I’ve seen a lot of tagged trains in my day and 90% of them are astounding. Like “you can do this with spray paint? How many fucking cans did this take?!” There’s no other outlet for these folks which is a shame
I’ve often thought while sitting at a train crossing and admiring the art that railroads should stage competitions around the nation. Give them a canvas.
My community doesn’t “condone” it because of liability but there’s an area in my city that people graffiti the buildings. They’re owned by some big anonymous developer (so I’ve heard, I m sure someone knows who it is obviously.) that bought the buildings to stop a different company from coming in and bulldozing it to be a high rise hotel in the small community there. There’s signs that say “enter at your own risk” and a legal disclaimer. None of the art is obscene. It’s not political. It’s not littered with trash or drugs. There’s actually a milk crate of half full spray paint for others to use. I’ve never had a problem going there. It’s just really beautiful art and nature taking over some old buildings. People use it as a back drop for pro pics. I think everywhere should have a place like that. It’s just some cool little locals only spot and it’s very just like, neutral ground.
Ok but let me check first! I was telling a friend about it and she said “the place became a homeless camp and the sheriff’s office came in one day like 2 years ago and closed it down. It was on the news, how did you miss it.” I’m driving out there tomorrow. I hadn’t thought about this place in a while but now I’m sad if this actually happened.
Eh it happens. I don't know if you ever went to the prison farm in Atlanta but basically same thing. Rad art turns into a lawless place, cops and city shut it down, only film crews allowed in. Boo.
Wynwood was touristy since 2013/14. Now everything’s been crushed and turned into the standard Miami boutique bullshit. Lived there from 15-18 and it had already lost its appeal to artists by the time I left. Hell, they stopped Art Walk in like 16 because people kept touching all the art inside galleries (which most of eventually shut down or moved). It makes me happy hearing you say there’s still wall art there, but the last time I visited and drove through, I saw barely any compared to my post-hey day stretch.
It’s the typical gentrification shit, Miami edition. Every time a good local arts or music scene pops up, it collapses within 4-6 years because of money and/or ego. Was so disheartening my whole life getting emotionally and physically invested in things just to have the same rug pulled out time and time again.
Edit: sorry for sounding so bitter. I’m borm and raised there and eventually moved a couple years back. Was just so frustrating seeing so much potential consistently squandered.
I think the galleries are mostly gone, but there’s still plenty of graffiti in the area. I know what you mean, we can’t have anything nice because we drive it into the ground looking for more profit. Knaus Berry Farms used to be a fun day out as a kid, you drive down, chitchat with the mennonites, eat cinnamon rolls in your car, pick some strawberries maybe. Now, it’s a 2+ hour wait in the sun and most of it is staffed by teenagers. The charm is gone.
Scotland has done this a lot. Aberdeen for example printed out maps and games for kids to follow and discover them. A few were still getting done when we went around the route and we stopped to chat to the artists.
They were the size of buildings! Really awesome stuff
Stavanger in Norway has done this for many years. Do a google image search for "Stavanger street art" and see tons of awesome pieces from world renowned artists, local and international.
There’s one kinda in Honolulu’s kakaako neighborhood, it was originally a ware house industry area turned residential, so there’s a mix a old warehouses repurposed and new construction mix use luxury glass condo going up, the warehouses are covered in awesome art, and the new condos have the large plain walls covered in art too
Borås is known as the most boring city in Sweden, but one cool thing they have going for them is the No Limit festival where they open up a lot of walls to grafitti artist from all over the World.
I visited a small city in southern Portugal earlier this year. It was most known for it's fishing community, but it was the graffiti that really blew me away. Great big beautiful murals, incredibly skillfully made, sometimes on all four walls of houses, depicting the hardship of a community clinging to a way of life while constanly threatened by climate change and globalistic capitalism. It was moving, and sad.
In Saint Louis, we have what’s colloquially called “The Graffiti Wall” that brings in artists from across the country (I want to say yearly? Maybe biannually?) and they paint over the entire wall of the previous years, in order to let the new artists express themselves. It’s a fantastic tradition, and one that I’m thrilled is a part of my local community. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how long it’s been going on off the top of my head.
