Tire Beach redux

A volunteer works to protect the City from unauthorized Art. (Photo by Dav Yaginuma)

Well, the Tire Beach paintout has come and gone, and the walls are now a uniform dark green. I still have many thoughts I’d like to express about these events, but that’ll have to wait. In the meantime, here’s a roundup of the latest articles and postings:

The SF Chronicle 8/4/07
SFist 8/4/07
Dav Yaginuma’s blog 8/4/07
Dav Yaginuma’s photos on Flickr
interesting background on Mohammed Nuru, by Josh Wilson 8/4/07
New: Warm Water Cove Supporters (a Yahoo group. Join it and get involved!)
Laughing Squid 8/5/07
KTVU’s slideshow of pre-buff photos [carefully selected to omit all the most colorful pieces!]
SnarkyNinja writes a letter to the mayor, 8/6/07
whatimseeing.com 8/7/07 (with photos of blank walls & signs)
SF Examiner 8/7/07 [note the biased language: “graffiti artists” versus “community members”.]
SFist 8/7/07 [shot of police cruiser and green wall]
Graffiti Archaeology News 8/7/07

Previously:
Graffiti Archaeology’s timelapse of the eastern wall (click on “cove/eastZ”).
Photos in our Flickr group tagged with “Tire Beach”
funcheap.com discussion 7/25/07
SFist 7/30/07
whatimseeing.com
Chicken John 8/3/07
SF Chronicle 8/3/07
SF Examiner 8/3/07
Graffiti Archaeology News 8/3/07

I’ll update this list as I find new links.

The end of Tire Beach?

I don’t normally like to inject my personal opinion into the discussions around Graffiti Archaeology, because I like to think of the project as having a neutral attitude towards graffiti: not pro- or anti-, but merely documenting what occurs. I also don’t like to say too much about specific places, because I value the discretion that allows them to stay interesting (to me) as graffiti spots.

But it looks like in the case of Tire Beach, the cat is not only out of the bag, but is actively clawing up your sofa. So I’m going to break both of these rules in one post, in the hopes of doing some good.

In case you haven’t already heard the news: a well-meaning group of folks are getting ready to “reclaim” Warm Water Cove, aka Toxic Tire Beach, this Saturday, August 4th, at 9am. Their aims are twofold: clean up the park itself (pull weeds, remove trash, etc.) and paint over all of the graffiti. In their call for participation, they equate weeds, trash, and “graffiti vandalism”, as if these things were somehow one and the same. (The unstated assumption being that graffiti equals danger.) I beg to differ. The weeds and trash can go, but the constantly changing graffiti art on the walls is pretty much the only thing this park has to recommend it. In fact, I’ll go one step further and say that the graffiti is one of the few things that keeps the park safe.

Continue reading The end of Tire Beach?…

new layers: 19th and Mission wall

Shown here: 19th/north 10, June 10, 2007. Pieces by CUBA, KING157, JELOE, π, JASE, TWICK, YOUTH, NATE, BUTER, PEZ and VOGUE.

For a while there I thought the legal wall on 19th and Mission was gone for good. Someone, new owners maybe, had buffed the outstanding BA Crew production with the Chor Boogie characters from 2005, and the blank green wall became a target for tags and throwies. But now it’s recovered some of its former glory with a who’s who of local greats, and even a Dream dedication by King157. Check it out!

reconstructing a wall from video

reconstructed from video

Originally uploaded by otherthings.

Yesterday I met a filmmaker named Dean Mermell, who shot several pieces of footage at one of my favorite walls back in 2002. I was able to reconstruct part of the wall from this video. This is just a rough stitch for now, but hopefully I’ll get my hands on some more detailed footage later!

Best viewed at full size.

Graffiti Archaeology in Archaeology Magazine!

Graffiti Archaeology in Archaeology Magazine!
Originally uploaded by otherthings.

The July/August 2007 issue of Archaeology Magazine features a four-page article about Graffiti Archaeology. It’s by far the most thorough, in-depth article anyone has ever written about the project, with tons of images, and interviews with real archaeologists to get their take on it. I could not possibly be more proud.

