anyone here think MASER's graffiti is pretty average?

Degsy

basil83 wrote: »

Totally agree. Not into pointless random tagging but Maser's usually commissioned to do pieces so clearly at least some of the owners of the buildings he's painted place a value on his work. Complaining that you don't want to see it is like moaning about architecture that doesn't meet your personal values of taste - tbh if that were the case I'd probably be more sympathetic because we truly have f-ed that side of things up in this city but unlike poor design, graffiti is a transient thing and if you don't like it, well it'll probably be replaced by something else soon. This very anti-graf (having admitted you know very little about it), all painters are losers who live with their mammy argument makes you sound petulant. Dublin's a very grey bland space, particularly down by the quays with many projects on hold and buildings falling into disrepair so if someone wants to put something down there to look at then I'm all for it. A huge amount of technical skill and time goes into creating a piece and while I may not love or even like everything Maser does, I respect the work involved and I like the fact that someone's trying. Banksy only transitioned to a household name because he injected a sense of humour into proceedings and managed to make people who hate graffiti look at it in a different way. If Maser did attempt the witty, pseudo-political route he'd be bashed as a Banksy rip off (just as Banksy has been compared to Blek le Rat) so he's obviously trying to do his own thing with the love tag. Granted he has gotten quite repetitive but he's a lot younger and he's not the only skilled graffiti artist in Dublin so perhaps in a few years someone will emerge on a more noteworthy scale. Perhaps not. Til then I don't mind seeing love in unlikely places.

Tag the front of your parents house then...go on.

basil83

Degsy wrote: »

Tag the front of your parents house then...go on.

Just told you I don't like pointless tagging. Hate it when it's just mindless vandalism but there's a huge difference between halfassedly scrawling your name somewhere and making a full size piece somewhere you've a) been paid to do so or b) is currently unoccupied/derelict.

(Poor choice to try to prove a point. When I was a teenager I did use a stencil once in my parent's garden. It looked good and they didn't mind. That was my sole involvement with anything close to graffiti, I'm not great at art and wouldn't have the patience to learn or deal with people giving out about the medium.)

Tedious Bore

basil83 wrote: »

Totally agree. Not into pointless random tagging but Maser's usually commissioned to do pieces so clearly at least some of the owners of the buildings he's painted place a value on his work. Complaining that you don't want to see it is like moaning about architecture that doesn't meet your personal values of taste - tbh if that were the case I'd probably be more sympathetic because we truly have f-ed that side of things up in this city but unlike poor design, graffiti is a transient thing and if you don't like it, well it'll probably be replaced by something else soon. This very anti-graf (having admitted you know very little about it), all painters are losers who live with their mammy argument makes you sound petulant. Dublin's a very grey bland space, particularly down by the quays with many projects on hold and buildings falling into disrepair so if someone wants to put something down there to look at then I'm all for it. A huge amount of technical skill and time goes into creating a piece and while I may not love or even like everything Maser does, I respect the work involved and I like the fact that someone's trying. Banksy only transitioned to a household name because he injected a sense of humour into proceedings and managed to make people who hate graffiti look at it in a different way. If Maser did attempt the witty, pseudo-political route he'd be bashed as a Banksy rip off (just as Banksy has been compared to Blek le Rat) so he's obviously trying to do his own thing with the love tag. Granted he has gotten quite repetitive but he's a lot younger and he's not the only skilled graffiti artist in Dublin so perhaps in a few years someone will emerge on a more noteworthy scale. Perhaps not. Til then I don't mind seeing love in unlikely places.

I think you're confusing two different posters here.
was me who said I didn't know much about graffiti art these days, but not me who called the artists cowardly **** who live at home with their folks.

when you say Maser's a lot younger, he ain't a kid.
I'm bemoaning the blandness of his stuff largely coz i remember arty kids in school scribbling stuff on desks and walls that I can still say now - albeit in miniature form - was more interesting and clever than a lot of this Maser lad's wallpaper.

I very much agree though that even the most average art efforts do bring some much needed colour to tired grey places.

_blank_

Mod Note

Everyone reel in the language and tone down their tempers please.

Do not respond to this (part of this) post in this thread, if you have an issue either PM me or report posts.

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Non-mod part of post, this is me giving my opinion here.

I don't like graffiti. Some people think it's artisitc or whatever, but each to their own. What I mostly don't like about it is that 95% of the time it's done on walls where it hasn't been asked for. That is destruction of public or private property. It would still be that if Da Vinci did it. That, in my opinion, is not in dispute. I don't see any difference between an "artist" doing it, or some teenager scrawling his name on the side of a house. The end product is the same. Someone else has to spend money to remove the paint from their wall. It's extremely disrespectful of other people's property rights to just arrive and paint on their wall, without permission. How anyone can disagree with that is baffling to me.

On the other side of it, if the piece has been commissioned and paid for, and the property owner actually wants the graffiti on their wall, well then, that's their choice and they are perfectly entitled to have it done. I still don't like it though.

I do recognise the difference between "Johnner woz 'ere 14/8/10" and a piece of work that someone may have spent hours designing and painting, but as said above, if the artisitc piece is painted on a wall without permission, it boils down to the same thing.

One name I've noticed around if "Grift" or something like that. In my mind, that person is no better than the "Johnner woz 'ere" brigade. He is simply scrawling his name wherever he can.

monument

There seems to be the presumption that the work/art/vandalism/whatever is always done without permission, when that sometimes isn't the case.

Degsy wrote: »

What if "everyone" doesnt think its "nice"?
Secondly why should they inflict their handiwork on the "public" who have to see it despite not wanting to.

You better be careful then when venturing outside. You may just see people / buildings / advertisements you don't like the look of. Best to keep indoors.

panda100

Ya not a major Maser fan. Didn't he do the 'I heart Lamp' stuff around the city? That graffitti pissed me off cos Anchorman was about as funny as ants in me pants. I do like the bright colours he uses though,its just the content thats poor really.

I like PI he has pretty decent drawings about the place. Noone to compare to Banksy though. I guess Dublin is a small place and it could be quite easy to get caught?

patma2003

i dunno... as someone who moved to dub some years back, i think the guy has got some pretty decent social comment for the time...

went for a beer down in tbar tonight and spotted something out of the corner of my eye in a little alley way off the main drag... crampton court...



not designed to beautify or have you walking away in admiration of someone skills... but, it is bold and distinct without doubt... cos the font used in that comment, is found round the corner from mine near the port tunnel entrance...



no... not setting the artworld alight... but yeah, not a bad voice by any means...

bealbocht

All grey cast concrete should be painted.

The "bunkers" could do with a good dousing if you ask me.
And for my 2 cents, I'd rather it was done by graffiti artists, cos if you left the corpo to do it , it would take 10 years, go x4 over budget and still look ****e.

I'm not a big fan of the general scrawl that most graffiti tends to be, and there are places , historic buildings for example, that really should be a "no-no" to even the biggest halfwit, but if I ever managed to cough up for what ever it is an aersol can cost, I quite like the idea of popping down to Kildare St , and writing "****heads" on Leinster house