In Hawaii, they have a have the POW Wow festival where artists make murals. pow wow world wide I lived there for a couple of years and they did a mural across the street from where I worked. It was amazing to walk around and see all the murals being created.
Yo! STL native here, I’ve regularly participated in Paint Louis. That’s what the annual block party is called at the flood wall. It’s always Labor Day Weekend, it’s been going on since I was a kid, am I’m 33. I can remember my dad taking me when I was 12/13 yrs old. It’s always super fun!! Come out next year!!
We have a whole building for that. Also, one of the contruction places in town lets the kids tag just about anything but the equipment. You can see it if you peek through the fence off the trail.
In my hometown we have an empty strip mall that’s been a graffiti spot since before I was born (30+ years). The art here is incredible, nobody ever touches it, we have a lot of respect for the expression
Probably the funny juxtaposition between a beautiful sunset over a Southwest landscape, elaborate old west font, and the word "SLUTS". It's not the word you would expect in this context, an unexpected mix of artistry and vulgarity.
As long as you are not covering up the numbers and warnings that are spray painted on the cars by the railroad they won't bother removing it.
It is expensive to pressure wash all that off. All that matters is the signage stays intact cause the railroad pays a big fine if it's not clearly visible.
No but in a lot of cases there is a fair bit of respect between railyard workers (not cops/security lol) and writers. You'll see a lot of these pieces on rolling stock where either the artist intentionally left gaps in their piece so as to not paint over the important identifying markings on the car, or where the rail workers have painted over ONLY the little bits of the piece where they need to restore said markings. Just anecdotally a lot of rail workers seem to appreciate the art they see in the yard day to day.
It’s basically exactly that. Artists come and go and tag an alleyway as they please. Only rule is you can’t cover someone else’s art and once a year the city comes and roles white paint over the whole alleyway.
Used to be a railroader. One town where we stored cars was essentially a home base for a graffiti artist that often did whole cars (new art, same tag). Many times I found remnants of DIY scaffolding and some empty cans. They usually kept the area clean, but I imagine they prioritized their freedom over being ecological.
Tried buying a painting off of him through instagram, but I think he got spooked.
Funny thing is we railroaders don't give a shit, I even respect the common courtesy they have for not painting over the car IDs and side reflectors etc...
I worked with a guy that was a tagger. He'd be at work drawing out what he wanted to do that night when it was slow. He also used some very expensive spray paint that was made for tagging. It was his thing and he did some cool looking stuff.
He also painted another co-worker's Baja Bug. All done with spray paint.
Yeah, SF Bay Area. I have no idea what brand of paint he used. This was years ago that he did that. Neither of them work there anymore and the car was sold a couple of months after it was painted.
If our society wasn’t so obsessed with monetizing everything at the threat of starvation and homelessness, a lot more people would be able to pursue their passions, whether that’s art, science, or just volunteering to help people.
I've heard of paint/graffiti shops that have a yard out back with huge wood panels that you can practice murals on. I've also seen artists using cling wrap like a canvas to paint on (think of a volleyball net except cling wrap)
I'm sure nothing compares to painting a train and having your piece travel around, but there are outlets.
And if you want to get depressed, you can take Music City Star in Nashville. Bonus points for the stations with nothing but parking lots and no sidewalks.
I grew up in Laramie Wyoming. My first exposure to modern art was when I would ride my bike down to the railroad tracks and look at the graffiti cars and think about people in big cities making this.
It really kind of is. Haven't really considered it, but a small town boy on a bike inspecting big city graffiti on cattle cars at the railroad yard is a pretty nice image.
I mean they have other outlets lol they just like painting trains and don't give a shit that it's illegal. There are a lot of famous writers that pay the bills doing art, murals, commissions etc as a day job and still get up in the city or on rolling stock at night, it's in the culture
Also just a quick aside, tagging usually refers to the shit you see on dumpsters and electrical boxes etc with a paint marker or sharpie or whatever and is usually a 1-3 second single color scribble of the artist's name (tag). Train stuff is usually a piece (graffiti mural like in the OP, takes hours) or a bomb/throw (usually 2 color, bubble fill but still done very quick in a couple of minutes)
My Dad used to run an art gallery with his best friend and almost every artist they put on events for were local kids who had been in trouble with the law for graffiti. My Dad and his friend set up an agreement with law enforcement that anyone caught doing graffiti could come do their ‘community service’ hours with them either at the art gallery or they’d take them out in groups and paint huge murals that the government had commissioned them to do on walls and tunnels around train lines.
