The Writing’s on the Wall.

Since collating my research on the high street I have started thinking about what I would actually like to design and which methods I would use. I hope to create an interactive digital installation that comments on my findings. To find inspiration for this I will return to look at the streets.

When walking down the street, looking past artistic displays in the windows trying their hardest to make you depart with your money, there is a long established urban art scene that is continuing to grow.

Graffiti is still constituted as vandalism and is therefore illegal. There are some artists who argue that advertising is just a form of paid legal graffiti, which I completely agree with. On a daily basis I would say I’m far more offended by awful adverts than I am with graffiti. Who needs this on your way to work?

Jeff Ferrell in ‘Urban Graffiti’ quotes a street artist who says “he tags for the respect of other taggers, who cares about adults?” Ferrell describes the tagging as an alternative system of public communication.

I liked this because it reminded me of not only what I think of the high street as being a place of public communication, representation of status etc., but also of a lot of my girlfriends opinions on fashion. I have heard many girls say they don’t care about what guys think of their outfits but it’s the like minded girls who they are out to impress and whose respect and approval they seek to gain!

Many artists use characters time and again in their work. I would like to create a character just like these famous graffiti artists who would help me develop my own story.

As for it being illegal, I can say if woke up and someone had done this to my flat in Newcastle…..I’d be nothing but impressed!