“Fight Back” stencil sparks dialogue
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on August 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am
(Photo: Jonathan Maus)
On my way to the Tour de Fat on Saturday morning, I noticed this stencil painted on the Steel Bridge. The artist used white paint for the machine-gun/bike symbol, included the words “Fight Back” and put it up it several times toward the west end of the bike/ped path.
I’m not sure if it’s a direct response to Friday’s incident, but the paint looked fresh and I don’t recall seeing it before then.
It has sparked some interesting discussion on the Shift Email List.
Here are a few of them:
“It’s certainly a powerful symbol, but I don’t want my bike to be a weapon of revolution, I want it to be a vehicle of change.”
“The image is graphically strong but the message is just wrong. Firepower is like oil power, not a good fit with bike power.”
“i do like it. who says that everything has to be peace and love to convey messages and political statements?…. we’ve all got the same general goals, some people go the Martin Luther King route, some go the Malcolm X route.”
I tend to go the Martin Luther King route.
What do you think?
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August 22nd, 2007 10:09
We're better than violence.
We're better than vandalism.
Or so I thought.
August 22nd, 2007 10:20
freaking politico posers. one more reason for drivers to hate us.
August 22nd, 2007 10:31
Its called urban graffiti, why does everything in this city have to turn into a political discussion.
August 22nd, 2007 10:32
We don't need that.
A car, or a gun. They empower ignorance.
Bikes are better BECAUSE they are vulnerable. They are community.
How many conversations have you struck up with other drivers when you are driving?
August 22nd, 2007 10:32
ya, all I thought when I saw it was...great, more graffiti tags around PDX...
the distinction is just not there..and really conjures up this image of "anarchist bike riders"...which in itself is pretty much silly.
August 22nd, 2007 10:35
This will be an interesting thread to watch, especially if you remember the comments about the armed revolutionary cyclist poster that was discussed a few months back.
This type of thinking and the vandalous activity it spurs exists along a continuum, though. In light of this, I guess I now think it's not so funny that someone was asking for advice in the forums about how best to bike-mount a collapsible police-type baton.
August 22nd, 2007 10:44
I appreciate the creativity of the stencil, but I still think it sends the wrong message. Two wrongs don't make a right, last time I checked. I'd rather take the high road... riding happily on my bicycle.
August 22nd, 2007 10:47
I much prefer it when CARS are shown as guns. I think it's more important to show how we AREN'T killing anyone with our bikes. Peaceful noncompliance does work and to believe otherwise is lazy and foolish.
August 22nd, 2007 10:48
BREAKING NEWS: Hipster makes ham-fisted attempt at political statement
Also: thinks he's an "underground" "graffiti artist"
August 22nd, 2007 10:53
I agree with Jesse and Max. I can appreciate the creativity as well, but this is the wrong message, and indeed the opposite message.
Graffiti is not a good thing, especially on our wonderful bridges and multi-use paths.
S
August 22nd, 2007 10:57
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
I've seen graffiti (and t-shirts, posters, etc.) similar to this for years. Not once have I ever seen or heard of any of the self-proclaimed "revolutionaries" who post these (in this country) actually taking up arms. It's just rhetoric.
I gotta admit, though: good design on the stencil.
August 22nd, 2007 10:57
Even though I know who did it, I do not agree with it.
Don't point that thing at me.
August 22nd, 2007 11:17
You know, there are two ways to interpret this that immediately come to my mind.
One is "fight back" against violence with violence.
The other is that by riding a bike, we're "figthting back" (against wars for oil, pollution, global wqarming, etc.)-- that cycling is a revolutionary act in this society..
I tend to see the latter message in the graffiti.
Still, I see how it has the potential to be interpreted the other way.
And yes, it's a very good design.
August 22nd, 2007 11:37
The message given is fight BACK which to me indicates defending yourself against someone attacking you. I think it is important that car drivers know that they can't push cyclists around, because the only reason they do push us around is because they think they can get away with it. Advocating defending yourself is not the same as advocating violence.
Within the gay community, before hate crime laws, Bash Back was formed to defend people against fag bashers.I think it did more to deter jocks from going out and beating up gay people than having more laws on the books did. Bullies tend to back down if they think they have a beating coming.
