There is graffiti where I live, but none as daring as what I've seen in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Here, we have had these people scale over the interstate at night to paint the green signs that provide directions to commuters.or color the underside of bridges with markings that I don't understand. But for the most part, Salt Lake City doesn't suffer from it like Sao Paulo.
A city of 20 million people, Sao Paulo is a reflection of Brazil. It's going through class warfare much more severe than what we are seeing in the United States, and the angry, disenfranchised, and decidedly athletic are taking out their anger by using graffiti. I say "decidedly athletic" because there's no way an out-of-shape guy like me would ever attempt to do this kind of work. It blows my mind that they do it at night. And for the record, I don't admire it. I think graffiti is ugly.
In Sao Paulo they are defacing things with more than just spray cans. We're talking buckets of black paint, rollers, and the daring to scale skyscrapers all the way to the top to vandalize enormous buildings. It makes my eyes swim because I would find that to be just terrifying.
The most daring climbers of "Pixação" will stop at nothing to get to the top of the tallest structures and some of them fall to their deaths. They don't use safety lines at all, and the higher the mark is on a building, I guess the more prestige that they earn among their peers.
When I look at something like "Pixação", I have to ask, why does it seem that only men engage in this kind of activity? Is it testosterone? Or are men just stupider than women?
Be sure to check out at least a minute of the video below. It shows some of the people who engage in this activity climbing up the sides of these huge buildings in night vision. It's pretty incredible. According to the New York Times, Pixação translates into "cover with tar" and is supposed to reflect the urban decay and deep class divisions that now define Brazil.
In my opinion, the people doing this are criminals. Any who say differently...that say they are doing this for a cause are just liars. I don't understand how any sane person would think that defacing public landmarks with graffiti could in any way be a positive statement. It's more like poetic terrorism. In other words..."I will destroy the value of something you own by putting my 'poetry' on it UNLESS you cave-in to my demand." Income inequality sucks. But destroying things because you are angry is no way to solve anything. It just makes things worse, and I hope that this kind of graffiti doesn't become popular in the United States.
What about you? Do you like graffiti?
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| Sao Paulo by night. It's beautiful, isn't it? Click to make bigger. |
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| A building completely defaced by graffiti |
In Sao Paulo they are defacing things with more than just spray cans. We're talking buckets of black paint, rollers, and the daring to scale skyscrapers all the way to the top to vandalize enormous buildings. It makes my eyes swim because I would find that to be just terrifying.
The most daring climbers of "Pixação" will stop at nothing to get to the top of the tallest structures and some of them fall to their deaths. They don't use safety lines at all, and the higher the mark is on a building, I guess the more prestige that they earn among their peers.
When I look at something like "Pixação", I have to ask, why does it seem that only men engage in this kind of activity? Is it testosterone? Or are men just stupider than women?
Be sure to check out at least a minute of the video below. It shows some of the people who engage in this activity climbing up the sides of these huge buildings in night vision. It's pretty incredible. According to the New York Times, Pixação translates into "cover with tar" and is supposed to reflect the urban decay and deep class divisions that now define Brazil.
All that talent - because scaling a building takes talent - and it's wasted on vandalism. Shame it couldn't be used for something more constructive or positive.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It is a crime. In the name of 'art', why stop at spray paint? Why not knock over grave stones and build a modernistic structure?
ReplyDeleteTerrorism of any kind is criminal.
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh is right. Why waste such a talent? If they are not scared of hights, I would like them to work in India for good money, because a lot of ancient Indian architecture needs repairs. Also what are they trying to achieve.
You are right about men fighting for different causes. If it was upto us women, we would probably feed men first, good high protien food, then icecream and then talk with deplomacy.
Also, please do not call yourself out of shape. After writing an entry like yesterdays you should not be looking at yourself from superficial point of view. Take care of your eating habbits and then shape will come as a fringe benefit. It is important to be healthy then you can reward yourself with good attire once the signs of healthy internal medicine shows up (excuse me, if my translation is messed up.) I am sure you get my point.
We have tons of graffiti in Detroit. It's pretty much like in Brazil. I always thinking if these people did something positive with all the energy it takes to climb up an abandoned building or factory or water tower, etc. the world would be a better place.
ReplyDeleteI think I would love to visit Sao Paola though I think I would be scared of the city. When I first traveled in some European cities, especially in Germany, I was very disturbed with the graffiti. I regard the society as strong and disciplined. But on subsequent visits, the graffiti became part of decor and culture. But it is still a crime, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine why anyone would be drawn to do that. I watched the video and it seems like the graffiti is everywhere and they never clean it up.
ReplyDeleteI don't pay attention to it around here, but it's not as prevalent.
