Bike Graffiti on Springwater (?)

[SwampDonkey]

About a week ago I noticed a huge black and white tag on the side of the mausoleum at Oaks Bottom that reads "BIKE! PDX." Does anyone know if this was authorized by the mausoleum owners? If not, it makes me kind of sad to know that another bike rider would do something like this. Isn't tagging something for dead-end gang members with sideways hats?

It's ugly and lame. And embarrassing.

[Carl]

Sadly, if this city's ever going to get some better graffiti, we'll probably have to expect some stupid tags as collateral damage. This certainly sounds lame and embarassing and deserving of some paint or muriatic acid.

Anecdote: a newbie zoobomber once tagged the watertower at the top of the hill ("3.0"). He learned fast that blatant disrespect for the commons and crappy tags would not be tolerated. It was fixed within 24 hours.

[rubbish heap]

Isn't Springwater generally out of the public eye? Graffiti has it's place under bridges and alongside obscure train tracks in my opinion, as much as an unaccepted opinion as that may be around here, I don't really care. It's not like painting a marble building downtown. Either way, let the property owner deal with it, it's out of your control.

[SwampDonkey]

Personally, I don't really think tags are acceptable anywhere, excluding a circumstance where a building owner commissions someone to paint their building in the style of graffiti "artists." Why is it ok to deface surfaces under bridges and along rail right of ways? It's still vandalism, and it's still ugly. And saying this is "out of public view" is just plain wrong. It's a beautiful wetland area frequented by many, many people.

And it's also not just "up to the property owner." I think we as the cycling community have a duty to express our disdain for any and all vandalism and do our best to shame the thug who did this.

[rubbish heap]

Originally Posted by SwampDonkey

Personally, I don't really think tags are acceptable anywhere, excluding a circumstance where a building owner commissions someone to paint their building in the style of graffiti "artists." Why is it ok to deface surfaces under bridges and along rail right of ways? It's still vandalism, and it's still ugly. And saying this is "out of public view" is just plain wrong. It's a beautiful wetland area frequented by many, many people.

And it's also not just "up to the property owner." I think we as the cycling community have a duty to express our disdain for any and all vandalism and do our best to shame the thug who did this.

1) You're never going to stop graffiti. It's been around since the Roman times and even before. Chicago outlawed spray paint sales in the metropolitan area and has a fast clean up policy - what has it done? Well, there's a lot more violence in the scene now than before, that's one thing.
2) The only people going under bridges and along railways are homeless people and graffiti writers. If a tree falls in the forest and no one around to hear it, does it really fall?
3) Whether or not it's ugly is opinion, obviously there's ugly graffiti and there's aesthetically pleasing graffiti, and if you don't agree with that than you are too far of an extremist.
4) Maybe it's because I've only used to that trail to get to Sellwood, but I've never found it especially nice looking. We have a polluted Williamate river, rusty metal everywhere, old dumpsters, railroad tracks, and unruly bushes. If anything it serves as a defining example of how man has defaced the environment around him with things like economic expansion and growth in a world of limited resources.
5) Actually, according to the law, it is "up to the property owner".
6) You'd be surprised how many people ride bikes and do graffiti.

[rainperimeter]

2. not true.

4. give me a break.

[bay2la]

if you dislike graffiti then you are just hating on art. some of the finest art i have ever seen in my life has been "illegal".

[steelsreal]

Grafitti as art, is a far cry from tagging. Scrawling words or your name on someones property is not "art".

It is vandalism. It is ugly. It requires no skill or imagination.

Hopefully you are able to see the difference?

[rubbish heap]

Right. I don't disagree with that at all. But what I don't agree with is the main message the thread starter is putting out. Evidently, he knows nothing about graffiti when he thinks everyone that does it is in a gang and wears sideways caps (Fresh Prince Of Bel Air was ten years ago, man, get with the times). Anyways, the person who did whatever BIKE PDX tag that is out there was probably some bored cyclist that saw a near empty can of spray paint out and picked it up and had his fun. Just paint over the damn thing if it offends you so much, but stop trying to call out to the cyclist community to take some active stance against graffiti when 1) there are many people who both ride bikes and do graffiti out there (surprise surprise), and 2) the two movements have absolutely nothing to do with eachother besides #1. Let's focus the efforts on bike advocacy, and if you want to clean up toy tags in your spare time, so be it.

[bay2la]

it's funny because i think at least 90% of my friends that ride bikes either tag or support graffiti.

you must be in the minority.