Stenciling is vandalism but I do not put it in the same category as tagging, which is just putting up your name, a pure act of ego. At least there is a message here.
August 22nd, 2007 11:41
I ride and drive. Should I just shoot myself?
August 22nd, 2007 11:54
I've found it's really hard to shoot an AK-47 while riding.
August 22nd, 2007 11:56
Anonymous:
Don't shoot yourself, just ditch the car.
August 22nd, 2007 12:03
I thought it was saying that people who ride in the drops are violent - ride upright!
;-)
Please don't take any of that seriously. Besides, everyone knows that the only "civilized" posture is recumbant.
*runs like hell*
August 22nd, 2007 12:09
"The other is that by riding a bike, we're "figthting back" (against wars for oil, pollution, global warming, etc.)-- that cycling is a revolutionary act in this society."
This was the same impression I got, Rixtir.
August 22nd, 2007 12:09
note it's a fixed or single speed. maybe it means those who ride such bikes should take up arms against those who ride geared bikes. or recumbants. or anything other than fixed or ss.
August 22nd, 2007 12:14
"note it's a fixed or single speed. maybe it means those who ride such bikes should take up arms against those who ride geared bikes. or recumbants. or anything other than fixed or ss."
And maybe you're just trying to stir people up.
August 22nd, 2007 12:19
Vigilante,
I bike to work five days a week. I like to mountain bike on the weekends if I don't have to haul 1,000 pounds of demolition debris to the dump, or pick-up a few sheets of plywood.
The point is, we are all in this together. This pseudo-revolultionary crap is divisive and counterproductive. I bet it was fun to play revolutionary though...
I would love to se this "artists" BTA card. Do you suppose he contributes to the maitainance of this blog? I drive and I do both. So do a lot of people.
August 22nd, 2007 12:20
#16 & #18
Not only are recumbents the only civilized posture, they also make for the best shooting position (at least with a camera).
August 22nd, 2007 12:21
yawn
August 22nd, 2007 12:31
oh, hey. maybe. jes maybe. kind of like inflammatory art, eh?
August 22nd, 2007 12:39
i'm with rixtir and wyatt. a literal interpretation of the words and image are likely not what the graf artist had in mind.
August 22nd, 2007 13:13
it's a symbol designed to spark conversation. Mission accomplished.
August 22nd, 2007 13:29
Just a Banksy ripoff?
August 22nd, 2007 13:52
You can mount much more fire power on a Hummer than your handle-bars.
Lets avoid an arms race.
August 22nd, 2007 14:05
Until the artist steps forward let us not read too much into this stencil. Can anyone agree with me on that?
August 22nd, 2007 14:09
make a rose stencil and paint one in each barrel. peace.
August 22nd, 2007 14:16
Artist, no. Vandal, yes.
August 22nd, 2007 14:34
why do I get the feeling that the artist put way more thought into the design than (s)he did the message?
I could make plenty of dumb, inflammatory stencils. But would I actually go out and apply them-- in good conscious? Probably not.
At least the feeble-minded can scribble a good-ol' harmless tag and not feel the lurking presence of a message, statement or meaning. Why, that'd be quite irksome.
But maybe we're all reading too much into this, and the artist means only to suggest that automatic-weapon-shaped-bikes be deployed immediately to Iraq to intimidate the insurgency into agreeing that Bagdad really *could* use its very own Pearl district rife with fixies and jet black mantyhose.
August 22nd, 2007 14:45
"note it's a fixed or single speed."
Actually, it could be a in-hub gear. In the USA usually 3 to 8 speeds, but in Europe they have up to 20 some odd speed in-hub gears! (the hubs alone cost more than most bikes though).
I hate Graffiti in all it's forms. Well intentioned or not.
Portland anti-graffiti program:
http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=32420
August 22nd, 2007 15:38
In good ol' american capitalism, I'm selling tshirts with this design for $40 a shirt. Any takers?
August 22nd, 2007 15:40
I thought good ol' American capitalism was to charge what the market will bear...
August 22nd, 2007 16:02
K - this is nowhere near Banksy class.
I agree with Dabby - don't point that thing at me.
August 22nd, 2007 16:05
I first saw it on Aug. 12, so it pre-dates the Clinton road rage. My first reaction was discomfort, I don't wish to be lumped into a group with such an immediate violent image by mere association due to my method of transportation.
