Graffitti

[lafrancaise]

Who does graffitti? Are they individuals or do they meet up? When do they do it and how come we don't see them? What intrigues me most is how they can paint sides of bridges, how do they do it?

Hope someone can enlighten me on this. Thanks

[RogK]

Don't know who they are or when they do it, but I suspect they work on their own to an extent - but know who each other is. One near me was murdered because he defaced another bloke's 'tag'.

It's a horrible and offensive business and I want to string 'em up, frankly.

[weegie-al]

Or, some people call it art.....

http://www.banksy.co.uk

[Lonnie]

No-one hardly ever gets caught, our train depots have security guards patrolling and cctv cameras, plus chainlink fencing around them, but they still get in and out without being seen.

[Dom Tuk]

Offensive...not really. Thank god these lads/ladettes have an unwritten code whereby obscenities are never used or dirty pictures never painted. For most part i am struggling to read what is written. Must be damn hard to do such large letterings without scaffolds. You have to admire the effort...which is for no monetary gain only street cred.

[jedimistress]

I used to live with a couple of graff artists. They would know of each other but not sure if they meet much. You join crews. You may see a tag (the scribble) and you may also see crew abbreviations near it.

A tag may be "lined" if someone has a grievance with them of if they're not wanted in the crew. My friends were just boys in their late teens. They would go out in pairs or threes. One would watch out the other would paint, then vice versa. They were obsessed by it.

They woudl go out in the night and would have to be careful of the BTP. Britishg Transport Police. Someone has died on the rail tracks after a chase. News gets around, someone knows someone and so on.

[ludwig]

Trouble is, graffiti always looks crap doesn't it. Banksy is the exception that proves this rule.
Dom - 'not offensive' - are you telling me you wouldn't mind if sprayed 'ludwig' on the front of your house?

[lafrancaise]

Thanks everybody for your replies.

Still don't know how they paint the sides of bridges though..... very strange

[spacechimp]

Sometimes they use abseiling equipment for the big jobs.

[lafrancaise]

Thanks spacechimp fo this. Have you ever seen them do this? Though I don't like to see graffitti, there are some places where I see it I just can't get over how they could have done it.... This gear must cost money... so must be a wealthy lot.