Sunday, July 15, 2007
out with the
On Friday at work I received an e-mail from a VISTA here in Providence who was announcing a graffiti cleanup on historic Benefit Street on College Hill. They were meeting at The Armory building on Benefit, which just happens to be the building where my church meets. It has been the most important building to me since my time here in Providence, for all the amazing experiences and relationships that have come out of Renaissance Church. And the graffiti on the building was just annoying tags, nothing too artistic. So I decided to go, support the VISTA and clean up the building we use for church, etc etc. I even sent the word out to the Ren community.
My pastor shared the word also. He wrote:
There is a graffiti clean up day happening and the starting location is the Armory building - how funny! And I guess they'll be covering over some of the graffiti some of you did recently (kidding). But it did get me thinking about whether I like graffiti or not. The Armory building does seem to be a target. Most of it hasn't been very interesting to be honest. Just scribble. But I admit I do sort of like graffiti when it's done thoughtfully. Have you seen some of the work done on train cars? I suppose I should be careful not to give my approval of vandalizing property but I'm just saying that sometimes it makes the cityscape a more interesting and colorful one. Imagine if everyone was free to write or illustrate whatever they wanted wherever they wanted. I wonder what that would look like? Ok, back to reality, cleaning up some of the crummy graffiti is a good thing so if you want to help out then great. I'll be at a wedding tomorrow so I won't be able to. But maybe some of you could encourage the painters to use the right color paint on our building :)
We have a lot of artists in the Ren community, including several RISD students. Needless to say, I was the only one that showed up. And I have regrets about doing so.
What looks better to you? Small graffiti art, or this:
Don't get me wrong, the graffiti behind that off-color paint job was just some little tags put on by amateurs. But even still. Having this on the building not only destroyed the art but made the building look even worse. I now regret the enthusiasm I put behind this cause. ¶ 7/15/2007 04:42:00 PM
My pastor shared the word also. He wrote:
There is a graffiti clean up day happening and the starting location is the Armory building - how funny! And I guess they'll be covering over some of the graffiti some of you did recently (kidding). But it did get me thinking about whether I like graffiti or not. The Armory building does seem to be a target. Most of it hasn't been very interesting to be honest. Just scribble. But I admit I do sort of like graffiti when it's done thoughtfully. Have you seen some of the work done on train cars? I suppose I should be careful not to give my approval of vandalizing property but I'm just saying that sometimes it makes the cityscape a more interesting and colorful one. Imagine if everyone was free to write or illustrate whatever they wanted wherever they wanted. I wonder what that would look like? Ok, back to reality, cleaning up some of the crummy graffiti is a good thing so if you want to help out then great. I'll be at a wedding tomorrow so I won't be able to. But maybe some of you could encourage the painters to use the right color paint on our building :)
We have a lot of artists in the Ren community, including several RISD students. Needless to say, I was the only one that showed up. And I have regrets about doing so.
What looks better to you? Small graffiti art, or this:
Don't get me wrong, the graffiti behind that off-color paint job was just some little tags put on by amateurs. But even still. Having this on the building not only destroyed the art but made the building look even worse. I now regret the enthusiasm I put behind this cause. ¶ 7/15/2007 04:42:00 PM
