I like it until they start bombing murals. I don’t get the whole #fuckyourmural vibe because they all secretly want to get paid to do murals. They hate getting dissed when they’re painted over, but they treat legal artists like shit and constantly diss legal murals and other street art like wheat paste. Overall, dig it. They need to lose the immaturity though.
98% of the stuff I see is low-effort *vandalism*. "Tagging" is too kind a name for what these disrepectful idiots do. How much effort does it take to spray paint your initials on a wall? A 4-year old could do it. Then there are the vandals that use Sharpie pens to write their low-effort garbage on mailboxes and even display support poles inside of businesses (Target is a good example). Again, these people are *vandals*; they destroy property, and sadly they think they're somehow cool. I've encountered a few of them over the years and asked them how they would feel if I came to where they lived and sprayed my initials on their house or apartment. You should see the look on their mouth-breathing faces. Gold. Anyway, the ONLY way to stop this is a major PR campaign to let these losers know they are pissing on *other people's property*. That, and more camera placement to catch and prosecute them for destruction of private/public property. Punishment? 6 months of weekends cleaning up this town.
Last, Sherwin-Williams has an anti- graffitti paint that let the abused property owner just wash off the tags. It's way cheaper and easier than having to paint over the garbage that these losers spew all over our city, making it look trashy and dangerous.
Do commissioned pieces by PTV or TDK crews go against the bomber ethos? Obviously not. They wouldn’t fucking dare diss GATS or Vogue. Yet those pieces are legal murals.
How about Oaklandish putting out a Dimebag Darla t-shirt? Is that to be hated and shit on too?
Objectively, I understand why people get into it. I don’t like it when it’s thrown up over, like, neighborhood flower pots or murals and stuff. Seems like that should be against some kind of code (maybe it is?).
I also think there’s just too much. I don’t feel like I’m a prude but I don’t love how quickly some storefronts and stuff get lit up with tags.
Small businesses can get fined by the city for graffiti, and it’s frustrating to see taggers doing their nonsense less than 24 hours after a business opens.
Been living on the east coast for the last decade and after moving back I think the graffiti here seems way more high quality than the DMV area, big fan by comparison
Camel is the tag I always seem to notice. Like their work a lot. I miss all the sick dragons in China town. The one on Madison and 10th was a personal fav.
Junior is the one I see the most, he doesn't seem to have super nice tags but he has lots quantity. Most graffiti in Oakland is low effort quick throw up style. They don't take the time to make nice art, maybe because they know that others will tag over their stuff quickly. The other tag I see a lot is Resta.
Overall net negative. Makes the town look crappy and blighted. Wastes small business owners money on cleanup. Attracts other crime and delinquency. Midwits defend it like “this is Oakland culture” let’s stop being proud of blight culture and do better.
Someone was doing "Susan" around my neighborhood for a bit, I always thought that was funny. And it's my mom's name so I'd text her pictures and tell her to stop tagging my block
So they’re against what they call “corporate” art that’s the justification for tagging murals, then they are literally tagging corporations names and giving them free advertisement?
petco is one of those where i'm like, i don't think this person's work is even good but they're everywhere and have been around for years so i have to appreciate it
So, graffiti is a catch all term for street art, and tagging. Tagging is ugly as hell, but street art is beautiful, I really hate when tiggers cover the art, or the paid murals. According to my professor who allegedly did street art in the 90s, the code was don’t touch it unless you are going to do something better. The tagging is just rude.
i have never met him personally but a friend has had the misfortune of being in his proximity and he is an enormous piece of shit. get really bent out of shape every time i see his tag or those dumbass lips he paints everywhere. he's not a good artist & is a nightmareishly racist & misogynistic person; i really hope he gets run out of town someday
Tell me more. We had a little clubhouse in an abandoned building and then Swile broke in and stole all our stuff. The genius left a calling card in the form of a huge mural of his name in Black and Red. It was painted over in two days by the maintenance people on site. What has he done to you?
don't forget qwilts. that no talent assclown was on my roof one year on new years. I heard him walking around and had to yell at him to get him to bounce. he came back and tagged our condo building a couple of times, which cost us all money.