Never payed much attention to it... because its not an issue where I live... Though I agree it's wrong, I have seen some beautiful work & it's shocking who has hidden talent out there that could be using that talent to better use ;)
ReplyDeleteNope, I don't like graffiti at all. Put all that energy to a better use!
ReplyDeleteSome of those guys are really talented, and it's sad to see so much wasted energy. It really is ugly to see it on a building, though, where it's not wanted.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who lives in Sao Paolo, but she doesn't scale buildings to draw on them. :D
ReplyDeleteI find graffiti quite strange, because the artwork can be amazing. It's just a shame that these people don't channel their creativity in a better way.
I hate graffiti. I think it's so ugly--the tagging and marking on signs and building.
ReplyDeleteNow in saying that, I watched a documentary called Exit Through The Gift Shop and it was quite interesting to see these "graffiti artists" (they are still defacing property even though some of their work is actually quite beautiful). This documentary was interesting because it started out with a man video taping the artists and he planned to make a movie with all the clips he collected. By the end, he started doing graffiti himself and actually had an art showing and made money off his work. It ticked off other artists who worked forever to create a name for themselves.
Anyway, the crawling up buildings to spray paint is so dangerous, not to mention STUPID--for what purpose? Not good.
Graffiti is taking art and freedom of speech too far.
OK, I wouldn't like it if it were my building being spray-painted, but I used to work in an inner city. I thought the graffiti gave the place some character when it otherwise had none. Apparently that's just me.
ReplyDeleteAs a (not so) reformed vandal who did things a lot less creative than that to express his angst, I have to disagree. I don't say the "cause" is not bullshit either. As long as they don't paint on people's house I'm OK with it and I find it healthy to a certain degree.
ReplyDeleteYou get people making huge, ugly buildings for money, you will get people spraying it with paint and trying to make it their own. I love graffiti culture. Some of the boldest mofos I met. Check out EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP. It's a very good documentary about it.
I agree with you. While I have empathy with the deep frustration and rage that must be seething within the poor Brazilians, I don't think that meaningless defacing of buildings will make a difference except to make things worse for other people struggling with them.
ReplyDeleteI hate graffiti that's splattered all over private/public property. It's a shame, as some graffiti artists are truly amazing. And there's a right time and place for that.
ReplyDeleteBrazil is going through such dramatic changes is a very short amount of time. It's meteoric rise as an economic superpower in such a short amount of time is astounding (just surpassed Britain).
Other than the urban decay, there's also the natives losing their land (i.e. the Belo Damn Project).
Not sure if all of these guys are artists as the guy in the video calls them. But its crazy. I get dizzy on a two step ladder.
ReplyDeleteThis sort of graffiti is called tagging in the UK. London is full of it - little pointless scribbles by gang members. It does intimidate any visitors. Where as I agree that graffiti is vandalisim and a crime, some can be quite beautiful (but I'm talking pieces far different to the sort of tagging you're talking about) The government here have even opened galleries and donated places to people so they can add a touch of colour. Take Banksey's work for instance.
ReplyDeleteBut Tagging? Pointless and ugly. And scaling a building to make your 'I woz ere' message? how ridiculous is that!!!
I don't like graffiti. But, what has happened in Sao Paulo is senseless, especially when some those doing the graffiti don't know why -- other than gang related.
ReplyDeleteWas in Sao Paulo in 2002 with a group of people, and we weren't allowed to travel on our own. I saw some of what you showed. I just remember how much extreme poverty there is. When you are young, powerless and poor, I'm sure there is enormous anger. It's just so sad to see. And, senseless.
The video is quite telling. There is clearly some societal issue going on. But I am WAY more forgiving of roving street gangs that don't commit violent acts.
ReplyDeleteI mean, yes, it's vandalism, yes it's wrong. But if that's the worst that their doing then instead of beating and shooting them, as was mentioned in the video, I'd be more interested in figuring out what the underlying problem is.
I wish I could scale a building like that. Those guys have skill, but they're using it for all the wrong things.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of an argument I had Tuesday with some dignified people I met at a conference. They were discussing race and the fact that black people commit the most crime because they're "born that way." Well, I sure as hell disagreed. I made it clear that it is the environment that influences them (among other things like public perception, media and bad Rappers).
These guys are shaped by their environment; a community shapes that; government shapes the community and money shapes them. Brazil needs a total economic reform if it wishes to break the divide of class. It also doesn't help that many Brazilians are racist. Light skinned people there look down on those of darker complexions.
When you live in a "world" like that sometimes being radical is the only way to have a voice.
I think it is so wrong to go and destroy other people's property to make a political point. It'd be like if a bunch of people got mad at far-off dictators and went and dumped a bunch of valuable tea right into the water in protest of economic disparities and lack of public representation.
ReplyDeleteI am AMAZED that anyone could say that freedom of speech or political protest could go too far.
