Today Sat Sun
It is forcast to be Overcast at 10:00 PM EST on February 10, 2012
Overcast
4°/-10°		 It is forcast to be Chance of Snow at 10:00 PM EST on February 11, 2012
Chance of Snow
-5°/-4°		 It is forcast to be Chance of Snow at 10:00 PM EST on February 12, 2012
Chance of Snow
3°/-2°

31 Comments

news

Unimaginative Tagging Rocks Midtown

By Patrick Metzger

2008_05_05_graf.jpg
It may beat a straight-up name or number, but this tagger near Avenue Road and Lawrence could surely do better than 90s bumper sticker slogans. It’s not just about design, people, it’s about philosophy.
Photo by rupert affen from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Filed under: , , , , , ,

Report error Send a tip

Comments

  • Doggiez

    Ah, graffiti… the product of mental pygmies.

  • johnpee

    It looks a bit like ‘shit hardens’ which I think is pretty insightful.

  • matty

    hah at johnpee

  • davedave

    So let me get this straight: if this vandalism mimicked some hip ass font from ffffound, it would be celebrated? How pathetic.

  • PickleToes

    Someone should spray paint the eyesore that is OCAD, that way there would be some worthwhile graffiti to report on.

  • rek

    Ah, Doggies… not saying anything new, interesting, or informed.

  • Doggiez

    Ah, T-Rex. You still can’t spell.

  • Skippy the Magical Racegoat

    Doggiez,
    I actually believe his spelling of your nickname is generally preferred.

  • El_Zorro

    GET IT RIGHT.
    This is Tagging, NOT graffiti.
    For god’s sake it’s even mentioned in the Heading. There’s a fundamental difference between the 2.

  • Doggiez

    Talk to any landowner, and it’s not callrf tagging, art, or any other word you can think of, except vandalism. Even the photos the City of Toronto uses for its Graffiti Abatement Program include so-called ‘tagging.’ http://www.toronto.ca/graffiti/

  • rek

    Doggiez – Was that your best? Spelling? I said you’re uninformed and have nothing interesting to say on the subject, and you don’t dispute it. Huh.
    El Zorro – Tagging is the most basic form of graffiti, down there with idle scratching and scribbling.

  • Doggiez

    T-Rex: Change your avatar. You look like a mildly retarded version of Kilroy Was Here.

  • bigdaddyhame

    Wait, so now you guys are splitting hairs on the Vandalist thing? One story can glorify graf but another can shoot it down? Make up your fucking minds.
    On May 2, “Watch for Undead Children” was considered hip and cool. On May 6, “Shit Happens” is considered declassé?
    I think I’m going to go out and tag “Torontoist Sucks/ Who Cares?” somewhere in a hip neighbourhood and see which way you guys ‘report’ on it.

  • iamnotdynamite

    ahh graffiti/vandalism/street art/insert favorite term here – the one issue on torontoist which never fails to cause the level of discourse in the comments section to fall to about that of a fourth grade insult match. well done.
    *awaits a snarky reply from doggiez*

  • rek

    What, you like Guernica but you think paintings of soup cans are stupid? Either you like art or you don’t, make up your mind!

  • matty

    only an asshole (above) would compare “street art” to Guernica.
    Seriously, get off of Shephard Fairy’s nuts.

  • Doggiez

    “Either you like art or you don’t, make up your mind!”
    Good Lord, T-Rex! I never thought it was possible for someone – other than a five-year-old – to make such an incredibly stupid, sweeping generalization. That’s the same as saying, “You don’t like hot dogs? Then I guess you don’t like food!”
    A good starting place for you is the magnificent book The History of Art by H.W. Janson and Anthony F. Janson. Take a few months to work your way up from the cave paintings at Lascaux through the Renaissance to the present, and as soon as you can tell me the difference between a painting by Manet/Monet and Picasso/Pissarro, then you can rejoin the conversation. Until such time, go back to your parents’ basement and play Grand Theft Auto IV.

  • iamnotdynamite

    …i’m pretty sure rek’s post was a sarcastic comment directed at [13]…
    you should probably read carefully before you go off and insult someone.

  • Doggiez

    iamnotdynamite: You’re new around here, no doubt.

  • davedave

    Please explain to me why you people neither care about nor respect people’s private property.

  • iamnotdynamite

    i’m not sure what you’re comment is getting at, but no, i’m not. if you’d be so kind as to explain, perhaps i can respond.

  • rek

    Only a “mental midget” would misinterpret my lampoon of bigdaddyhame’s confusion.
    How many times has it been mentioned here that you don’t have to like all graffiti just because you like some of it?

  • rek

    Sorry, that’s “mental pygmies”.

  • Doggiez

    Try writing in actual sentences… subject, object, etc.

  • David Topping

    Sigh.

  • rek

    Give us hell, David!

  • Patrick Metzger

    Now I feel guilty for causing all this mayhem.

  • matty

    Why don’t you people just drop the feature? Or are you being “artistically” contrary?

  • Dillon McManamy

    Wait, since when is it wrong for a publication (blog or otherwise) to present their perspective on local issues/art/whatever? No media is unbiased, get over it.
    The only thing wrong with vandalist is the sheer amount of boring trolls it attracts.

  • Patrick Metzger

    This isn’t even a Vandalist; it’s just a tag I saw that annoyed me (unless it was intended ironically, in which case it’s really cool.)
    There’s a considerable range of opinion around graffiti among the folks who write for Torontoist, which is why, bigdaddy@13 (may I call you that?) we can’t seem to make up our collective mind.
    For me, I mostly loathe it and find it unappealing and antisocial.

  • DaveH

    C`mon Patrick, like you didn`t know this would happen. You guys are just making up for the May 2 Vandlist being so pathetic that even the pro-grafitti people were stepping over it.