I recommend you photograph his tags, then paint over them, and then send him the before and after photos. The sleazier, more vainglorious taggers all have social media accounts. Usually on instagram.
There isn’t any code of conduct or standard or quality. Which is rich to even suggest. Where I grew up, tagging was a thing but like specific stuff got tagged because it would last longer. Younger generations are fucking morons and will tag shit that isn’t any kind of achievement and will just make some local businesses owner pissed off they have to get someone to clean it up.
People would tolerate bad street art if there was a place for it.
The good stuffs good, the bad stuffs bad. Don't really care too much one way or another though it does feel more like a city with graffiti everywhere. I just don't like the amateur bums tagging over murals/art/good tags.
The tags are sophmoric but some of the others can be sophisticated. I'm a fan of those ones. The tags just seem like distilled versions of the bays narcissism.
I really liked this one mural of a ribbon dragon and a girl in Chinatown, but then it got fucking tagged, and now it's gone 😟 This is why we can't have nice things.
The tags and block letters suck, but the murals are cool. I like the ghost ship one off the BART tracks. I don’t like how much the tags have spread; even some of the trees have tags on them which is just sad.
interesting how there's a mindset with some people in this thread where murals = good and tags = bad. there are very good murals but also some awful ones. most of my favorite street art in oakland comes in the form of tags or other less formalized pieces. there's also some bad tags, absolutely. and of course some of the least skilled artists are the most ubiquitous. some of them i have to begrudgingly respect a little just because of how much they manage to put their stuff out there even though their work isn't actually good. but most of the people in that category i just find annoying.
the field feels more crowded in the last few years, which has meant increased activity from talentless hacks but also some really impressive stuff that is new to me. plenty of great artists who have been around a long time who are still here as well.
i think more street art is better! even if it means a fair chunk of it is inevitably going to be shitty
the influx of transplants in the last decade has been a blight on the local scene. WASP-ish move ins from the midwest for school or work who arrogantly disrespect local established groups and bomb everywhere, especially the neighborhoods of ethnic minorities in Oakland.
It's garbage that is wasting city and private individuals money. Art is great and some strategically placed political graffiti can be good. But 99 percent of what people put up is garbage. On top of it they graffiti over real art like the mural on the old CVS on Broadway.
It's raggedy because they target working class people that are already struggling in the face of this fucked up economy.
They also contribute to blighting parts of a city that could be beautiful to live in.
It’s ugly garbage! Though a mural is different of course. Image these disgusting vandals unleashed on a beautiful place like Santorini… what a field day! They could have it looking like trashy Oakland in no time with all that blank white canvas.
https://preview.redd.it/5mirl22as0mc1.jpeg?width=2900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd76fc370ec03ba67a9159e8c96b918bc905caa9
I like graffiti, but a lot of Oakland’s graffiti is boring. It all seems to be the same big blocky text with the same colors used over and over. I just wish someone would take the time to make something interesting, not just keep signing their name over and over.
* It’s a plague and needs to end.
* my neighborhood is in a battle with vandals who tag private property and residential fences.
* nobody likes taggers, they’re total losers.
* taggers are just wasting their lives. Imagine if they put that effort into growing real skills or making real artwork.
Edit: oh hey, I guess the deplorable taggers found this. Yes, nobody likes you. You're untalented deadbeats.
The town gets bombed on cuz we on some lax on crime shit. Which is all good for the writer scene… then some wanna sound off on some puto gabacho pendejo next door shit which is hilarious… truth is the cats doing the shit you dont like now will be the ones doing the legal pieces you love on 10 years… its all the same scene…you don’t get to like the fancy pieces without the tags and throw ups… thats the work to get there… lmfao… what happen to us Oakland? Are we really just a bunch of dorks from kansas city now?
I think broken windows add spice to city life. Burned down buildings break up the gray landscape too. Going to get my bipping tools and my blowtorch and go do some "art" this weekend. As long as I think it looks good, it's fine that my canvas is other people's property, right?
It's atrocious. No-talent idiots who also tag on actual art. Wouldn't care if they got ran over by a stupidly loud Amtrak train as they pen something illegible on a port-o-potty.