There is a world of difference between tagging vandalism and graffiti-as-protest. I'm listening to the video as I type this and to the extent that these people are protesting economic injustice, I'm all FOR them.
And consider: "There is a lot of pixadores that dies... the danger is not only to fall; the society hates pixadores....sometimes they shot the guy. When the police officers catch the pixadore, they hit them... they drop the paint in his face."
That's a quote about 3:30.
This is from Wikipedia, about this:
Pixação is a “vehicle for the youth of the city to assert their existence and self-worth, and to do it loudly. As a social protest, Pixação is brutal, effective and pulls no punches. There is no country on earth with a worse distribution of wealth than Brazil. For the rich, there are nice buildings. For the poor, there are shanty towns. Pixação exists on the very surface of the constested wealth, and promises to keep on punishing the fortunate until they produce a world less punishing to begin with.”
There is a time to work within the system, and a time to work without the system. From what I know, there is no SYSTEM in Brazil for pixadores to protest the vast economic injustice. You say it's ugly and graffiti and not the way to go. What about Occupy Wall Street? People thought that was ugly.
If you don't give people a voice, they will take one.
These guys aren't making overtly political statements, but given the brutal conditions I understand they live under, any form of expression might be a godsend and to the extent that they are creating problems for the uncaring upper class, more power to them.
It is a more peaceful way to express themselves than violence, but that doesn't mean I support what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI love the description as poetic terrorism. Brazil has had such a drastic economic rebound that my first thought is to wonder whether the graffiti artists are expressing inability to cope with the changes their society has undergone in the last ten years.
ReplyDeleteThere's graffiti here too, Mike. I notice it most here at the corner where I life. Ther'es a big power pole just out NE of my living room window, and some sort of electrical power box control thing there as well...
ReplyDeleteThey get graffiti weekly. There's a couple of people that stop by with gray paint and rollers to cover over it on a regular basis. One is a city employee who comes by with an official truck filled with different colors of paint and brushes/rollers. He paints over the regularly occuring graffiti that shows up here... probably because we live a couple of blocks from the high school.
There's also a gentleman in my neighborhood that comes around and works to clean up the graffiti as a volunteer and/or concerned citizen. He's not paid to do so, but he does it because he wants the neighborhood vandals to become discouraged and take it elsewhere. He uses paint sometimes, and other times he uses some sort of solvent to remove whatever was applied to things.
I've also been to a few art gallery shows in town where artists use graffiti style drawings/letterings/symbols/etc in their studio artwork... and display it as art rather than putting it on inappropriate surfaces around town. I find it to be interesting and appealing in that setting.
I find myself entranced any time I'm stuck at a railroad crossing; I watch the train cars go by - marveling at the differences in all the graffiti, wondering where each image/signature came from. On one hand, I acknowledge that it's vandalism... but on the other hand, at times It's quite stunning and beautiful.
I think the practice of putting up murals as a way to discourage vandalism is a great thing... I love driving around and seeing the sides of buildings covered with art. I think it's the most effective solution I've seen and would love to see more. :)
I've known some Graffiti artists in my life, and Graffiti can be as impressive as any art, but the tags in the video are absolute shit.
ReplyDeleteI agree. These aren't artists, these are criminals. They shouldn't be admired or put on a pedestal. They should be stopped.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy. Your post reminded me of the Broken Window Theory and George Kelling.
ReplyDeleteI think I have sort of mixed feelings about graffiti. I mean I hate it in places that should be left pristine, but i've lived in places with graffiti artists--where people come along and leave somethign beautiful under a bridge or something--or where it is used politically (the spray painted images on sidewalks) and I like to try to figure out the story or message. I'd never want it on public buildings, or private, but offering up a place for it, giving people a voice, is nice. We have a rock here on campus that is ALWAYS painted. People use it for causes, for pranks--I think it limits what would otherwise be a battle between fraternities or dorms that turned uglier.
ReplyDeleteI ALSO love that I live in a community with 'public art'--students invited to do murals in places where normally graffiti might be tempting.
(it is men because it is marking territory--a male behavior in many species)
I like the grafitti I see in skate parks. Some is quite beautiful. We used to get a lot of gang symbols here, but I haven't seen that for a long time, which is nice.
ReplyDeleteI think that when you have a society that doesn't make sure young men can get jobs and have hope for the future, then crime is going to be rampant.
Doing something positive instead is a good idea. What could they do? I would bet if they held sit-in protests like we do in North American, they would be arrested. What could they do to make life in Sao Paulo better? Probably nothing. They are powerless.
