Why is it that Melbourne's Graffiti is just so superior to all other Australian cities? Part of my enjoyment of wandering through Melbourne's streets and laneways is the artwork you find in what would be an otherwise uninteresting and grubby place. Most of the graffiti I see elsewhere in Australia, and especially in Sydney consists of 'tags' which are mostly ugly and done by unintelligent suburban boors with no talent and no eye for art. Sure, Melbourne has quite a lot of this as well, but Melbourne's specialty is stencilling and postering. Have a look....

All photos from melbournegraffiti.com (http://www.melbournegraffiti.com)

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/Hosier/images/DSC07597_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/Hosier/images/DSC07604_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/Hosier/images/DSC07616_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/Hosier/images/DSC07615_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/Hosier/images/DSC07622_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/Hosier/images/DSC07633_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/Hosier/images/DSC07648_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/1/images/DSC06778_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/1/images/Dsc00130_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/1/images/Dsc00189_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/1/images/Dsc00099_jpg.jpg

http://www.melbournegraffiti.com/street/1/images/Dsc00178_jpg.jpg

I have disagree with you about graffiti, although some of it is good albiet a small % the rest is lowclass ego driven shit and just plain criminal damage to other peoples property with little regard to their thoughts or the costs of removal.
Have you ever had your property damaged and had to pay hundreds of dollars to have the crap cleaned off, well I have and it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth for sure

How would these so called "artists like it if you went to their house and delibertly did damage to THEIR property - not very much I would think, these people are nothing more than selfish and willfull VANDALS.
The sooner the government and councils have the guts to tackle this blight on our city the beeter we will all be off.
BTW thats another BIG difference between Perth and Melbourne there is practically no graffiti in the city of Perth and another reason it looks so clean.

Sometimes its good but mostly its bad.

I really like the ones you have there, lol at the mouse parachute. WHY?! WHY?!!!! its broken my mind.

I have disagree with you about graffiti, although some of it is good albiet a small % the rest is lowclass ego driven shit and just plain criminal damage to other peoples property with little regard to their thoughts or the costs of removal.
Have you ever had your property damaged and had to pay hundreds of dollars to have the crap cleaned off, well I have and it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth for sure

How would these so called "artists like it if you went to their house and delibertly did damage to THEIR property - not very much I would think, these people are nothing more than selfish and willfull VANDALS.
The sooner the government and councils have the guts to tackle this blight on our city the beeter we will all be off.
BTW thats another BIG difference between Perth and Melbourne there is practically no graffiti in the city of Perth and another reason it looks so clean.
I have to disagree with you there. I understand not liking those who just go around tagging stuff, since that requires absolutely no skill. However, real graffiti art is beautiful, and sometimes the detail is breathtaking. I think graffiti provides a certain grittiness and adds personality to a city.
By the way, perhaps a reason Melbourne has superior graffiti art to other Oz cities is maybe because the hip-hop/breakdancing scene here is so big. We have a huge number of people interested in these arts, and hip-hop, dj-ing, breaking, mc-ing, beatboxing - it's all related. Just a theory though.

I have to disagree with you there. I understand not liking those who just go around tagging stuff, since that requires absolutely no skill. However, real graffiti art is beautiful, and sometimes the detail is breathtaking. I think graffiti provides a certain grittiness and adds personality to a city.
By the way, perhaps a reason Melbourne has superior graffiti art to other Oz cities is maybe because the hip-hop/breakdancing scene here is so big. We have a huge number of people interested in these arts, and hip-hop, dj-ing, breaking, mc-ing, beatboxing - it's all related. Just a theory though.

My point is that most of it is that tag type crap that has NO artistic merit.
I dont mind the artistic stuff - if they have permission to do it in that place and its not done illegally under cover of dark.

Some of the stuff is really good, but I noticed after a big saturday night the next morning left some crap arse tags around the place. there was a very very nice old building just rottting with tags in the northern CBD. melbourne has both sides of the scale ie. some of the best stuff you'll see and some of the crapest....

i think the stuff you have shown adds hundreds of thousands of dollars of tourism to melbourne

one of the photos shows the city lights project is supported by the city of melbourne

I hate those people who do 'tags' around the place but some graffiti is just fantastic.