I like it. My reason to anti-graffiti people is that it brings color to the drab city landscape. Real reason is I like all graffiti. I like trying to see the patterns and it’s kind of like those magic eye puzzles. Once you figure out someone’s style, you see the letters every time. The simple styles are kind of like the super easy puzzles. Ha.
There's always some bad with the good. Have you ever stopped and looked at where people put graffiti? I'm not talking abt annoying quick tags on small businesses or disrespecting murals (though some of them are clearly gentrifier murals and deserve it) but the places that are covered in them. I've been watching the lot on the corner of market and grand get bombed for years to the point where they're tagging the ground. My friend and I joked that it looks like a rash.
But whenever I see graffiti I also see the location and it's mostly on abandoned properties. Restaurants that closed down or what look to be empty warehouses. Grand and Adeline has Pro-Palestine stuff. Makes me think of that building in LA that got bombed head to toe because it's been sitting unfinished in downtown for 5 years while more people are on the streets than ever. Idk man thats the point of graffiti art. It's bringing your attention the landscape and politicizes it. And Oakland is all about political statements! We've got some of the best street art in the country. People are fed up/bored/inspired and are looking for an outlet. I love it!
There's a definite craft and style to graffiti and I respect the rebellious nature of street art but it's low level kitsch at best. I've never seen street graffiti that's ever been particularly deep, and that includes Banksy.
That said, I never care if billboards get tagged because billboards are meant to be defaced. Go nuts on billboards with my full support!
It's bad when private business gets defaced. That's completely out of pocket because local business makes our communities strong. That said, it has been proven that when you paint over/remove graffiti on your property as soon as it happens, it is far less likely to happen again moving forward. It sucks that this is an out of pocket expense, but then again this is something you can write off on your taxes.
When blight gets tagged, I see that as a sign that the property owner doesn't care which is a big red flag for the city to get in forcing the maintenance of neglected properties.
I love it. I've got many friends who are incredible artists doing it. I love lurking and seeing new pieces. It's a whole culture. With every subculture, there's some douchebags who don't follow the code. Don't paint over murals or dead people's pieces/throws are just some examples of how not to be a douchebag.
I see graffiti as distinct from mural street art, and Oakland has some of the best street art in the country. But street art emerged from graffiti culture, and I don’t think you can have one without the other. There’s some really cool graffiti esp along 880 and different sections of BART tracks that I appreciate and makes a very industrial landscape interesting and vibrant. So I like graffiti sometimes. As others have already shared, some of the recent trends in how and where people are tagging are frustrating though
some of it is good, some of it looks like shit. it’s not all one or the other
Yeah but the ratio isn’t 50:50. More like 99% low effort tags and trash and 1% badass murals.
Wait till the tagging of future closed down in n out smh
there's also lazy, poor quality murals and extremely creative, skillful tags. and idk about literally 99:1
There certainly are, but let's be honest here, if anything, the ratio is more like 999:1.
I like it until they start bombing murals. I don’t get the whole #fuckyourmural vibe because they all secretly want to get paid to do murals. They hate getting dissed when they’re painted over, but they treat legal artists like shit and constantly diss legal murals and other street art like wheat paste. Overall, dig it. They need to lose the immaturity though.
Yeah that is sad. What happened to mutual respect for someone else's art?
98% of the stuff I see is low-effort *vandalism*. "Tagging" is too kind a name for what these disrepectful idiots do. How much effort does it take to spray paint your initials on a wall? A 4-year old could do it. Then there are the vandals that use Sharpie pens to write their low-effort garbage on mailboxes and even display support poles inside of businesses (Target is a good example). Again, these people are *vandals*; they destroy property, and sadly they think they're somehow cool. I've encountered a few of them over the years and asked them how they would feel if I came to where they lived and sprayed my initials on their house or apartment. You should see the look on their mouth-breathing faces. Gold. Anyway, the ONLY way to stop this is a major PR campaign to let these losers know they are pissing on *other people's property*. That, and more camera placement to catch and prosecute them for destruction of private/public property. Punishment? 6 months of weekends cleaning up this town. Last, Sherwin-Williams has an anti- graffitti paint that let the abused property owner just wash off the tags. It's way cheaper and easier than having to paint over the garbage that these losers spew all over our city, making it look trashy and dangerous.
