Around the world authorities struggle to protect public and private property from teenagers armed with aerosol cans. It's usually their names that they are writing, tags, bombs, throw-ups, wildstyle - there are several different terms for differing styles, but it's all about the name, and trains and freight cars are the best because your tag moves around the city or across the country for everyone to see - a mobile gallery displaying your name, your style your art.
Toronto opted to convert 2 kilometers of back alleys between Queen/Richmond, from Bathurst to Spadina into what we now know as Graffiti Alley, where every year Style in Progress (SIP), a Toronto, not for profit organization holds a two-day paint-fest, allowing artists the time and freedom to create dazzling work. If you visit Graffiti Alley occasionally, you’ll notice that these intricate murals stay intact for a particularly long time, that’s because graffiti artists have a code of conduct (or perhaps it’s more of a guideline), but essentially, what “the code” states is that it is bad form to “write” over someone else’s work, which is pretty cool.
This particular work is no better or worse than any other in the alley. What makes the alley look so awesome is that we become encased in graffiti, every crossroad is particularly intense since it feels more like you've walked into a gallery installation rather than a ratty back alley.
Angela
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