This article in The Sun caught my eye today.
A BLANK wall built for teenage graffiti artists has been vandalised by an angry resident writing – ”I paid my tax and all I got was this lousy wall”.
The £3,000 6ft high by 30ft long wall was installed so youths could practice their graffiti artwork without using local property.
But ahead of its opening on October 31 the fed-up resident sneaked behind a security fence and daubed a protest about the use of taxpayer’s money.
Personally, I find the whole story hilarious.
First, because the council now thinks they need to repaint the wall. Now, I don’t know the exact details of this wall, and maybe the plan is to repaint it every few months, but it seems like it would be easy enough to just wait until the wall opens and let the kids paint over it.
Second, because they automatically assume that some disgruntled taxpayer did this. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an ironic teenager. If I lived in Wadebridge and was clever enough, I might have sprayed that even though I like the idea of the wall.
Thirdly, the idea of the wall itself. Yes, I just said i like the idea of the wall, and I do because it gives artists a place to paint where they don’t have to worry about being arrested (or maybe not). I just don’t think this is going to limit the amount of graf in the area. Part of street art and graffiti is the illicit nature of the work.
Hopefully we can see some photos when the wall is opened officially.