August 22nd, 2007 16:09
Anonymous:
But would you ditch the car if you could? That's all I'm saying. Pie-in-the-sky, I guess.
August 22nd, 2007 18:07
i dig the stencil. its in a language (war metaphor/ reality) americans understand.
August 22nd, 2007 19:50
I'm not opposed to some nice artistic graffiti, (compared to the average "tag",) and as such, I'm not really opposed to this. Although I do disagree with the message, and would love to see someone stencil a rose over it, and add the words "with love" to the bottom.
(I've moved plywood on my bike trailer.) But understand Anonymous perfect, I've rented a truck for loads to the dump, and when I was reshingling my roof... There are things that cars are good for, they aren't completely evil, it is just that we as a society use them more often than is appropriate...
August 22nd, 2007 19:56
This makes me just as mad as those irresponsible bikey "Put the Fun Between Your Legs" stickers and the way that message totally encouraged bike riding teens to have unsafe pre-marital sex with strangers during Zoobombs!!!
August 22nd, 2007 21:30
Rixtir (#36)
Please, please - the Republican leadership would prefer you NOT use the words "bear" and "market" in the same sentence. ;-)
Besides, if the USHG sells the shirts for $40, Wal-Mart will just undercut him and pass the savings along to you.
Ok, time for me to stop commenting on this thread...
August 22nd, 2007 22:06
Yes, the Republicans definitely prefer bull.
August 22nd, 2007 22:25
Looks more like an AR-15/M-16 than an A to the K homeboy.
August 22nd, 2007 22:33
It's Banksy without the humor, actually. I mean, I get it on one level, but art should work on more than just that one level. I much prefer the pentabike stencil that Jonathan covered a while back. With that, you could not really be sure what it was about, and it made most (non-right-wing christian) people smile.
As for public art without permits (graffiti, stenciling, stickering), I'm glad it exists, and I'm glad it's illegal. Take a ride in the inner SE one day, and you'll be blown away.
August 22nd, 2007 23:13
It is graffiti, no doubt, and I hate graffiti.
I mean, even though some of it is nice, and maybe on the verge of being art, it is still vandalism. All of it.
Now the city is just going to have to pay someone to paint over it, which means in reality,
WE "ALL" HAVE TO PAY SOMEONE TO PAINT OVER IT!!!!!!!!!
That is how inconsiderate graffiti artists (hah!) are.
August 23rd, 2007 07:12
Totally counterproductive.
August 23rd, 2007 07:33
"Looks more like an AR-15/M-16 than an A to the K homeboy."
nah, Mark, definitely a AK47.
You should come out sometime, mark. I can show you the difference between MY AK47 and MY Bushmaster(AR15/M16).
OH NOES, THAT'S RIGHT. SOMEONE WHO RIDES BIKES ALL THE TIME ANNNNNNND OWNS GUNS!! OH NOES!
And shooting an AK wouldn''t be that hard from a bike, they have little recoil and are quite light weight(which is what makes them so inaccurate).
August 23rd, 2007 07:45
Oh, great. Now Homeland Security will be spying on cyclists.
August 23rd, 2007 07:49
Oh noes! watch out for the black helocopters!
August 23rd, 2007 09:00
The black helicopters are usually over Clackamas/Mollala and places over that direction. I think downtown is safe from them.
However, watch out for men in suits wearing sunglasses and talking into an earpiece.... :)
August 23rd, 2007 09:38
52 comments on this non-news?
Read more on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, it's not so black and white--especially right before they each were assassinated.
I especially would not associate Malcolm X with a AK-47, or any weapon.
August 23rd, 2007 11:00
Perhaps off topic for a bike discussion, but how about the alternate viewpoint of graffiti as guerrilla urban art. Cities like Barcelona are renowned for their vibrant and creative graffiti culture.
And no, I don't consider most tagging to rise to the level of graffiti art, since in most cases the craft (technique) is sorely lacking. Learn how to bomb!
Nicholas Ganz's work (Graffiti World and most recently Graffiti Women) has some excellent examples of the potential of graffiti.
One could see graffiti as an unexpected encounter with art; an effort to bring opposing iconography, dialog and/or beauty to physical infrastructure.
blah blah blah
No go ahead and flame me about how much money the City and private concerns spend removing this scourge.
