European graffiti — a sign of the times?
Last summer, when I was traveling in Venice of all places, I was astounded by the amount of graffiti I saw splayed across the walls of what I consider nearly sacred buildings – 15th-century palazzos that have survived a continuous battle with the sea, only to be defaced by random encounters with cans of spray paint.
What prompts graffiti? I have no explanation for it. I’m not even sure that if I caught the perpetrators in the act, they would have much of an explanation for it either. Perhaps they feel graffiti is their creative outlet, the medieval walls their canvas for self-expression.
Or is graffiti some societal expression of economic well-being? Though some have posited that graffiti is a sign of a neighborhood’s decline, I don’t see poor cities and countries covered with graffiti. Rather, it seems that when countries are creating a better standard of living for their citizens, colorful graffiti sprouts spontaneously.
For example, American graffiti seemed to reach its height about a decade ago, when the U.S. economy was flying high. It was the artistic expression of choice about the same time that crack cocaine was the drug of choice. Today, the scourge of graffiti seems to have declined in the U.S. — along with the value of the dollar across the world. Meanwhile, as the euro and Swiss franc have been surging across the Atlantic, so has the creation of graffiti. European capitals are now facing a graffiti competition similar to that faced in the U.S. in the 1990s.
The decline in graffiti in the U.S. may be a result of new laws in some states that restrict spray-paint purchases to those at least 21 years old. Putting the spray paint behind bars at Home Depot may be doing the trick. New graffiti-mapping software may also have slowed the graffiti boom. The software, which logs the locations of signed graffiti, allows police to track artists across the city and pinpoint their neighborhoods of “expression.” The makers of this software claim excellent results in capturing spray-paint artists.
Europe could use some of those steel bars and software programs. Recently, I traveled through Switzerland, a famously bucolic, decorous and law-abiding country. Yet, on the 10-minute train ride from the airport to downtown Zurich, I saw that the building walls and railroad overpasses were bombed with graffiti. Again I ask, “Why?â€
The graffiti doesn’t stop in metropolitan Zurich. It can be found in Sargans, Chur and other spots — mainly along rail lines where passersby are a captive audience for the colorfully cryptic messages. Walking along the Main River in Frankfurt, right in front of a major museum, I was dismayed to see garish, primary-colored “tags” randomly defacing the turn-of-the-century stone walls. In Heidelberg, too, graffiti has defaced the medieval town and its fountains. One enterprising factory was fighting back. Rather than surrender its walls to political slogans and gang scrawls, it created its own graffiti, which featured the name of the firm.
Graffiti is also a growing problem in Australia, where the economy is beginning to churn. One town has posted the following advice on the town Web site.
Blank walls and fences, particularly in a light color tend to attract graffiti. The likelihood of being attacked can be reduced by:
* Designing fences that are an effective barrier to graffiti, such as those used to enclose swimming pools.
* Installing sprinkler systems along garden beds that adjoin ‘high risk’ walls, these can be set to go off at times when graffitists are most active.
* Use darker, as opposed to lighter paints. They are less opportunistic and also prevent shadowing when painting over existing graffiti.
* Consider the absorbency of materials you intend to build with. Graffiti is much harder to remove from porous surfaces, such as bare timber and sandstone.
* Garden planting, such as vines and fast growing creepers are an economical way to protect walls and fences
* Show clear ownership of your property. Poorly maintained and unkempt areas will attract more graffiti, so maintain your space.
* If graffiti is a recurring problem in a certain area; consider a protective coating (particularly for porous surfaces such as brick). This will ensure ease of removal in future, however the costs associated with this method are considerably higher than simply painting over graffiti.
This global graffiti explosion may be an American export. Many of the words painted on the walls seem to be in English, and the artistic styles are straight out of Harlem and Brooklyn in the ’70s and ’80s. Art critics claim that because graffiti is an American “art form,” it is only logical that the budding European spray-paint artists will adopt the styles of the creators of this “art.”
It’s a shame that things have come to this point across both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Maybe when the economic scales tilt back in the direction of the U.S., graffiti art will return home with a vengeance. In the meantime, aerosol art seems to be alive and well overseas. European and Australian imports may be costing us more, but at least our subway cars are stainless-steel clean and our overpasses are a beautiful, unblemished, concrete gray.
Thank the Lord for little favors, even if we don’t understand them.
If anyone else has observations or insights about the international graffiti scourge, let me know.
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I think a good grafitti deterrant is like one in the movie Demolition man where it show electric cattle prods that shoot out of a building and zaps the offender…of course, after it warned the grafiteeist of it’s intentions!
Actually, I’m inclined to think that grafitti is universal. I remember seeing it in Kenya in 1970. Brussels in 1998 was far worse than any city I’ve seen in the US, and I’ve lived near the Mexican border and in Washinton, DC, so I’ve seen it a lot. I tend to believe that it’s a method of display. If it’s cleaned off quickly, it seems to stop eventually.