That agreement was called ‘positive pARTnerships’. The kids had a huge tunnel at the art gallery and a massive concrete area with walls on three sides that were about 20m (almost 99ft) tall. They let the kids hone their art skills and then helped them get jobs with brands like Billabong and Mambo.
Some of those kids have gone on to win huge art awards and my Dad and his friend taught them to respect the community and gave them free access to the tunnel 24/7 (the back courtyard was only available during the day because you could access inside the art gallery and into the resident artists living above it pretty easily from the back). So whenever they felt like doing graf art they just went there and did whatever they felt like. My Dad loved checking out the new art work every day.
They’ve sold the art gallery now because my Dad is in his mid/late 60s and his best friend is in his early 70s, but they’re now in the process of writing a book about it.
My Dad has made me proud in SO many ways, but he love for bringing out the best in people(especially people who have had a hard life) is one of my most favourite things about him.
About 15 years ago i lived in this house with no fence dividing the backyards. The neighbors son would actually practice his graffiti on their shed and the back fence. Then he would paint over his work and keep practicing.
He was so good and he was so fast. He literally practiced his craft so he could pull it off it a public place.
Sometimes I would look outside and there would be a random mural of my dog. I still have pictures of some of his murals of my dog. A few times I would be driving around town and recognize his work.
Florence Alabama actually has a graffit alley that people are free to create! My husband and I added our names to the wall on our anniversary trip this past November :)
It’s not that there’s no other outlet. It IS part of the culture as others said and the reason is because a train is like a tv ad. It gets more impressions than a billboard because it moves. Your graffiti on a train can be seen my thousands more. In your own city and across the continent. Very important as space.
It's not about lack of an outlet, it's that painting trains is it's own thing and it's fucking awesome.
source: Have lots of friends that do paint murals, teach art or tattoo for a living, they still paint illegal train graffiti for it's own purpose.
https://vimeo.com/280420605 This guy sells canvases for thousands of dollars, has a university art degree and more mural commissions than he can bother to paint.
My ex husband used to do this when we were teenagers. They had all these different tips to make different sized lines and stuff. I just wish I had realized how much different it would come out when he used a homemade tattoo gun on my back and I bitched out less than halfway through. Still it was fun to watch them tag the coolest things they’d draw for weeks on paper before they were ready to put it on a wall. None were ever this good, though.
I also picked up on this when I’d see all of them (big shipping city on coast). I imagine it’s an immediate paint over at the yard so to keep the tag a bit longer, they avoid the critical info so the message lives on
That’s why I love graffiti, even if it’s a few stylized words it’s amazing that someone can do that with spray paint. Even better when it’s in a hard to reach spot, how did they get there AND magically paint this. Plus it shows a side of humanity that never changes, we have graffiti from thousands of years ago and the people after us will graffiti for thousands of years after
A lot of urban expression is painted on trains/ the sides of buildings/ abandoned builds for maximum visibility, also the “location” of the art can have its own meaning
What I like about train art is it can go across the country. Well appreciated work could live outside a location, be seen coast to coast. Then a real message can reach many.
Lot of times they’ll carry a piece of cardboard to mask and spray the straight lines. Occasionally people bust out a paint roller for filling in on the huge pieces. Used to be super into this stuff in hs/college was always cool to see a prolific name on a train that was states away from where it originated. never actually sprayed a wall that wasn’t sanctioned/commissioned for art though but all my homework was a mess cause I’d sketch graffiti everywhere lol. Very interesting underground world though. These days I still do these kinda doodles on an iPad.
This is 100%, without a doubt freehand. No one illegally breaks into a yard and brings a giant stencil or projector with them. That's rare even at commissioned art walls, it's definitely not happening at a spot where you have to be ready to run at a moments notice.
I love a good box car art. I used to work near train tracks and for a minute the art was really good so I would stare out the window and admire it as the train went by.
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u/CommissionVisible364 15d ago
Where was this? Gotta hand it to ‘em, that’s great freehand work.