August 23rd, 2007 11:02
http://chocolatebarnyc.com/edibles/graffiti_bars_index.html
Sometimes its delicious
August 23rd, 2007 11:30
Wouldn't the image be batter with a caption reading. "Is this how you see bicycles?"
August 23rd, 2007 11:32
Thank josh m, my mistake. Good message to send to the car drivers, some cyclists know their guns.
August 23rd, 2007 13:00
Many nations utilize light infantry on bicycles. I have also seen a website advocating to making folding MTBs standard equipment for paratroopers.
August 23rd, 2007 15:24
If the intended audience were drivers, then perhaps they should have chosen a location other than a bicycle and pedestrian path for their message— whatever that message may be.
As a graphic designer, I do appreciate the creativity, but perhaps the 'fixie' or 'hub gear' aspect of it was due to the need for simplicity—necessary to properly translate the design onto the surface. A multi-gear setup would likely turn into a giant paint blob and take away from the design and the message— whatever that message may be. Not to mention, riding on that thing would be really uncomfortable.
If defending one's self includes a violent reaction (which I would argue, includes the use of the weapon depicted in the stencil), then that defense would still be violent. The idea that drivers 'push us around' is a generalization. We have a choice on how we interpret actions. Generalizations and misconceptions are what lead to further misunderstanding, violence or escalation. There are plenty of jerk drivers out there('that driver yelled he was going to run me over, and did!'-okay, they probably were out to get you), as well as cyclists, which I have noted from my own interactions and observations of both. However, starting out assuming every driver is against 'us' starts things out on a bad foot.
Having personally grown up in a military family, josh m's accurate analysis of using the weapon in question does conjure up a darkly comical mental image of rogue cyclists riding around Portland with guns strapped to their bikes in a Spy Hunter-esque fashion. I personally align myself away from that view as an adult, and would have them shooting bubbles or something unexpected, so ... considering we are involved in a war at the moment, I would have chosen a different symbol to make my point—whatever that point may be. If we can't find nonviolent solutions to our problems in little ol' Portland, how do we expect that to translate to world affairs? Again, I would argue that the 'us' includes everyone on this planet and hat we should conduct ourselves with that in mind.
The black helicopters are watching(if there HAS to be a 'them'), so we should show them how to play nice. Finally, don't paint stuff on the bridge, man.
August 23rd, 2007 15:43
I liked this stencil. To me it says, Don't let yourself get killed riding your bike. Fight back with drivers, don't let them run you down. I don't take the image of the AK47 literally, I take it as a symbol that to be a biker in a city takes guts and aggression.
August 23rd, 2007 15:55
kind of reminds me of the movie Grosse Point Blank. well...the part in the beginning when the cyclist pulls out a gun from his jacket. ...okay off topic, next.
August 23rd, 2007 16:02
Whether s/he is an artist or a vandal s/he is doing something our illustrious state and Federal governments are NOT doing. S/he is actually painting our bridges. Havbe you seen them lately? Have you been down 35W in Minneapolis lately? Yeah, right.
Did you know that the Steel bridge is almost 100 years old, and is the only light rail connection between the East and West sides?
I say thanks to the vandal for covering up enough of the rust that it will keep this bridge open for another day.
August 23rd, 2007 16:22
I say thanks to the vandal for covering up enough of the rust that it will keep this bridge open for another day.
Kind of looks like new, fresh paint on that bridge to me. Unless rust comes in gloss black these days. Black: It's the new rust.
Maybe in the interest of bridge protection, the graffiti should have been done on the steel bridge.
Fight back with drivers, don't let them run you down.
You don't seriously believe that you, weighing in the 100-150 pounds range, have a chance of winning a fight against a vehicle weighing one to three tons and traveling at say 60 MPH, do you?
August 23rd, 2007 17:34
I have to agree with rixtir, it would be physically impossible for me to fight back with a multi-ton vehicle UNLESS I had a gun. Even then, maybe blow out the tires instead of shooting someone?
It does take guts to be a biker in the city, and assertiveness, but not aggression—there's an important distinction.