June 15 Update: The article is now online. Enjoy!

new layers and the power of scripting

Shown here: cove/eastZ 61, February 3, 2007. Piece by OPTIMIST, throwies by TWICK.

Great news on the production line: I’ve learned how to use javascript to control Photoshop, so I can finally automate some of the really repetitive parts of the grafarc process. What this means in the short term is faster, easier updates to the site! Today: 13 new layers on cove/eastZ, and 15 new layers on ghost/house.

As for the long term: I’ve also started using javascript to do some new and different things with the source material. I don’t want to say too much about it just yet, but it’s going to be very cool. More info as things develop…

Meanwhile, the increasing number of layers on certain walls (especially cove/eastZ with 61 of them) is continuing to call attention to new flaws in our Flash interface. This time, the bottleneck is the fact that before you see a single image, your browser has to download a set of outlines and solid shapes, one pair for each layer. It was never a problem initially, because the files are all very small– but it’s a problem now, because there are so many of them! We’ll need to change a few things to get around that, but I’m pretty sure of how to do it. Stay tuned.

Call 811

Original photo by Jimski

Spraypaint, subway tunnels, and layers of history.

I could be describing Graffiti Archaeology here, but I’m actually talking about something entirely different: an excellent post on the Pruned blog. You know those cryptic fluorescent markings you see on streets and sidewalks all over town? They’re surveyors’ marks, and if you know how to read them, they’re a map to all kinds of subterranean structures. Read on.

(Thanks to nix for this link.)

Kaso’s Regenerative Graffiti

Italian abstract graffiti artist Kaso has a new project called Regenerative Graffiti. Instead of just going over earlier pieces, he modifies them by adding his own elements:

Regenerative Graffiti is an experimental project, is all about create new shapes of Graffiti from previous Graffiti artworks. This mutant process starts with the idea to keep alive the previous Artist’s soul, otherwise completely deleted and would likes experimenting new figures from recycling and reinterpreting Graffiti.
Regenerative Graffiti regenerates color schemes, new visual patterns and reinvent new composition, makes abstract shapes and reinvents the visual urban landscape over time.

He also credits Graffiti Archaeology as being an inspiration for the project. I can’t wait to see what he does next with it!

Earlier work by Kaso: graffitinet.com, aerosolart.it

Graffiti type foundry: Handselecta

When I first designed this site, I spent a bit of time hunting around for fonts to use for the main logo. I considered using a “graffiti” font, but the few that were available were very disappointing. So I’m glad to hear that there’s now a type foundry that’s doing the job right: Handselecta. Their fonts are based on the handstyles of real writers like Giant, Mene One, and Espo, each one a collaboration between the writer and the font designer. Their aim is to bring the diversity of different cities’ characteristic handstyle traditions into the world of type.

PingMag has an excellent interview with Christian Acker, the foundry’s founder, full of choice quotes like this one on the relation between calligraphy and typography:

Type doesn’t replace calligraphy. But then it doesn’t intend to either. Type is a different practice. While calligraphy demands a rigor and practice of form it is also about the freedom of form and handwritten quality. Type design is about finding the ideal of each letterform, so that when letters are repeated they create a rhythm and color distinct and natural to each typeface.

They also have a quality blog, with interesting type-related posts like this one by Mene One about Cholo style influences. Check it out!

new layers: ghost/house

Shown here: ghost/house 18, December 26, 2005. Pieces by 4GETS and GERMS, throwie by DEON.

Playing the catch-up game on the Ghost/House wall. I added eight more layers to this one, bringing it up to January 2006. Thanks to Flickr user San Francisco Graffiti for filling in a missing spot in the record. The new layers feature work by NOVAK, UNITY, 4GETS, GERMS, DEON, FICKS, GHANA, PHADE, EURO, ZEROS, FEYN, DAGON, KAIZER, and others.

The wall has seen a lot of action in the last year. To bring it completely up to date, I’ll need to add at least thirty more layers. Here’s a little taste of what’s to come: