any more than they evoke feelings of awe and pleasant surprise. They add nothing to the building.
I've yet to find a truly wonderful mural, but I've found countless tags and obscenities scrawled across the walls of history. Much of this vandalism is done on the exterior as well as the interior, making the building a target for scrappers, druggies, and police attention.
There is some wonderful graffiti art out there, that much is true. But it is the exception, not the the rule. That's why most of us on UER don't like graffiti- I personally would make an exception for art, but the vast majority of what we find is trash.
"Sorry, I didn't know I'm not supposed to be here," he said, knowing full well he wasn't supposed to be there.
I think Aran summed it up quite nicely. While there are some pieces that compliment a building and add to the atmosphere, the majority of it just leaves me wondering if I'll be able to shop it out. Sometimes generic graffiti can look alright if you want to get the abandoned industrial site look, but no matter what, profanity, swastikas, penises, and opinions regarding Donald Trump will look terrible.
Fair enough. I don't really intend to advocate either for or against street art/graffiti. As others have said here, I enjoy it when I find a really remarkable piece, although most of the time it's trash and I'd rather it wasn't there. And I think it goes without saying that most of us would prefer to explore locations that are relatively untouched by time/weather/human impact. For me that's the thrill of it--it's like being in an open-air museum. Except it's not a museum and I don't expect it to be. It doesn't have a roof, temperature control, or guards (most of the time).
Everything that happens to a location is reclamation. Weather, graffiti, weeds, scrapping, squatting, even demolition or restoration--those are all reclamation of one kind or another by somebody or something. As people who like to check out abandonments and maybe take photos, I don't know if any of those things are in our best interest! In that sense I don't think the universe really cares about 'urban exploring', although it does keep churning out a lot of cool places to explore.
Also, people seem to be okay with making a distinction between art and tagging--who gets to decides what's what? I mean we know some is great and some is shit, but this is a thread about "street art at abandoned places". If it's abandoned, who controls the walls? We sure as hell don't. That is literally the point of street art-- the medium is public. These places are or are in the process of becoming de facto public spaces--regardless of your views of property ethics. That's what abandonments are. Practically speaking, they are reabsorbed into the public domain, by nature just as much by the humans and other animals who come and go. For better or worse.
BTW, when this civilization collapses and a thousand years from now they discover the remains of some industrial site, I actually do hope they find some cool art that will give them some clues about who we really were, and not just some computers and toilets.
Anyway, apologies for the long post. This thread also reminded me of that one ridiculously well known tunnel in NYC. Here's a cool one, unfortunately since painted over by Amtrak.
Posted by Bldg30 Fair enough. I don't really intend to advocate either for or against street art/graffiti. As others have said here, I enjoy it when I find a really remarkable piece, although most of the time it's trash and I'd rather it wasn't there. And I think it goes without saying that most of us would prefer to explore locations that are relatively untouched by time/weather/human impact. For me that's the thrill of it--it's like being in an open-air museum. Except it's not a museum and I don't expect it to be. It doesn't have a roof, temperature control, or guards (most of the time).
Everything that happens to a location is reclamation. Weather, graffiti, weeds, scrapping, squatting, even demolition or restoration--those are all reclamation of one kind or another by somebody or something. As people who like to check out abandonments and maybe take photos, I don't know if any of those things are in our best interest! In that sense I don't think the universe really cares about 'urban exploring', although it does keep churning out a lot of cool places to explore.
Also, people seem to be okay with making a distinction between art and tagging--who gets to decides what's what? I mean we know some is great and some is shit, but this is a thread about "street art at abandoned places". If it's abandoned, who controls the walls? We sure as hell don't. That is literally the point of street art-- the medium is public. These places are or are in the process of becoming de facto public spaces--regardless of your views of property ethics. That's what abandonments are. Practically speaking, they are reabsorbed into the public domain, by nature just as much by the humans and other animals who come and go. For better or worse.
BTW, when this civilization collapses and a thousand years from now they discover the remains of some industrial site, I actually do hope they find some cool art that will give them some clues about who we really were, and not just some computers and toilets.
Anyway, apologies for the long post. This thread also reminded me of that one ridiculously well known tunnel in NYC. Here's a cool one, unfortunately since painted over by Amtrak.
I live in NYC so there's no shortage of good graffiti. The major downside is a lot of it seems to get cleaned quickly nowadays! I don't know how many of these pieces are still around but... Just thought I'd share.
"Broken Window Theory" is an ironic username for someone defending graffiti.
In Korea most of the painting I see in abandonments tends to be violent and threatening. Some of the good examples were created by evictees fighting back.
This was done by artists in one urban renewal location.
Same people, commenting on the violent eviction process in the area.
Violent hired goons in black: "Mom, dad, I'm scared, let's move out." (a common message they leave to evoke terror) Evictees in red: "Gangsters go away."
Second visit, the hired goons had struck back.
At one old historic building in another city, an artist made this portrait to a resident of the area. The red tag you see in the corner is his. He covered several interior walls with it (probably practicing).
And on the subject of Broken Window Theory, other kids possibly empowered by the other art thought to sign their names "Hee-jeong hearts Won-kyu."
Posted by mookster In somewhere that is completely, utterly, totally trashed a good bit of graffiti can be a welcome relief.
These are beautiful! I know abandonments are ever-changing and all, but I still kinda want to punch those people who tagged over the 1st and 2nd paintings.