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23 Comments

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Bathroom Graffiti, The Cause Of (And Solution To) All Of Life’s Problems

By Jonathan Goldsbie

2008_7_15ZenParadox.jpg
“Think more about working less.”
“Why? So you can be more depressed about having to work?”
2008_7_15Doggiez.jpg
“This guy has the intelligence of a dog. He has to mark his territory. Sit doggy sit.”
Wisdom from the men’s stalls at the Tranzac.
Photos by Jonathan Goldsbie.

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Comments

  • Ben

    Thanks for another great reason to use the washroom.

  • james a

    My favourite grafitti bathroom will always be the one at Squirly’s.

  • rek

    That reversed N in the second photo is damn sexy with the flourish from the S (or e?) coming through it.

  • atomeyes99

    Torontoist:
    All grafitti.
    All the time.

  • Show&Tell

    “That reversed N in the second photo is damn sexy with the flourish from the S (or e?) coming through it.”
    The tag says Askew.

  • Show&Tell

    “That reversed N in the second photo is damn sexy with the flourish from the S (or e?) coming through it.”
    The tag says Askew.

  • PickleToes

    One recent Torontoist article described reality television as “low brow”. While I agree with that summation, I can never understand why the same isn’t said for this crude garbage.

  • rek

    ShowTell – Wow. I hate tags in general, but they can be a source of really intriguing letter forms.

  • Show&Tell

    ^ I agree 100%
    Believe it or not there are some great graffiti artists out there who have made careers out of tags. Check out Jose Parla… very detailed and artistic. His work is fantastic.
    In this photo I do prefer what was written above the tag though. ;-)

  • Show&Tell

    ^ I agree 100%
    Believe it or not there are some great graffiti artists out there who have made careers out of tags. Check out Jose Parla… very detailed and artistic. His work is fantastic.
    In this photo I do prefer what was written above the tag though. ;-)

  • wardnikoff

    Graffiti including this tagging stuff is not only bona-fide art, it’s downright subversive, cutting edge and exhibits some of the most important aspects of any good art movement.
    Having said that, my favorite and possibly never existent bathroom writing was an old joke by Sandra Shamas about HER favorite bathroom writing where some girl had written on a condom machine outside a bathroom (Sneaky Dee’s?)- “This is the worst gum I ever had..”

  • rek

    ShowTell – I came across his work in an issue of Juxtapoz a year or two back. Jose takes it well beyond “tagging” though.

  • antiboy

    I say we find out who this tagger is so that he can clean it up. I mean don’t you feel bad for the guy who OWNS THE PROPERTY? IT’S PRIVATE PROPERTY. He has to spend money to clean it up and do all this work scrubbing it off. Hey guys, isn’t tagging cool!?
    Ah, I guess my best davedave impression doesn’t match up to the original… :(

  • minou

    Ha. And the girl’s bathroom has a very saucy drawing.

  • Show&Tell

    “ShowTell – I came across his work in an issue of Juxtapoz a year or two back. Jose takes it well beyond “tagging” though.”
    Agreed… but thats where it started.

  • Show&Tell

    “ShowTell – I came across his work in an issue of Juxtapoz a year or two back. Jose takes it well beyond “tagging” though.”
    Agreed… but thats where it started.

  • montauk

    I’ve talked to a lot of guy friends about washroom stall graffiti, and I find consistently that guys get excited about a little piece of coherent, possibly creative writing that is really commonplace in women’s stalls. I don’t know what it is about female stall culture, but…I’ve seen the doors coated thickly in debate about Zoom Media advertising, scrawled with advice for some unhappy stall-writer who asked for a crisis line number, and covered in quotes, philosophies, and musings. As well as the usual flaming. I’m not saying it’s all intelligent, thoughtfully nuanced verse, but from what I’ve heard, it vastly outdoes your typical dude stall. I’m not by any means awarding any points to the female gender on this ground, but it’s a weird little observation I’ve had…

  • montauk

    Oh, and it’s really rare to see a tag.

  • scientz

    Yeah, in female stalls, the writing is little more insightful. I’ve seen a lot of girls writing about how they don’t like their boyfriend and other girls writing back “dump him, girl, you deserve much better!” and a lot of “you’re beautiful” pep talks. Girls!

  • Marc Lostracco

    Guys don’t get the witty commentary at the urinal wall. All I usually see are boogers wiped on it (what is the deal with that?!) or “show hard for action” scrawled in the tile grout.
    In my time cleaning restaurant bathrooms as a teenager, however, I will say that the women’s washrooms were way worse.

  • Mark Ostler

    Men’s university stalls are always a step above bars. Though often coming off as pretentious and self-important, I’ve found that university stall writers occasionally address serious philosophical and/or political topics.

  • escape

    The funniest bit of bathroom graffiti I’ve ever seen was in a university bathroom. Someone had written “Hillary for President!” and someone had “Sir Edmund” above it. I don’t know why but it cracked me right up.

  • yvesperret

    There used to be a bunch of graffiti above the men’s urinals at Sneaky Dee’s that started out as “JERK MY COCK BITCHES”. It was then modified by others to “BOY MY COCK ITCHES”, “BOY MY COCK NEEDS STITCHES” and so forth…