Very old graffiti is even being heritage listed in some places.

Personally I prefere the artistic style of graffiti that you find in many inner suburbs, particularly in lanes and alleys that are hidden or don't get covered in posters.

jt

Yeah agree with all the points mentioned..

If you go down some of the suburban train lines some of the traditional sprayed graffiti on the backs of unused brick walls and under bridges is amazing - incredibly colourful and artistic. .

But then you get F*#($*#(*($G C##(*$#(*(T A()#*$(*#($*S who just tag anything with a white wall - the side of our building, a persons street facing house wall .. plain windows ..

Those C(#$*S should be hung by their balls upside down...

Hosier Lane there where Misty Nightclub is located is one of the best examples of urban hip street graffiti - while the Japanese Tech-Bar 'Robot' has an entire mural on it's adjacent wall..

Graffitti belongs in a city as much as traffic, crowds and skyscrapers be it good or bad.

http://www.ozhiphop.com/forum/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=28271&pid=439253
http://www.ozhiphop.com/forum/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=28271&pid=440154

It's said Melbourne's street culture is amoungst the best in the World, up there with New York and London. Stencil art is utterly amazing stuff. This city has so many dimentions to it.

Some of the sidestreets of Fitzroy radiating around Brunswick Street are great.

only Perth graffiti Pic I have
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/perthwa/382406ac.bmp

definitly not what i expected to see. I thought id see the same as i see up here. (that is murals and so on) but theres some really different stuff there. That face that sticks out from the wall, and alot of it is stickers and stuff.

lol @ "i bomb NY"

nice thread


Edit:
site for ALOT of brisbane graffiti. It is very detailed site, has nearly all the graffiti found along all rail lines, plus alot from further away!
http://www.brisgraff.com/

heres one that i see every time i go to the city by train, ive always liked it.http://www.brisgraff.com/Mitchelton/images/Mitchelton8_b.jpg

These are all from the north side..
http://www.brisgraff.com/Valley/images/valley18_b.jpg

http://www.brisgraff.com/Valley/images/valley74_b.jpg

http://www.brisgraff.com/Valley/images/valley73_b.jpg


theres a HELL of alot more. that site has so much on it, if u like graf check it out.

I'd love to see Connex keep a 6 car Hitachi set and commission some artists to attack it and turn it into a moving artwork or something ;)

the best blank brick wall facing a train line I've ever seen is on the up side of Springvale Road - just beyond the station.

I don't like the tags stuff, it is nothing more than criminal damage. The genuine art is OK though, perhaps they should ask permission first. But I guess that doesn't really follow the graffiti way.

Northern Ireland has some incredible urban type art, known as Murals. Sadly most of it is due to the troubles, but you can't deny there is some great art there.

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/m/murphyl/images/view%20of%20murals%20at%20Freedom%20Corner,%20Derry,%20July%202003.JPG

http://green-pages-online.de/Archiv/Murals/g7.jpg

http://green-pages-online.de/Archiv/Murals/g10.jpg

http://green-pages-online.de/Archiv/Murals/g2.jpg

http://www.usm.maine.edu/~mcgrath/murals/plate72.gif

http://www.dannymorrison.ie/albums/Belfast_Murals/Pb020076.sized.jpg

http://www.dannymorrison.ie/albums/Belfast_Murals/Pa250193.sized.jpg

Melbourne has a surprisingly large hip hop culture along with Sydney

I do like the more artistic graffiti you see. Hassle is before you can get good, you probably have to start doing ugly tags and stuff for practice.

I'd love to see Connex keep a 6 car Hitachi set and commission some artists to attack it and turn it into a moving artwork or something ;)

the best blank brick wall facing a train line I've ever seen is on the up side of Springvale Road - just beyond the station.

I'd rather see the new Siemens/Nexas trains graffitied up. Those big fridge-like blank walls are crying out for some artwork, they remind me of the fabled white train in Beat Street.