If that stencil is all that is holding the Steel Bridge together, then my ass is taking the Burnside from now on! As far as Federal repairs on the Bridges, Broadway, Burnside, Hawthorne, Morrison, Sauvie Island and Sellwood Bridges are all maintained by Multnomah county, using primarily gas taxes as revenue: you know, from cars. As far as the Steel Bridge goes: it is owned by Union Pacific with the upper deck leased to Oregon Department of Transportation, and subleased to TriMet, although the City of Portland is responsible for the approaches. The fact that the Federal government doesn't do more to help maintain the bridges is dangerous, sad and annoying, but that's another blog altogether ...
August 23rd, 2007 17:57
Put simply, 'Bike Nazi's'.
August 23rd, 2007 19:11
According to this article and recent poll, it seems the majority of Portlanders polled are willing to pay for some or all of the following to fix the bridges (and bike blvds/other road maintenance): 'a 3-cent local gas tax, a monthly residential street maintenance fee between $2.60 and $4.50 and a $27 annual vehicle registration fee.'
http://tinyurl.com/33v6te
So, the folks who own cars, fill up their gas tanks and/or own a house will be assisting in repairing the bridges that we ride over every day. Fight back!
Otherwise, we're going to be stenciling our asses off in order to keep that Steel Bridge in tip-top shape.
August 23rd, 2007 20:51
"Brad
August 23rd, 2007 13:00
58
Many nations utilize light infantry on bicycles. I have also seen a website advocating to making folding MTBs standard equipment for paratroopers."
This started in ww2.
In the invasion of Normandy. many of the British glider troops were issued with folding bicycles. There are a few interesting pictures, my favourite being one of about 50+ bikes laid out on a road and a Tiger tank sitting there.
August 23rd, 2007 21:13
from a purely symbolic point, the AKfourty-seven is a symbol of revolution and revolt. combined with a bike it reads (to me) "bicycle revolution." the whole militant bent seems like it is just to be "edgy." i like my reading of it. i think we (as the repressed users of the road) need to be more assertive but not violent. we need a bike revolution...
August 24th, 2007 00:49
Basically, I hate all war, and consequently, most symbols supportive of it. Looking at that graphic, it's hard for me to find much positive about it. The artist may have had an anti-war idea in mind when the graphic was conceived, but it sure doesn't seem to have the pitchforks to plowshare direction to it. If that were the case, the gun barrel would have been bent over, or at least have had a flower placed in it as an earlier commenter suggested. Or, maybe the rifle would have been completely dis-assembled and re-assembled as a bike in an order defying the rifles use as a weapon of death.
I don't really buy the idea of violence as a viable, positive means of revolution, so from that standpoint, the AK47-morph bike graphic is DOA as far as I'm concerned. Generation after generation is born, conditioned to and chronically addicted to conflict, armed conflict and war as a supposedly desirable and logical method of societal improvement. They are brought to this absurd state of mind to the extent that even when those amongst them favor revolution and peace, they still resort to death generating equipment to accomplish it.
Unfortunately, the era we live in continues to include the possibility of exercising the use of death dealing weaponry, excusable only as an option of last resort.
I can only hope that the artist of the AK47-morph bike graphic is somebody that generally opposes war on any level, ranging from local to international arenas, and carefully rethinks the meaning the graphic may be implying that might be contrary to their intentions, thus bringing the artist to redesign their graphic accordingly.
Sorry to be so serious. And now, time for something a little more lighthearted...
August 24th, 2007 03:34
Yes, using non-violent actions has always worked for every country.... tell that to the jews.
August 24th, 2007 10:21
Of course, exclusive use of non-violent action to resolve threats against life and limb is clearly not what I suggested, as anybody actually reading what was written would understand.
August 24th, 2007 10:58
this topic is dead..
August 24th, 2007 17:18
"Yes, using non-violent actions has always worked for every country.... tell that to the jews."
Are you arguing that we should follow their shining example of the 2006 Lebanon War instead, or what exactly?
September 7th, 2007 10:22
The picture with Malcolm X peering out the window holding a rifle is actually an M1 Carbine with two 30 round clips "jungled" together, not an AK47. The image is a great reminder that real revolutionary and militant work requires that pacifism be treaty as a petty-bourgeois luxury in capitalist society.
September 7th, 2007 10:23
I think the comment about the Jews was referring to lack of initial resistance to the nazis in WW II.