I have no problem with graffiti. I’ve seen some amazing random artworks around the world including psychedelic train carriages in Naples, weird aliens in the south of France, a big nosed man in Pompeii, to name but a few. I even know someone who was once a graf artist in his younger, more crazy days when he loved nothing more than to hang upside down on a railway bridge, risking life and limb in order to tag somewhere impossible.
No, I have no problem with graffiti, though I do prefer something even mildly artistic rather than a careless swipe of spray paint with no form, structure or even the vaguest of meaning. When I think of the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat or Banksy, I feel great wonder for artists who create their works for free.
But, and I thought this was an unwritten rule with graf artists, it’s not very good when it’s daubed on a surface which already has something on it. Blank brick walls, bare doors, barns, badly parked SUVs, are all fair targets as far as I’m concerned. To my mind, spraying over something else, shows a complete disregard for society and indicates a desire to return to the swamp from whence we came.
The reason I’m writing about graffiti, is because, today, I came across this on the way into Farnham.
I think, whoever is responsible for it, is clearly jealous of anyone who can read a map. Therefore, I believe, in order for the punishment to fit the crime, it should include a map reading class concluding with an exam which consists of being dropped in the middle of nowhere armed with just a map which some arsehole has scrawled all over.
That’ll learn ’em!
