Grafitti can be beautiful, don’t get me wrong. I do
consider it art when I see it on a funky warehouse door in New York City or on
a train car for three seconds, as it zooms by. Most sprayers are artists and I’m sure they are
talented, interesting people. But, I honestly don’t think art should ‘happen’
on private property without the owner’s consent. Maybe it’s just me, but I
think that crosses a line.
Anyways, Sam or whoever wrote his or her name on our
stairwell, for only us and no one else to see, also happened to leave his
prescription eyeglasses lying at the foot of his artwork. It was dark while he
was creating; must have been the middle of the night. He was probably tired and
so it serves him right that someone else should benefit from his, dare I say
it, vandalism.
I got into a discussion about this subject with
friends of ours who were over for dinner a couple of nights later. One opinion
was, of course, that I should just enjoy the art; the poor artist was just
practicing. I wasn’t really aware of how graffiti ‘happens’. Apparently, spray-painting
hooligans, or graffiti artists, practice on random surfaces before painting
their ‘real’ artwork somewhere special. No one disputed the fact that our
private stairwell was a random surface and not the special, ‘public’ area
he/she was practicing for.
A couple of weeks later, I was on my usual way to work
where I have to walk through an underground passage-way into the centre of
town. This underground walkway, where the trains pass overhead, is decorated
with town-sanctioned graffiti. And sure enough, I saw some new pieces ‘hanging’
on the wall. There, in all its fluorescent-green glory, was a huge, six-foot, artwork
by ‘SAMY’. I stood there for a moment, and I kid you not, the thought ran
through my mind, “I could probably contact the town office, find out who this
is so that we can return his glasses.” Sometimes, I do think Canadians are just
too damn nice.
Two deeper thoughts to leave you with, on this
glorious, sunny Sunday:
Teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things so that I may
enter my sacred space and love beyond my fear
and thus walk in balance with the passing of each
glorious sun.
-Lakota prayer
A friend
told me I was delusional. I almost fell off my unicorn.
-someecards.com
Put on your black clothes, wear the forgotten glasses, grab a can of spray paint (colour is your choice!) and channel Samy by adding to his sanctioned art work. After all, you too are an artist and are simply expressing yourself! :) Just don't get caught but leave the glasses behind.
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