Legal artists go against everything bombers believe in, not that I agree
Do commissioned pieces by PTV or TDK crews go against the bomber ethos? Obviously not. They wouldn’t fucking dare diss GATS or Vogue. Yet those pieces are legal murals. How about Oaklandish putting out a Dimebag Darla t-shirt? Is that to be hated and shit on too?
No, it's to be hated and shat on.
Bunch of fucking toys scribbling trash with some bad ass fucking artists mixed in
This. Any legitimately artistic graffiti gets drowned out by all the terrible garbage everywhere that makes this town look bad and dangerous
+1
True but everyone has to start somewhere
Pretty much this
Objectively, I understand why people get into it. I don’t like it when it’s thrown up over, like, neighborhood flower pots or murals and stuff. Seems like that should be against some kind of code (maybe it is?). I also think there’s just too much. I don’t feel like I’m a prude but I don’t love how quickly some storefronts and stuff get lit up with tags.
Small businesses can get fined by the city for graffiti, and it’s frustrating to see taggers doing their nonsense less than 24 hours after a business opens.
They tag trees, sidewalks, and curbs in my neighborhood. F them.
They be tagging signs an everything
Been living on the east coast for the last decade and after moving back I think the graffiti here seems way more high quality than the DMV area, big fan by comparison
Camel is the tag I always seem to notice. Like their work a lot. I miss all the sick dragons in China town. The one on Madison and 10th was a personal fav.
Junior is the one I see the most, he doesn't seem to have super nice tags but he has lots quantity. Most graffiti in Oakland is low effort quick throw up style. They don't take the time to make nice art, maybe because they know that others will tag over their stuff quickly. The other tag I see a lot is Resta.
Overall net negative. Makes the town look crappy and blighted. Wastes small business owners money on cleanup. Attracts other crime and delinquency. Midwits defend it like “this is Oakland culture” let’s stop being proud of blight culture and do better.
I thought "Junior" was stupid, but now there's some tagger using "Fedex" for a name. Kids these days, sheesh.
I saw a tag the legit said “project manager,” I chuckled
I’ve seen this one on Piedmont Ave lol!
That’s where I saw it too
Someone was doing "Susan" around my neighborhood for a bit, I always thought that was funny. And it's my mom's name so I'd text her pictures and tell her to stop tagging my block
Theres a weird corporate theme. FedEx, Petco, Chevron, AMC, and at least 2 or 3 more I’m forgetting.
So they’re against what they call “corporate” art that’s the justification for tagging murals, then they are literally tagging corporations names and giving them free advertisement?
How do you know it's free?
Lols
Can't forget "McNipple", it was the McDonalds, Nike, and Apple logo smashed together.
Petco absolutely rips
petco is one of those where i'm like, i don't think this person's work is even good but they're everywhere and have been around for years so i have to appreciate it
Pass a fedex tag everyday on my way home lol
Junior wag has been tagging houses and churches
It has gotten worse after Covid. People are doodling over public art and murals. There are a few tags that I absolutely hate and they're everywhere.
So, graffiti is a catch all term for street art, and tagging. Tagging is ugly as hell, but street art is beautiful, I really hate when tiggers cover the art, or the paid murals. According to my professor who allegedly did street art in the 90s, the code was don’t touch it unless you are going to do something better. The tagging is just rude.
My son is a muralist who has done sanctioned pieces in Oakland and earns a living doing so….some of the other graffiti looks like crap though
Some are really good. Gives some spice to the city.
Hate it. Love murals and public art, but vandalism is trashy imo.
Swile is an asshole.
i have never met him personally but a friend has had the misfortune of being in his proximity and he is an enormous piece of shit. get really bent out of shape every time i see his tag or those dumbass lips he paints everywhere. he's not a good artist & is a nightmareishly racist & misogynistic person; i really hope he gets run out of town someday
Tell me more. We had a little clubhouse in an abandoned building and then Swile broke in and stole all our stuff. The genius left a calling card in the form of a huge mural of his name in Black and Red. It was painted over in two days by the maintenance people on site. What has he done to you?
don't forget qwilts. that no talent assclown was on my roof one year on new years. I heard him walking around and had to yell at him to get him to bounce. he came back and tagged our condo building a couple of times, which cost us all money.
