Sports graffiti
At the end of my row of houses is a boiler-room type block. There is some crude graffiti on the doors of this block, as expertly photographed by my phone:
Now, the key issues of the Abstract are:
(a) Did the graffiti artists spray sports symbols in earnest or were they ironically highlighting the evils of sports branding and the work of 'cool hunters' who work for these large brands? (in the past we have seen campaigns - I think Nike and possibly Sony may have been involved - where graffiti artists have been paid by the companies to spray expert corporate murals)
(b) If the latter, was the misspelling of 'Adaidas' and 'Hi-Teck' done with a mischievous tongue in cheek?
(c) Am I crediting the youth of East London with too much nous / level of social commentary? Are they simply poor-spelling louts with no better message to convey through spray than their favourite trainer designs?
3 comments:
Hi, Barry Scott here. Unfortunately I can't view the photo in your post for some reason, but I'm willing to stick my neck out anyway and go for option (c): illiterate youths brainwashed by omnipresent brand marketing. Had this appeared on a Hoxton toilet wall I might have had a different opinion as to motive, but as it stands I'm applying the Occam's Razor of the modern world and saying that the stupidest, most depressing explanation is usually the correct one.
My theory here is that they started with the Nike Swoosh without intending to do anything else.
The swoosh turned out quite well so they got carried away and moved into brands they were not qualified to draw or spell.
Presumably the artist was too young to be familiar with the work of Tony "Take Hart" Hart. He was always one to make sure he didn't go too far and ruin a picture. "I think I'll leave it at that", he would say. Without such a role model I fear the modern generation will make mistakes like this time and again.
In fact, it looks like there's still room for a Puma or Reebok logo on those doors. I vote Richard break out the spray cans and show the kids how it's done. I'll go one further and say that this should be undertaken in the idiosyncratic wardrobe of Tony Hart: wide-collared shirt, rakish cravat and silver fright wig.
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