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May 28, 2007. A fresh coat of beige paint covers the wall, burying the graffiti below it. (Kevin Steele)
One of the greatest and most frustrating things about street art is that its lifespan is inherently finite. Especially in high-traffic areas, no piece is permanent, static, or safe. Take the wall on Queen Street West just out from below the railway and just west of Gladstone. Kevin Steele, who has spent much time documenting Queen Street West (his beautiful stitched-together photos of the block of buildings that burned down earlier this year remain the best portrait of the stretch) has paid close attention to that one span of concrete, taking photos of it regularly over the past year. His photos show how one wall constantly changes—continually added to by a fleet of artists, painted over entirely to erase all trace of them, then added to again.
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This underpass is definitely a nice example of the good kind of graffiti. The structure itself is dirty and gross and yet it's one of my favourite parts of my daily commute with it's constantly changing artwork.
I think that's a great place for creative street art as well, but I doubt the owners will stop painting over the graffiti until the place has been leased.
I got my current apartment for a steal because the building has graffiti on the outside. I heard more than one person looking at the place mention it as a reason not to move in. Their loss.
sniffle.
Can't we set up a Heritage Graffiti Board to preserve these acclaimed works for future generations?