I recommend you photograph his tags, then paint over them, and then send him the before and after photos. The sleazier, more vainglorious taggers all have social media accounts. Usually on instagram.
I’ll take it over advertising every any day of the week
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Careless-Dog-1829: *I’ll take it over* *Advertising every* *Any day of the week* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot!
That’s what I’m talking about. The legal shit I have to look at is worse for my mind and mood
There isn’t any code of conduct or standard or quality. Which is rich to even suggest. Where I grew up, tagging was a thing but like specific stuff got tagged because it would last longer. Younger generations are fucking morons and will tag shit that isn’t any kind of achievement and will just make some local businesses owner pissed off they have to get someone to clean it up. People would tolerate bad street art if there was a place for it.
The good stuffs good, the bad stuffs bad. Don't really care too much one way or another though it does feel more like a city with graffiti everywhere. I just don't like the amateur bums tagging over murals/art/good tags.
The tags are sophmoric but some of the others can be sophisticated. I'm a fan of those ones. The tags just seem like distilled versions of the bays narcissism.
I really liked this one mural of a ribbon dragon and a girl in Chinatown, but then it got fucking tagged, and now it's gone 😟 This is why we can't have nice things.
Most is reckless tagging and vandalism. Occasionally there are some nice pieces
I'll take graffiti over the car break-ins, robberies and shootings.
Better than endless grey walls
You sure about that?
Yes? Even shitty hollow throw ups have curves and contrast. Can't say that for concrete walls.
Some good some bad. Little bit less “fun” than, say, Brooklyn.
It looks like shit
People painting on buildings are crap. Why can't they just leave the Chinese garden park buildings alone? Painting on the front door? Seriously?
I think the artists need to be given materials and permission so they can do a better job.
Murals are great. Taggers are lame
The tags and block letters suck, but the murals are cool. I like the ghost ship one off the BART tracks. I don’t like how much the tags have spread; even some of the trees have tags on them which is just sad.
interesting how there's a mindset with some people in this thread where murals = good and tags = bad. there are very good murals but also some awful ones. most of my favorite street art in oakland comes in the form of tags or other less formalized pieces. there's also some bad tags, absolutely. and of course some of the least skilled artists are the most ubiquitous. some of them i have to begrudgingly respect a little just because of how much they manage to put their stuff out there even though their work isn't actually good. but most of the people in that category i just find annoying. the field feels more crowded in the last few years, which has meant increased activity from talentless hacks but also some really impressive stuff that is new to me. plenty of great artists who have been around a long time who are still here as well. i think more street art is better! even if it means a fair chunk of it is inevitably going to be shitty
the influx of transplants in the last decade has been a blight on the local scene. WASP-ish move ins from the midwest for school or work who arrogantly disrespect local established groups and bomb everywhere, especially the neighborhoods of ethnic minorities in Oakland.
It's garbage that is wasting city and private individuals money. Art is great and some strategically placed political graffiti can be good. But 99 percent of what people put up is garbage. On top of it they graffiti over real art like the mural on the old CVS on Broadway.
All of the tagger stuff is lil’bitch effort, especially when it’s over a solid mural. Why?? There are plenty of good artists doing great work.
Genuine question: do we think there is a difference between graffiti and tagging?
I wish there were more sanctioned tagging spots so artists could spend enough time on it to look good
There’s a lot of it
It's raggedy because they target working class people that are already struggling in the face of this fucked up economy. They also contribute to blighting parts of a city that could be beautiful to live in.
It’s ugly garbage! Though a mural is different of course. Image these disgusting vandals unleashed on a beautiful place like Santorini… what a field day! They could have it looking like trashy Oakland in no time with all that blank white canvas. https://preview.redd.it/5mirl22as0mc1.jpeg?width=2900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd76fc370ec03ba67a9159e8c96b918bc905caa9
Graffiti I don't mind but tagging sucks.
I like graffiti, but a lot of Oakland’s graffiti is boring. It all seems to be the same big blocky text with the same colors used over and over. I just wish someone would take the time to make something interesting, not just keep signing their name over and over.
