27 November 2011 - Perth Road, Westdene

Another wall on Perth Road.

These are two photos, not meant to be a Panoramic view.

27 November 2011 - University Road, Auckland Park (2)

This walls is a little further up the road from my previous post on University Road. The wall was recently painted over, Unfotunately I dont have photo's of how it looked before. (also graffiti style)

I told you it was University Road

27 November 2011 - University Road, Auckland Park

When you work for your heart, work becomes play

Noordwyk, Midrand - 8th Road

Noordwyk, Midrand - 8th Road - this broken down building can be seen from the road. I'd like to know what it used to be, the colours are bright and noticable. Although the condition up close is alot worse than it seems. Beva added his own touch of colour.

M1 - Woodmead

From Woodmead getting onto the M1 Highway South, this bridge provides cover for a homeless man. And home to this graffiti:

Bryanston- Petervale

This is a piece of graffiti that I see everyday on my way to work through the suburb of Petervale.
Its sprayed on a wall of an electricity station inside a park. This main pic is road facing. The other two, luckily, are not.

Two of the other walls:

Then a little further along my route. Bryanston road, there is this little gem, which fans of the rock band System of a Down will recognise as a lyric from the song: "Vicinity Of Obscenity"
I like it because of its location in an up-market neighborhood.

Joburg Zoo - Stencil

I havent seen alot of stencil art so far around the city, so I was very excited to find this one along the Johannesburg zoo wall.
The words are from a Poem by Dylan Thomas, Do not go gentle into that good night

4th September (part3) - Main Reef

These are a little more on the grafitti end of the grafitti-meets-art spectrum, but I feel that they need to be included.

Location: Main Reef Road and Chilvers Street. Artist unknown

These three are a few among many against a warehouse alongside the train tracks on Main Reef.

 

When I saw this scrawling under a bridge on Main Reef Road, I had a laugh. I guess if thats your best talent, then its best kept under bridges.

Graffiti Project - The Beginning

ART: “is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression”

GRAFFITI: “is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is any type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings”

“In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime. Sometimes graffiti expresses social and political messages and a whole genre of artistic expression is based upon spray paint graffiti styles. To some, it is an art form worthy of display in galleries and exhibitions; to others it is merely vandalism.”

(Definitions and quotes from Wikipedia)

Where would we draw the line between Art and Graffiti, or rather where would these two meet?

I’ve been wanting to start this project for a long time now. Since moving to the city in 2006 and even before then I’ve seen so many painted walls, bridges, sign posts and pavements in the city of Johannesburg, some indeed are acts of vandalism others are forms of street art or advertisements on comissioned walls scattered around the city.   I’ve become fascinated by this and have been wanting to document them for my own personal photo collection, and share for others what I see. A large part of this may very likely be merely photos of illegal public graffiti, thugs or gangs marking their terriroty by tagging and the defacement of this beautiful country. However, graffiti is a temporary art form, and is often cleaned up, removed and painted over. In the cases where this is true, art is lost in memory, but retained in photography and although I am not a professional photographer, I really do hope to capture some of the best.

I was recently inspired by the movie/documentary called Exit through the gift shop. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in this kind of street art and modern pop culture.

The best way to start is with google, of course. But I’ll soon be hitting the streets with my camera in hand and will be posting my findings soon thereafter.