Header Challenge: Literature


The header challenge this week is literature, courtesy of Dave.  I think the earliest form of literature would be those drawings on cave walls that described the hunt--which, of course, was a contemplation of man's place in the cosmos and the basic fact that, wherever that is, at the end of the day we need to eat.  Be as sublime as you want; dinner's at 5.

I have always loved graffiti--the artist's claiming of public space to express anything at all.  The immediacy, the passion, the haste all speak to the intensity of feeling, the passion for life coursing through the heart of the writer.  I love, too, that the wall is the wall.  Graffiti is for everyone, not the select few.


Years ago,  I used to drive around hunting for the stuff and taking pictures and talking to the writers.  Some of them resented me for appropriating their art.  That's funny in itself, because weren't they appropriating someone else's property to make their statement?  I did the same but with my camera and reporter's notebook.  Touche.  I think the real point is we are not the sole proprietors of our feelings any more than we are sole proprietors of the art we create.  Knowing that is power.  We can give it all away and be what it will.  We can continue the conversation.  We just can't own it.

The above image is a graffito painted on a legal wall in Bethel, Connecticut, in 1993.  Who did it?  Doesn't matter.  Just spend a minute with the thing.  See the faces?  Fall into this world. See what happens.

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16 Comments

  1. I'm not sure what happened? I was looking a pic of a sea gull. And I wanted to comment, and it went to this, which I also liked. Oh well, one never knows?

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  2. Terrific post/pic for the day, Sandy! I really like and agree with your take on graffiti! Interesting! Enjoy your day!

    Sylvia

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  3. fascinating just as rock art and petroglyphs are to many

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  4. Brill take on this weeks theme Sandy.

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  5. ooh I like doing this.

    i think this is where the impressionists got their ideas from

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  6. Sandy: What an interesting take on a special subject. I wish we didn't have this type of literature around my town.

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  7. Graffiti goes all the way back to the Romans scratching their messages to each other on the walls of houses. Certainly a lot different now, much more artistic than their earlier literary counterparts.

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  8. awesome to read your perspective about art. I love the colors in this piece, they are calming and yet the art has strong feelings to it.

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  9. That is some really nice graffiti. The best we have around here is on the sides of railcars.

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  10. Interesting and amazing!!Great Post !!

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  11. There's some work gone into this piece of 'art'. It must have taken some time to do, so I am surprised that they weren't caught in the act.

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  12. Hi there - I still have mixed feelings about graffiti - the stencil work I like - but the tags, I can take it or leave it.

    Having said that I really can’t say what the difference is really!

    Am glad to say that busy should mean good this weekend! Keep an eye on the blog to find out why!

    Cheers Stewart M - Australia

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  13. some wall paintings are beautiful. I like them as long as they are not tagging.

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  14. Hi Sandy, I am back online.;)) So nice to read this post as recently I was taking pictures a graffiti art in my new town.;) Was contemplating similar thought as you present here.;)
    Hope all is well with you,
    xoxo

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  15. I always admired the graffiti that kids painted on the subways in New York. Couldn't understand why people complained about it. I felt they cheered up the dingy colors of the trains. I know much of it was gang related, but it was art just the same.

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  16. It's very good. We have no graffiti is our small town that I know of but I grew up with tons of it at Fort Revere, mostly people's names.

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Thanks for being here.