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Archive for the ‘Australian Graffiti’ Category
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Saturday, November 7th, 2009CTCV tags appear over Melbourne’s world-renowned graffiti
Monday, July 6th, 2009
By Dissembly
One of the things I love about Melbourne are the amazing graffiti pieces we get. Apparently, we’re known internationally for it, in certain circles. We have a thriving and skilled population of graffiti artists – even under draconian laws that, for example, make carrying a can of spraypaint illegal (giving the police a pre-packaged excuse to stop suspected vandals that merely “look the part”, and haven’t actually been seen doing anything traditionally illegal).
The ‘Authorities’ choose to interpret graffiti as an eyesore. This has led to ridiculous crackdowns in the past, and masses of public money blithely wasted by our state and local governments on “graffiti clean-ups”, such as during the Commonwealth Games.
In the not-so-distant past, a police graffiti/transit squad was rumoured to have engaged in “tagging” of graffiti pieces. Graffiti artists would report catching police “slashing” graffiti pieces (painting over the top of them); I found one tale on an internet forum from a guy who says he left a can of spraypaint behind while being chased by the police – and later found that his can had been used to “slash” a range of pieces.
Tags began appearing, slathered across much better pieces, reading “CTSA” – rumoured to stand for “Cops Trashing Shit Art” or “Cops That Slash Art”.
My view of graffiti is obviously more positive than the “legal” view. I think you need to put it in some kind of perspective. Consider this: We’re bombarded with advertising wherever we go. A billboard is a genuine eyesore. We put up with lists of sponsors and corporate logos on sporting, artistic, and museum events, because we want their money. But they look disgusting. Most of the time, advertisers are outright insulting us; if they’re not insulting our bodies, they’re insulting our intelligence.
Graffiti, on the other hand, entertains. It’s not something put up there to make money; in fact, graffiti artists lose money on it, and sometimes carry it out at great personal (and legal) risk. Sure, it’s about prestige and showing off, and the worst of it – the texta tagging – can almost sink to the level of a company logo… not quite, but almost 
. But it’s often genuinely impressive. If not for the skill involved, then for the “How the heck did they get up there??” factor. Sometimes, there’s even a political point to it – while companies use slick advertising to gloss over their use of overseas sweatshops and other crimes against humanity, graffiti will occasionally bring you comments like “Stop Logging Our Water Catchments!”, “No Jobs On A Dead Planet” (in massive letters on a giant smokestack), and the bitingly ironic slogan “Shut Up And Shop“. And at least it’s your fellow Melbournians trying to grab your attention, just because they think your attention is valuable – not because they want to hustle you.
In around March of this year, Melbourne commuters began noticing a new tag – “CTCV” – used to “slash” a range of pieces. Mostly along train lines, and always over much better pieces. friend of mine pointed out that “CTCV” isn’t too far from “CTSA”, and apparently he wasn’t the only one to draw this conclusion. Do an Australia-centred google search for the initials, and you’ll find lots of forum speculation along similar lines by those in graffiti culture.
Is it the work of “gronks” – less talented kids trying to annoy the older graff artists and make a mindless mark of their own? Or could the “C” at the start of “CTCV” stand for “Cops” – as it has been rumoured to in the past? “CTCV” – “Cops That Catch Vandals”? “Cops Trashing Crap Vandalism”?
We’ll probably never know, unless they’re caught in the act. And then, the only people catching them would be graffiti artists themselves – reliable enough eyewitnesses if you ask me, but I doubt the “authorities” would concur.
Via:melbourne.metblogs.com
Australians jailed over graffiti
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Six “intelligent and well-educated” Australians have been jailed for causing damage put at £70,000 during a six-month graffiti spree in London.
The men targeted Tube and overground trains, Southwark Crown Court heard.
The graffiti artists, who all admitted criminal damage, were caught in Ilford, east London, by police officers who heard rattling cans and smelt paint.
Sentencing, Judge Michael Gledhill said it was “appalling” to see “talented” graffiti artists sitting in the dock.
Ringleader of the graffiti gang – called the AMF – Marcus Wisman, 22, was sentenced to 16 months for conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
‘Talented artists’
Scott Mulhearn, 21, Adrian Hing, 22, Luke Vassell, 23, Jack Shumack, 24, and Alex Wisman, 24, were also jailed over the vandalism attacks between late summer and Boxing Day last year.
Mulhearn received 14 months imprisonment, Shumack and Hing were both sentenced to 12 months, Vassell received a 10-month sentence and Alex Wisman was jailed for eight months.
The court heard that each of the men has an interest in graphic art.
Marcus Wisman, Shumack, Hing and Vassell have all either worked as graphic designers or hope to train to do so.
Sentencing, Judge Gledhill said: “Each of you are intelligent well-educated young men, hard working and capable of holding down jobs.
“Each of you are talented artists, in terms of graffiti artists, so to have to see the six of you sitting in the dock of this court about to be sentenced is quite appalling.”
All of the men will serve half their sentence on licence and will not face deportation.
