Here is a lonely shoe I found while walking from the gym to my friend’s apartment, complete with creepy filter:
Where is the other shoe? How did foot and shoe become separated? Perhaps we’ll never know. (Although I have a strong suspicion alcohol and foot pain were involved – those heels look pretty teetery.)
Here’s a Mystery Berry:
It’s so spiky! It looks nefarious and irresistible. Naturally, I brought it home so that while I slept, it could disperse its evil spores and hatch little berrylings as part of its plan for galactic domination.
Here we have a fine Bathroom Graffiti Specimen:
It reads: “Ladies, you made me feel more like a lady tonight than I’ve felt for soo long. You are beautiful, I am too and love yourself, try to forget insecurities and mistakes! Love, Elaine 06/21/10″
Elaine’s self-esteem pep talk was, of course, located in the ladies’ room at a vegan strip club. Portland is rife with them. Anyway, I suspect the men’s room graffiti leaned more toward the Sharpie-penis genre of wall art, but again, we’ll never know.
Found anything interesting lately?
I found this tile attached to a staircase on Cornell U's campus in Ithaca, NY a few years ago. I don't know exactly why, but it always kind of stuck with me.http://bit.ly/tGF0y6
My all-time favorite was in the men's at a coffee shop in Berkeley, probably around fifty years ago. Someone had written "My mother made me a homosexual;" below, in a different handwriting, was "If i send her the wool, will she make one for me too?"
Jacqui: What a lovely monster mouse puppet tile. I love graffiti art, especially when it's in unexpected or tucked-away places. To me it seems like it's more "pure" art than the museum variety if only for the reason that people do it without any expectation for recognition or compensation, and only create it in the hope of making strangers smile one day as they wander by and happen to spot it.
John: Heh. I wonder if it's still there? Have you heard of/seen any grout graffiti? I have heard of it but not seen it; apparently it is more prolific in men's rooms for some reason. Although I suppose I could take matters into my own hands to change that…
I saw grout graffiti long ago, likewise in Berkeley, in the main library on the UC campus. There seemed to be a lot of puns like "Alexander the Grout." The coffee shop is still there but I don't know about the men's room wall. I'd like to think they've painted, or at least done a thorough cleaning, since 1962, but I wouldn't bet on it.
I had heart grout graffiti leaned toward the punny. Who knew it had been going on for so long? Everything old is new again.On another note: I can't believe the 60s were 50 years ago. I still think that when people say "last decade" they mean the 90s.
Me either. We just watched one of our favorite movies, "Matinee," set in Key West during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. It includes footage of JFK telling the world the US "will not shrink" from global nuclear war… Catch-22 appeared in paperback that Fall and it was right on the money: "The Colonel is trying to kill me." "No, the German anti-aircraft gunners are trying to kill you." "That's because the Colonel keeps sending me on bombing runs." They're all trying to kill us. ("Matinee" is a comedy, actually–worth a look.)
I found a nice trompe-l'œil mural recently.