Before we start breaking out the examples of squeaky clean hip-hop, let's just remember that hip-hop can be about having to strong arm a ho and also still be REALLY GOOD. Art is about many perspectives. #hiphop
Hip-hop. Over.
As soon as 'mainstream' theater people get excited about some aspect of popular culture, it's a safe bet that no one else cares about it anymore. #hiphop
I think I just committed a foul in the rear of my exposed Marc Ecko underwear. I wonder if he'd be eligible for funding since his hip hop culture empire is slipping like the draws of a Bed Stuy teenager walking along Halsey St. #hiphop
I'd think that the conservative forces would be fine with the guns and the glocks part at least. Probably wouldn't object much to homophobia or misogyny either. #hiphop
@Smitros: I'm guessing they won't be giving grants to signed recording artists. That would be like giving Stephen King money to write his next book. #hiphop
Yes -- when theater people talk about hip-hop, they mean Danny Hoch and anyone else who ever rhymed his way through a one-man show at a major not-for-profit (in front of white people paying $60 a ticket). #hiphop
@Smitros: "I think I just committed a foul in the rear of my exposed Marc Ecko underwear."
"Oh, Rocco, nice way to serve up a wedge issue going into the midterm elections."
I smell a trend!
Next time I see any urban youths I'll ask them if they have any "wedge issues." #hiphop
What about the awesome ghost ads? (first photo) I think it is a shame those are being painted over as well. They are such interesting links to our past and I feel qualify as art.
Maybe graffiti is supposed to be a more ephemeral art-form. Even the artists don't seem to last for too long (Haring, Basquiat, Dash Snow). #thehighline
Haha, "an already attractive wall." Rarely have I ever seen a blank wall and thought to myself, wow, that is a very attractive wall.
The reason people don't like graffiti is because it makes them feel like they have no control. Illicit graffiti is a power grab by the artist. That's what makes it great.
Oh, and lets can the tired argument that it's not art. It is indisputably art. It may suck aesthetically or it may not. But it's obviously art. #thehighline
and now ed norton and the ubershtupped "friends of the highline" will ask all the neighbors to pay for it. again. we lived with it thus far, so no, we will not. #thehighline
oh, UGH, it looks like the exterior wall of a water park now!
The question of whether or not graffiti is art seems way less important than the question of whether, even if it's not art, the city couldn't find about a million better ways to spend the insane amount of money this surely cost taxpayers. #thehighline
Some graffiti is art. Keith Haring is proof of this. And like any art, some of it sucks.
The shitty stuff is The Broken Window Theory come to life. The good stuff is transcendent. Along the LIRR right of way near Arris Lofts, there's a series of graffiti stick figures who look for all the world like they're running. Very cool. There also used to be a whole prose story written on one of the retaining walls, and I would hope that the train would slow down long enough for me to read it. (It did - typical LIRR - and it was very fun to read.)
Where it crosses the line into vandalism is pretty clear - we all know it when we see it. #thehighline
Make no mistake, there's nothing that excites taggers more than a fresh blank slate. No untagged 10 linear feet in NYC is safe for long, suckas! #thehighline
Those commenters are probably people (or person) that never have (has) been to the Highline, or NYC for that matter, or seen a graffiti (except maybe from an episode of NYPD blue), i.e. they're commenting from Indiana or Ohio or some other Mid-Western state.
(I'd tag the Highline for a free kiss from Sheila or Moe ...oh wait) #thehighline
11/03/09
11/03/09
As soon as 'mainstream' theater people get excited about some aspect of popular culture, it's a safe bet that no one else cares about it anymore. #hiphop
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
Also, don't at least some hip-hop arts have a viable commercial base in ways that, say, most literary arts do not? #hiphop
11/03/09
11/03/09
Yes -- when theater people talk about hip-hop, they mean Danny Hoch and anyone else who ever rhymed his way through a one-man show at a major not-for-profit (in front of white people paying $60 a ticket). #hiphop
11/03/09
"Oh, Rocco, nice way to serve up a wedge issue going into the midterm elections."
I smell a trend!
Next time I see any urban youths I'll ask them if they have any "wedge issues." #hiphop
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/03/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
10/21/09
Maybe graffiti is supposed to be a more ephemeral art-form. Even the artists don't seem to last for too long (Haring, Basquiat, Dash Snow). #thehighline
10/20/09
The reason people don't like graffiti is because it makes them feel like they have no control. Illicit graffiti is a power grab by the artist. That's what makes it great.
Oh, and lets can the tired argument that it's not art. It is indisputably art. It may suck aesthetically or it may not. But it's obviously art. #thehighline
10/20/09
10/20/09
Neck Face's rebuttal.
10/20/09
The question of whether or not graffiti is art seems way less important than the question of whether, even if it's not art, the city couldn't find about a million better ways to spend the insane amount of money this surely cost taxpayers. #thehighline
10/20/09
The shitty stuff is The Broken Window Theory come to life. The good stuff is transcendent. Along the LIRR right of way near Arris Lofts, there's a series of graffiti stick figures who look for all the world like they're running. Very cool. There also used to be a whole prose story written on one of the retaining walls, and I would hope that the train would slow down long enough for me to read it. (It did - typical LIRR - and it was very fun to read.)
Where it crosses the line into vandalism is pretty clear - we all know it when we see it. #thehighline
10/20/09
10/20/09
(I'd tag the Highline for a free kiss from Sheila or Moe ...oh wait) #thehighline
10/20/09
10/20/09
Yes, "real New Yorkers" hate graffiti too.
10/20/09
10/20/09