“Everyone” is an artist..”

first off a few thoughts on  friendster… i came on this crazy social networking a few years ago. a friend of mine in sf breathlessly got on and invited her close and not so close circle of friends. it was wierd to stumble on profiles of all these ravers i’d lost from back in the day, and then i got bored as no one i knew in london was on it. my account began to gather dust and i forgot about it, another fad. and then suddenlly well.. about a year later, everyone i knew at the club i worked at was talking about it. i got back on in a new wave of interest. finding bizarre links between the london hipster network adn the new york and dc networks. then over the summer i had just finished reading an article in vice new york about friendster and another close friend, this time a brookynite hipster , took a deep drag from his ciggarette and said
"its all about myspace"
i checked out the site but was exhausted by the idea of starting yet another online social network and forgot about it.

years later, as most i know have jumped the friendster ship long ago, and the idea of myspace is as ubiquitous as mobile phones, google and blogging itself,  i toe the fence between these two sites.. my reasoning was a preference for the blog interface on friendster, but i can’t help this nagging feeling that everyone who reads my blog (and i’m always completely wrong about who "everyone" is) reads it on myspace.. so first off survey says do i keep the account here? if you are reading this let me know as i am beginning to question why i keep this account?

but i’ll move on. i’ve been blogging for a year now. i have met some very interesting people through sharing my thoughts online. and duly i have also come across some very cool blogs and bloggers. so i was delighted to discover google blog search. the i first heard about some months ago . in a true test of how immediate the blogoshere was, the craziest thing about google blog search, is the almost immediately after a film has been released or a performance or gig has taken place someone has blogged about it, and probably linked pictures, mp3’s and video streams. its reached a point where i see no need to take pictures at events myself, as i’m certain there are always many who have and will be posting it shortly after. why obstruct my view of a band with my camera phone, when i can watch the gig with my eyes and forward on someone elses pics if i want to? watching a gig or performance through a camera phone seems as pointless as watching a theatre piece in the front row through opera glasses.. but maybe thats just me….

and now we have video blogging for the masses. this for me feels even stranger than the e-zines, blogging and fotologging before it. i never seem to notice these people filmming at the gigs i’m at and yet they’re there (maybe i don’t notice them because i’m watching.. i don’t know.. the band??!!!) so in the last couple weeks the few events i’ve been to are all posted up in video streams online, the tetine gig at caligula…

the noblese oblige launch party

the lily allen gig at the bush hall (and that was only monday)

obviously its because there are loads of other people who live in my neighborhood, are into the bands and nights that i’m into, like to video it and share it with others who maybe even wanted to be there but couldn’t . but somehow it feels like someone else making home videos for my life. who needs to experience anything? lets just say that i did it and watch the video clip. i was there yeah? you get me???

I’ve always had an obessesion with graffiti. If anything my love for what I consider to be good graffiti, has been enhanced, over my 10 years of being a urbanite.

What do I consider to be “good”?

It can be any number of things. A beautiful slightly cartoonish mural usually gets me. A flash multicolour piece  displaying someones tag interests me less. And as much has corporations have ripped the medium, a stark bit of stencil graffiti can really work for me as well. I particularly like work that is a little bit cheeky.

A visual joke that you stumble on whenever you turn that particular street corner. And even the most basic scrawled graffiti that has a political message of any kind will hold weight for me. Maybe this ties in to my love of words. A message painted big, live and direct is going to have to affect passerby at least the first time it is seen.

No matter what, this democratic art form finds its way out, hiding on top of buildings, or along alleyways, or sometimes being so bold and in plain site that you can’t help but wonder the circumstances in which it was painted.

My travel photos ( I very rarely go anywhere other than cities) are often rife with graffiti images. Often the graffiti of the city is far more documented then the architecture, landscape, or the activities of the trips.

When you’re a tourist, local people will often grimace at your camera taking pose in front of the obvious attractions. But when you’re taking a photo of a nice piece of graff, the local will either ignore you, or more often than not paus and have a look at the piece that has caused you to stop.

City dwellers build independant relationships with the graffiti in their area. Whether it is by deliberately ignoring it on a daily basis, complaining at how it is an eyesore. Or using it as useful landmark (I’ll meet you by the banksy piece of the girl with the balloon) .

Meanwhile the ethos of globalization extends, to the more well known graff artists as well. Its not evnougth to be known over your city or country.

For European artists particularly, it seems that part of the game is to get your work out there as global as possible. And if you’re andre, or

banksy capitalize on that lucratively through coffee table books and even running night clubs.

I’m thinking about all this as I saw  this music video that really got to me as it showed all the pieces I’m used to seeing on a daily basis, move. The idea is so simple, but for me….totally charming.

graff and the city