British Transport Police detectives found evidence that the gang had also left its mark in Australia and Japan, after discovering photographic evidence of previous vandalism attacks.
[Via:BBC]
Graffiti removal is lemon-scent
Monday, March 16th, 2009
STEVEN Carwell and his dad Terry are turning the tide on Rockhampton’s graffiti problem.
The father and son business partners helped in developing a non-solvent citrus graffiti removal solution, the first product of its kind to hit the market in Australia, and Rockhampton is getting the first taste.
Steven, 40, said they developed Graffiti Remover 100 with a team of chemist’s from a company in Texas about five months ago.
The solution is simply wiped onto the spray paint with a cloth and graffiti is moved within minutes.
Steven said they had already cleaned graffiti off the Northside Plaza sign within three minutes, which had been covered for about six months.
“Graffiti is a huge problem in Rockhampton and around the world, and it’s not just the frustration of the graffiti, but it’s the frustration of not being about to remove it,” Steven said.
He said the Morton Bay City Council was currently testing out the solution, and Queensland Rail was keen to purchase the product to combat railway graffiti.
The businessmen, who own Speedliner Australia – a vehicle spray-on protective coating company, said they became interested in developing a new product line in a bid to get rid of the nasty graffiti sprayed throughout the city.
They recently removed graffiti off the Salvation Army box on Park Street, which was left covered after a recent vandalism attack on Park Avenue.
“We are willing to help out these places that don’t have the funds to clean graffiti on their own,” Steven said.
He said they were looking at expanding the product line throughout Australia and internationally to Europe, in particular Amsterdam where there is a major graffiti problem.
“You haven’t seen graffiti until you go to Amsterdam where your bike will be painted if you leave it in the one spot for too long,” Terry said.
The product is on the market exclusively in Rockhampton at Speedliner in Frenchville for $49 a bottle.
Via:www.themorningbulletin.com.au
Organised vandals delaying our trains
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
GRAFFITI vandals are damaging and delaying hundreds of trains a month – and their methods are becoming increasingly brazen.
Connex asset protection officers have turned up a nocturnal gang who set up trestle tables for their gear as they prepared to “graffiti bomb” carriages, and detected interstate and even international offenders.
In recent months, Connex has recorded up to 180 incidents of vandalism a month — with graffiti top of the list — damaging and delaying hundreds more services.
Connex spokesman John Rees said vandals who had been nabbed included one from Germany.
“There are certainly networks of these vandals, and they are grandstanders — we’re finding more and more often that when a group is tagging or graffiti ‘bombing’ a train, there’s a ‘watchdog’, and there’s someone who’s got a digital camera taking photos,” he said.
“Often, they’ve flown into the city for one night, they get a hire car and find their targets, they hit our trains, and they’re already posting it up on internet networks on the way back to the airport.”
Graffiti clean-up costs Connex more than $11 million a year. New public transport contracts will see operators fined if they do not clean up damage efficiently.
[www.news.com.au]
I’ll keep tagging, graffiti fan says
Sunday, October 5th, 2008
Meet Zion. You don’t know him, but there’s a good chance you detest him.
Zion exists with you, although he doesn’t feel entirely at one with you.
You belong to the “normal community”. He belongs to the graffiti community.
Standing in a long alley next to Horton Park Golf Club in Maroochydore, the walls of businesses that line the alley heavily marked with graffiti, Zion agreed to talk to the Daily after a campaign was launched to rid the Coast of graffiti.
It’s his attempt at shedding light on a culture that’s repugnant to most people.
With his identity shielded by his street name and the respirator he wears when he paints, the 20-year-old looks like the archetypal Coast youngster – three-quarter pants hung low at the back, T-shirt, New York Yankees baseball cap worn slightly to one side, Adidas shoes.
For someone who devotes a large part of his life to defacing public property, he’s surprisingly respectful, referring to anti-graffiti crusader Graeme Hall as “Mr Hall”.
Zion shares at least one thing in common with Mr Hall: both have no idea what makes the other one tick.
Mr Hall’s mission is to rid the Coast and Australia of the graffiti he considers an eyesore.
Zion’s mission is to paint as many walls as possible – and he never wants to stop.
The serious element in Zion’s world refer to themselves as “writers”.
He says “taggers” are usually kids who paint their aliases on things like street signs and power boxes.
There are around 50 hard-core writers on the Coast, people like him who have reached a high level and regard themselves as artists.
“We’re just promoting art,” he says, adding the overall number of graffitists is in the hundreds.
Zion, who started as a tagger in high school, doesn’t want to talk too much about himself – he prefers to let his writing do the talking.
“It’s not about you as a person,” he says. “It’s more about your world, your art.”
A labourer who is currently between jobs, Zion reckons Mr Hall and his kind are wasting their time.
Mr Hall has painted over a large section of graffiti on the Sunshine Motorway as part of his Mission Brown initiative and secured a promise from main roads minister Warren Pitt for the government to continue the job.
Ironically, the brown paint Mr Hall uses is an eyesore to Zion – and a red flag to a bull.
