Posts Tagged ‘wisdom’

shout, shout, let it all out

Posted: September 5, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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I’m talking to you….

Well, I’m not the one doing the talking.  In fact, no one is talking, or shouting for that matter.  The words are silent, present..  but quiet.  They are written on the walls; scrawled on the walls.  They’re rarely beautiful and they’d rarely qualify as being profound.

below: But “Sometimes it doesn’t matter”.  I love the ambiguity and flexibility of the word ‘it’ in this context.  Write your own story. Develop your own plot.

below: … even if the plot doesn’t make sense, like Trump himself.

blue spray paint graffiti words on concrete by a chainlink fence surrounding a school playground and parking lot that say I shot Trump and I'd do it again and again and again

below: From Trump we jump to conspiracy theories.  That was easy wasn’t it?

on a red door, number 911, someone has added in white letters, was an inside job

below: I have no segue for 911 conspiracies to love.   A jump in the plot?

blue spray paint graffiti words on concrete by a chainlink fence surrounding a school playground and parking lot that say Love Yourself Kids

below: Sentimental feelings – dripping with sentiment.  Oh dear.

graffiti words stenciled on a garage door that say sentimental feelings.

below: .. or wishes for feelings of being loved

small square around these words, love me plz, written with black paint on a white garage door,

below: Pull yourself together and get it together….  But.. but..  Buddha once said: “Life is suffering; suffering is just part of life.”  Sooooo if you start suffering do you stop living?  Yes, I can be insufferable, just like philosophy and psychology and a few other ologies.

below: Did I mention that sometimes the words make no sense?

black sharpie words on a concrete utility pole, says Virgin Armour

below: These words, on the other hand, make sense: Bew Are!  (not technically graffiti but my editor didn’t question it!)

And that’s the end.   No more words.  I have no more words. Fini.

Elvis has left the building.

a man is walking past a wall with street art, a construction sign is leaning backwards against the wall blocking part of the art. THe picture can't be seen but the words that went with the picture are still visible. They say The artist isn't present

communicating on the streets

Posted: August 27, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Words, words, words.  People write them. People read them (or ignore them!).  And some people take pictures of them and blog them.

below: Let’s start with the encouraging words such as this one: “Be you not them!”  I don’t know who is behind the #happytoronto campaign but if you search for that hashtag on instagram, you’ll discover that they wrote a number of positive messages on Toronto sidewalks.

words written in chalk on the sidewalk, Be you, not them! #happytoronto

below: Another hashtag, another set of words.

words stenciled onto the sidewalk in black, that say It's Okay not to be OK #thesadcollective

below: Time and weather and peeling paint have erased some of this message but “still believe” is still there and hanging on.

a metal garage door once painted blue, the blue is peeling. Stickers that said no parking have fallen away so there's only NO A G left. Written in yellow spray paint is Still believe.

below: Like most facets of life, there’s always the negative ones.
But who knows, maybe he speaks the truth?

on a concrete block exterior wall, spray painted words that say you smell

below: “I’ve always known it was you”
Ambiguous words:  A declaration of love?  An accusation of a crime?

on a concrete wall painted beige, a stencil in orange that says I've always known it was you

below: Danger due to construction workers ONLY.   Definitely no other dangers here!

blog_construction_workers_danger

below: “Eat right, exercize, die anyways”.   A touch of reality or cynicism.  The interpretation is in the eye of the beholder so to speak.

blog_eat_right_exercise_die

below: How to open this door.  At first glance, what silliness.

blog_how_to_open_door

below:  “If not now, then when?”
Playing visually with written words.

words written large in white on a black wall, if not now then when. A bright yellow table and chair sit in front of the wall.

below:  Chinese characters on a yellow wall.  I have no idea what it says and I’m not sure if google can help me translate.  Post no bills?  No parking?  Both doubtful… I think!  They are written on a mural on Gerrard East (Chinatown East) that was only a few days old.

graffiti Chinese characters written on a yellow wall.

below:    “Go perfect into peace”.  Wonderful sentiment.  The grammar is iffy ( a direct translation from Chinese into English?  去完善纳入和平) but I like the succinctness of the message.

go perfect into peace, words written on a fence beside a no parking sign

below:  And last, I am going to include the words from this mural because it is now adjacent to a construction site and who knows how long its going to remain visible.

mural on a lavendar coloured wall, a hand pointing down.

below: From the mural above, a quote from the novel ‘Tom Jones’ by Henry Fielding written, appropriately, on the wall of the Tom Jones restaurant.  I’ve included the transcription below the photo.

words of a quote from a novel by Henry Fielding, written in black on a lavendar coloured wall, exterior, outside

[…] these laws my readers patrons whom I consider as my subjects, are bound to believe and to obey; with which that they may readily and cheerfully comply, I do hearby assure them that I shall principally regard their ease and advantage in all such institutions; for I do NOT, like a jure divino tyrant, imagine that they are my slaves or my commodity; I am , indeed, set over them for their own good only, and was created for their use and not they for mine.  Nor do I doubt, while I make their interest the great rule of my writings doings, they will unanimously concur in supporting my dignity and in rendering me all the honour I shall deserve or desire (II,i)

from the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding.”