I immediately knew for this assignment I wanted to focus on this specific piece of graffiti as it is something that has subconsciously embedded itself into my every day. My choice is this spray-painted crowned cartoon-looking graffiti frog with a conversation bubble consisting of a heart and the word “bleh”. I see versions of this piece almost everywhere in the city, from 2 minutes away from my house, at Donmills station, on a mail post at Sheppard and Yonge, etc. which has really made me more aware of my surroundings but overall enhances the urbanization of the city. Many people frown upon graffiti in general, but I personally feel that some graffiti, illegal or not, are forms of artistic expression that act as a voice not only for the artist but for the people as this piece does. Given the context and the area in which it is displayed can say a lot about a space and those who occupy it. I feel that this graffiti frog should stay in these areas because it speaks to the truths of borderless creativity, having your voice heard among thousands, and connecting each one of us to each other in some way.
All too often we tend to overlook our immediate surroundings, caught up in the same old practical routines that we subconsciously take part in almost every day of our lives. The route that you took this morning is most likely the same route you took yesterday or at least once before. Everything probably looks exactly the same; the Tim Hortons across the street, the same old bus shelter that has yet to be replaced from years ago, the man who rides his bike past you at 8:05am every morning while you wait for the bus, and the same lady who stands next to you on the train carrying her lunch in the black and green reusable grocery bag as she always does. There is a reason why we take certain paths on a given day at a given time whether we know why or not. There is a strong possibility that I can be overthinking here, that maybe there is no true meaning behind where and why we take certain paths each day, or maybe it is just a coincidence, but what if it’s not?
Every day for the past four years I have taken the same route to and from school. I consider these areas to be a very comfortable to me, which as we discussed in class has links to the feeling of a home and claiming a space as your own which I find holds some truth when I am in my area. I would like to say that I pay close attention to my surroundings on a day to day basis, as we all can possibly find some truth in, and at some point being completely confident that I was very aware of the environment around me; that is until this assignment. Last year while waiting for the bus one morning at Kennedy and Sheppard in Scarborough, I found myself spacing out on the way to school and somehow this made me hyperaware of what I thought I knew to be my everyday surroundings. What I saw was this same crowned graffiti frog spray painted on a newspaper stand staring me in the face. Immediately the space changed for me; it felt as though I was in a completely different space from what I was used to. I did not known how long it had been there but I honestly did not care. Earlier this year I came across the same piece of graffiti, this time at the corner of Kennedy and Ellesmere so I decided to take a picture of it; again, totally out of the norm that I had been used to for years but this time more familiar as it is something I had seen before.
I think the works speaks volumes as to its context; the idea that we can feel so alone yet completely immersed in a world that is constantly on the go, completely oblivious to our surroundings until, if ever, we actually take the moment to stop; to put aside our self-serving actions to fully engage in what is before us. It speaks to us as individuals that no one truly knows what each of us is going through; we might have walked the same path as someone else yet we each have our own stories. I personally feel that this graffiti should not be removed because it acts as an outlet for unwavering self-expression. In my opinion, graffiti walls as discussed in class strip the artist from full control of how they want to display their work. It confines them to the norms of society telling them that the public space which has been provided for them to use on a daily basis excludes them from using it as their canvas, but I feel an artists should be able to place their art wherever they feel fits. As Sibley (2005) argues in his article, a space deals with comfort in both public and private areas. It is possible that these graffiti artists feel comfortable within these public spaces, which is why they display their work for others to view or even just feeling comfortable enough to claim the space for their work. I find this to be perfectly fine so long as it is not offending anyone or degrading the space which I don’t feel this graffiti frog does at all.
This piece did not come across as gendered to me but definitely had to be done by someone who really likes cartoons and possibly hip-hop. I get a very urban and young feel from this work that it had to have been someone in their late teens or twenties. I assumed that whoever made it loves to doodle and is possibly an artist because it definitely shows artist skill. In looking at this piece I get a sense of sadness, that the heart indicates a need to feel loved or to show someone that love but the “bleh” reinforces the idea that it is either not being given or seen; possibly feeling alone amongst a sea of people but nobody stops to listen or understand. I feel that this is highly relatable to many in society but is overlooked, or dismissed by many on a daily basis because of the space it is in; topics of that nature are said to be discussed in private and not public, similarly like this graffiti would be unwanted in the public eye. Despite this opinion of society however, I feel the artists uses this graffiti as their signature, to stamp where they have been that brings them as well as others awareness of their surroundings. I also believe the artist uses this practice to get his voice heard across the city allowing others to relate to the work if they truly pay attention to it, which I don’t fine to be problematic enough to be removed.
As Massy (2013) argues in her interview, space is a cut through stories that connect us to each other. Having being placed in multiple areas of the city, the artist has us talking about the work not knowing who we will run into that knows the work or the artist themselves. It is a simple yet strong statement piece that gets people talking about it and I found myself doing exactly that with many people, only to one day find out that the artist is the brother of a close friend of mine whom I have never met. As with gallery art, graffiti gets people talking, whether good or bad, but that dialogue exposes the work creating potential viewers which is inevitably exposure for the artist. Not all graffiti is bad in my opinion, just as in this case. Sometimes as an artist, in order to get your work out there you have to directly put it out there for everyone to see and I feel that it exactly what this piece is doing and should remain on the streets for that reason.