“It’s a fresh canvas to me,” he says.
“It’s all about who can keep it up the longest. It could go on forever.
“It’s something in your blood. Once you have a taste for it, you don’t want to put it (the spray can) down.”
There’s a message for Mr Hall and others opposed to graffiti on one of the walls in the alley. It reads: “Mission Brown Makes Me Frown”.
[Via:www.thedaily.com.au]
Graffiti bombers on the news!
Saturday, May 31st, 2008Jail terms, fines aimed at graffiti vandals
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
[Via:www.theage.com.au]
Graffiti vandals will face up to two years’ jail and thousands of dollars in fines under new Victorian laws.
The regulations come into force today, also giving more powers to police to catch offenders.
Police Minister Bob Cameron said graffiti vandals charged under the tough new laws could be imprisoned for up to two years and face a fine of more than $26,000.
The laws will enable police to issue on-the-spot fines of $550 to anyone carrying spray paint cans if they cannot prove the paint is for work-related purposes.
The laws also grant police the power to search individuals over the age of 14 suspected of carrying any graffiti-related implement.
Mr Cameron said he hoped the new laws would act as a deterrent, sending a strong message to graffiti vandals. “If people want to be graffitists, they’ll think twice”, he said.
The laws form part of the Brumby Government’s anti-graffiti plan, which aims to tackle problem graffiti across Victoria.
Victoria Police Superintendent Kevin Sheridan, who was present at this morning’s announcement, welcomed the new laws and said they would help police tackle the problem of graffiti.
Superintendent Sheridan said police did not make a distinction between artistic graffiti and other forms of graffiti, such as tagging, saying it all constituted vandalism and was therefore illegal.
In addition to the new laws, the Brumby Government have announced the addition of six new graffiti clean-up trailers to the graffiti clean-up partnership with Corrections Victoria.
A member of Corrections Victoria’s crew said the process of removing graffiti was both time consuming and labour intensive.
“Yellow paint and particular types of black paint are the hardest to get rid of, and can take up to several days to remove,” he said.
While the new strategy has been praised by police, street artists have reacted angrily.
Andrew McDonald, founder of Melbourne’s Citylights project, a public art project dedicated to displaying street art, is dubious about the new laws. He said they would do little to address the root of the problem.
“I don’t think the Government will get the response they want from these changes,” he said.
“Graffiti is already illegal. Making it more illegal will not change a thing,” he said.
According to Mr McDonald, the new laws are likely to increase – instead of reduce – the rate of graffiti.
“When you make the penalties heavier, you’ll get graffiti artists who get the work done faster,” he said.
Mr McDonald said the Government needed to view graffiti as a symptom of a broader social issue.
“Today’s youth have very little on offer in the way of recreational facilities,” he said.
“More money needs to be invested into addressing vandalism as a symptom of a much deeper problem,” he said.
The campaign will involve radio advertisements and large public outdoor advertisements.
They’re tightening the screws – Jail terms, fines for graffiti vandals
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
GRAFFITI vandals will face up to two years’ jail and thousands of dollars in fines under new Victorian laws.
The regulations come into force today, also giving more powers to police to catch offenders.
Police Minister Bob Cameron said graffiti vandals charged under the tough new laws could be imprisoned for up to two years and face a fine of more than $26,000.
“Police will be able to issue an on-the-spot fine of $550 to anyone carrying spray paint cans on or adjacent to public transport without a lawful excuse or anywhere a person is trespassing,” Mr Cameron said in a statement.
The new laws also give local councils greater powers to remove graffiti from private property.
Graffiti clean-up crews run by Corrections Victoria in partnership with 26 local government and community organisations will be also expanded.
The new laws have been backed by Victoria Police.
Superintendent Kevin Sheridan said the new police powers would allow officers to tackle graffiti more effectively.
“The ability to issue on-the-spot fines not only acts as a deterrent, but also sends a strong message to vandals that they are more likely to be caught than ever before,” he said.
The offences under the Graffiti Prevention Act include marking property with graffiti without the owner’s permission, which will attract up to two years’ jail and a maximum fine of $26,428.
Possessing a spray paint can can attract a fine of up to $2753 or a $550 on-the-spot fine.
Previously, there were no specific charges relating to graffiti, and offenders were charged under laws relating to damaging property.
Graffiti boy seriously injured in fall – lookout below!
Monday, April 14th, 2008A TEENAGE boy suffered a broken jaw, smashed teeth and fractures to his legs and wrists when he fell through a fibre glass roof while out graffitiing property in Melbourne.
Police said the 14-year-old was seriously injured in the fall in Mentone, in Melbourne’s southeast, about 2am (AEST) today.
The boy had been graffitiing the rear sections of buildings in Como Parade at the time, police said.
He was walking across a section of fibre glass roofing when he fell through it, about six metres to the ground.
Police spokesman Senior Constable Wayne Wilson said another boy, 13, called an ambulance, and the injured teenager was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Police are yet to speak to the boy and have not charged him.