Graffiti isn't really an issue where I live, either. It's mostly on the sides of train cars, but I do think it definitely takes talent. That doesn't mean I approve of it. :)
ReplyDeleteI would be terrified, too. the only way you'd get me to scale a building is if there were zombies at ground level. :)
ReplyDeleteI have to say that if all of this is politically motivated, I'm all for it. If that kind of thing were to start happening to, say, oil companies in the US, I wouldn't complain.
ReplyDeleteAs vandalism, though, as gangs marking territories or kids having a lark, it's wrong.
I could go on, but Briane said everything on the one side and everyone else has said everything on the other.
first 'signs' [pun intended] of the coming apocalypse... not the biblical one, rather the economic collapse of the planet... something the 1-percenters have staged, for years, and the more perceptive speculative fiction writers have written about... already happening in the eurozone, as well
ReplyDeleteeg. 'blade runner'
1-percenters have their fortified bastions, the scale of which the rest of us cannot even imagine, and likely, will never see
There isn't a major problem with it in this area (though there is a bridge nearby that's clearly been repainted many times), but I don't like graffiti, either. I just don't see the justification for causing that kind of damage to other peoples' property.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a shame that such athletic talent is being wasted on being destructive. People who weren't afraid of heights were used to build the Brooklyn Bridge, so just imagine what these climbers could accomplish. But then one reason they do this must be desperation and the sense that since they have nothing in their lives then they have nothing to lose. Sad and ugly.
ReplyDeleteI don't like grafitti. Most of it is ugly and damaging. But that's here in England where people have other ways of making their voices heard. Like looting and setting fire to things.
ReplyDeleteSorry, feeling cynical today.
Not really a bit fan of it personally... Just don't understand the reason for defacing someone else's property... if it's art, then they should do it as art...
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard about this. Wow. What a real tragedy. One thing that has always upset me about humanity is how only a few people can ruin it for the rest.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael! I stopped by from the A to Z Challenge List, getting a head start on some great new blogs. Nice to meet you! We live in the same town! Well, actually I'm about 20 miles south of SLC. And no, I do NOT like Graffitti. It's wrong wrong wrong, I'm not sure where the trend came to call it artistic license because to me it's just defacing other people's property.
ReplyDeleteKarenG
It is an ugly crime despite the lack of violence.
ReplyDeleteSome of this outlaw work I hate the most is when people paint on the sides of mountains along roads and disrupt the natural beauty of driving through the wilderness.
I had a couple students discuss tagging in a class once. It was a better topic than fighting or drugs, but it was in the same vein.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I couldn't climb up buildings like that either.
if you have special skill use it for good and share it to others!:)
ReplyDeleteI personally don't like graffiti. To me it's not right to deface someone else's hard work and property.
ReplyDeleteNow that said, reading this sparked a characterization idea, so I thank you for that! :)
Angela
There is a group of actual artists called "graffiti artists" who paint on specified walls and usually get paid. The other kind of graffiti is called vandalism and destroying someone else's property is truly evil--even if you're down and out and jealous and mad and stupid and drunk.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of graffiti. I remember as a child in New York City and how rundown the subways looked because of the graffiti inside and outside of the train.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in grad school, a husband and wife came to give talks because they both wanted faculty positions. The husband was a graffiti historian and thought of graffiti as art. I don't think he convinced any of us. He wasn't offered a job.
I don't like graffiti. But I am impressed by urban climbers (who don't deface buildings, etc). Does that count?
ReplyDeleteThe only 'graffiti' I can respect is the stuff that's actually art!
ReplyDeleteWhen people are disenfranchised and do not have a voice they will find ways to protest, no matter how dangerous. It's interesting that all that is being thought of is what it does to buildings and how awful that is. And yet, our military can bomb an ancient city (like Baghdad) and we all sort of shrug and think, it's part of war. This is part of war too - a non-violent protest against the power elite and what they are doing to the poorest in their society. One day it may turn violent (and it may here too) because as long as all we can think about is our own well being without regard to those who are being used in the process, those who are left without jobs, homes, food... will eventually rise up because they have nothing else to lose.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably awful for saying this, but a small part of me likes seeing it. Not the ugly,scribbly stuff but I've seen some beautiful skilled graffiti. I saw a documentary awhile back about it-there was this french guy who made tiles and stuck them on old buildings-now that guy bugged me. Why would anyone do that to a neat old building..but his tiles were considered really valuable art and people would take them off things and sell them for a lot of money. It's a really strange underground world.
ReplyDeleteYou've been tagged sir!
ReplyDeletehttp://eyesoffate.blogspot.com/
I think as long as they're defacing public buildings there's nothing beautiful about it.
ReplyDeleteI think there's definitely a difference and a line that can be drawn between tagging (claiming something with your name because you're part of a gang or whatever) and street art. There are plenty of legitimate artists who use spray paint and buildings to express themselves.
ReplyDelete