Before this class I never really stopped to think about the graffiti culture and truths or meanings that can be found within them. Having gone back to this space just two days ago and realizing that it is now gone changes the space for me once again. It was something that I got used to seeing every day up until a few days ago, and now this particular one is nothing but a memory because someone believed it to be crime. Sure there are more that can be found around the city but I cannot help but feel that the absence of this one is the slow beginning of the diminish of them all. This space now feels somewhat foreign because it is missing this graffiti that used to be a part of it. It is somewhat not the same area anymore because some people did not like it and decided it had to go. This speaks a lot to how power shapes space and who has a say in what goes and what stays. McAuliffe and Iverson (2011) bring up this topic that “When forced into making aesthetic judgments about content, advocates of the ‘graffiti is crime and not art’ position are sometimes prepared to offer grudging recognition that some graffiti writers have artistic talent. But this talent is said to be misdirected, and worse, it only encourages those without such talent to think that it is ok to write or paint on walls without permission” (131). I personally do not think its fair for just anyone to be able to determine what is art from what is not art based on their own bias, but power overrules all. As discussed in class, it is not what the people want but rather what authority says is acceptable or not. It is almost as though what first invaded the space turned into being a normality of the space, and now with it being gone it somehow leaves the area feeling empty; a significant part of what I knew the space to be is gone.
If I had not passed by that graffiti frog a year ago I would not have paid attention to it the second time I saw it at a different location. I would not have stopped to take a picture of it, I would not have discussed it with anyone as I did, and I most likely would not have known its importance to my everyday life until taking this class. Passing by that graffiti a year ago has made me more aware of my surroundings and knowing that each path I take is for a reason and leads to answers in the future. This piece of graffiti really speaks to the importance of having a passion and putting it out there for people to see, but also brings to attention that everything somehow connects to each other.
After finding out we were blogging about the same piece, I was looking forward to reading your post. There are two things that stood out for me in what you said. The first being about how we tend to overlook our immediate surroundings because we are caught up in our daily routines and once you recognize something different in the space, you don't see it the same way. I totally agree with this! It's similar to phrase "whatever you see, you cannot unsee". I also liked what you said about how the heart indicates a need to feel loved or to show someone that love but the “bleh” reinforces the idea that it is either not being given or seen. This is also how I interpreted the piece.
You mentioned you learned the identity of the artist and I was wondering if your friend gave you more insight into their brother and the graffiti they did?
After reading both post dealing with this graffiti frog and how you both think that it should be kept. It gets me thinking that both of you have your different stand points on why it should be there. What stood out to me from your post was that you thought of this frog as apart of the area and when it was gone it was if someone took apart of it away. Was it because it adapted to your daily environment and route that when it was gone it stumped you? Also, now knowing who has been doing them does it give you a clearer way on interpreting the piece?
Great post and a lovely graffiti choice!
You mention that you would prefer to not remove the graffiti because it adds a certain artistic/youthful flare! I would completely agree. I think all graffiti has the power to make people aware of their routine actions and the spaces in which they perform these actions.
You also spoke to the reoccurrence of this particular frog throughout multiple spaces. Does recognizing this frog in the places you interact make those spaces more familiar for your and, thus, more public?
Response to Dumlaok
Firstly, I am so glad you feel the same way! It was quite interesting to find out we were doing the same piece and it is cool that we were able to interpret it similarly. As for your question, my friend and her brother hardly talk (oh, sibling love), so she had very little info on the work as she barely understands it herself. The only thing she knew about it was that it has to do with him creating the frog as his “friend” during a time of mild depression, so I’m guessing it was his way of always having someone with him wherever he went. He is also an artist though so I believe it has grown from just a graffiti piece to a character he uses in a lot of his artwork off the streets. She actually only told me this a few days ago so it is quite interesting to know how I interpreted it as a way of standing out amongst a crowd, feeling the need to love or be loved but having it gone unnoticed, really makes a connection to his initial idea of having someone to always be with him during lonely times because no one else was around or at least did not fully understand.
Response to Rebecca Pinto
Yes, it definitely did surprise me that it was gone because, like you said, it became a part of my daily environment; it is something that I became used to. It made me a lot more aware of my surroundings where I found myself being open to potentially finding more of these graffiti frogs on my trips, and even taking the time to look at the ones I already knew were around every time I passed by an area I knew one was in. With that being said, when I went back to take a video of the graffiti at this certain location I was quiet shocked to see that it was removed because it became a norm for me to see it whenever I passed by, especially since I’m more than sure it was there about week before. Then again, it leaves me more aware of my surroundings now in the sense that maybe I got too comfortable with it being around so I didn’t realize it had been gone for a while (if that), because I thought I was in tune with the environment around me. Now I know that I need to be even more aware than what I currently am; I’m aware just not enough it seems which many of us could possibly agree with.
To answer your second question, yes it does allow me to interpret the piece a clearer. The piece itself is very quirky and even though I do not know him personally, I have heard many stories about my friend’s brother and have seen him on the streets a few times and he definitely comes across as this quirky, carefree guy and I can definitely sense his personality through his graffiti now that I am able to put a face to the work.
Response to gherghe
I don’t feel that the graffiti itself makes the space feel familiar but it rather supports the idea that routes I take on a regular basis that I may feel like no one else could possibly take these same exact routes is not true because these pieces actually prove it to be so. This goes back to the point I made about how we may cross the same paths that someone else has without being aware of it, and having something like this signature frog stamped as markers gives off a sense of comfort for me. That feeling of actually knowing who passes by these same areas I do and having knowledge of who these people are either makes the space frightening to be in or completely safe; in my case safe. I think it is a lot more comforting knowing who passes through the areas I do rather than not knowing who or what could possibly be there.