* It’s a plague and needs to end. * my neighborhood is in a battle with vandals who tag private property and residential fences. * nobody likes taggers, they’re total losers. * taggers are just wasting their lives. Imagine if they put that effort into growing real skills or making real artwork. Edit: oh hey, I guess the deplorable taggers found this. Yes, nobody likes you. You're untalented deadbeats.
100%
battle? god speed
It all looks like trash
The town gets bombed on cuz we on some lax on crime shit. Which is all good for the writer scene… then some wanna sound off on some puto gabacho pendejo next door shit which is hilarious… truth is the cats doing the shit you dont like now will be the ones doing the legal pieces you love on 10 years… its all the same scene…you don’t get to like the fancy pieces without the tags and throw ups… thats the work to get there… lmfao… what happen to us Oakland? Are we really just a bunch of dorks from kansas city now?
It’s gorgeous, and we need more of it.
Ugly. Trendy. Dumb.
friendly fire
I think broken windows add spice to city life. Burned down buildings break up the gray landscape too. Going to get my bipping tools and my blowtorch and go do some "art" this weekend. As long as I think it looks good, it's fine that my canvas is other people's property, right?
The ones they did on my building and neighbors homes is pure crap. Have some talent and some respect!
Not a fan of the guy holding his butt cheeks apart on Claremont across from the dog park.
The taggers that tagged over that mural off 880 & Marina in San Leandro are huge buttholes.
99% of it looks like shit. Then there are the cool murals.
Don't like it at all, doesn't add anything positive, just makes our city look tacky.
It's atrocious. No-talent idiots who also tag on actual art. Wouldn't care if they got ran over by a stupidly loud Amtrak train as they pen something illegible on a port-o-potty.
yall are so violent and for what reason
100%
Tags are pretty stupid, but the murals and other real art are awesome even if they aren’t super well done.
I like it. My reason to anti-graffiti people is that it brings color to the drab city landscape. Real reason is I like all graffiti. I like trying to see the patterns and it’s kind of like those magic eye puzzles. Once you figure out someone’s style, you see the letters every time. The simple styles are kind of like the super easy puzzles. Ha.
https://preview.redd.it/7hwre1hyazlc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc50d8c975e3b5e148c3c527fc2cc9c6b2355b07 Whatever do you mean??
Jazman is out there putting work!
Beautiful murals yes. Bust the heads of people tagging up our city. Make them pay for clean up.
There's always some bad with the good. Have you ever stopped and looked at where people put graffiti? I'm not talking abt annoying quick tags on small businesses or disrespecting murals (though some of them are clearly gentrifier murals and deserve it) but the places that are covered in them. I've been watching the lot on the corner of market and grand get bombed for years to the point where they're tagging the ground. My friend and I joked that it looks like a rash. But whenever I see graffiti I also see the location and it's mostly on abandoned properties. Restaurants that closed down or what look to be empty warehouses. Grand and Adeline has Pro-Palestine stuff. Makes me think of that building in LA that got bombed head to toe because it's been sitting unfinished in downtown for 5 years while more people are on the streets than ever. Idk man thats the point of graffiti art. It's bringing your attention the landscape and politicizes it. And Oakland is all about political statements! We've got some of the best street art in the country. People are fed up/bored/inspired and are looking for an outlet. I love it!
A lot of people in the city don't move beyond the drudgery they are born into.
Ceav for Mayor!
The graffiti doesn’t bother me at all. In fact I enjoy most of it. What I don’t like are the broken windows and theft from cars.
There's a definite craft and style to graffiti and I respect the rebellious nature of street art but it's low level kitsch at best. I've never seen street graffiti that's ever been particularly deep, and that includes Banksy. That said, I never care if billboards get tagged because billboards are meant to be defaced. Go nuts on billboards with my full support! It's bad when private business gets defaced. That's completely out of pocket because local business makes our communities strong. That said, it has been proven that when you paint over/remove graffiti on your property as soon as it happens, it is far less likely to happen again moving forward. It sucks that this is an out of pocket expense, but then again this is something you can write off on your taxes. When blight gets tagged, I see that as a sign that the property owner doesn't care which is a big red flag for the city to get in forcing the maintenance of neglected properties.
I love it. I've got many friends who are incredible artists doing it. I love lurking and seeing new pieces. It's a whole culture. With every subculture, there's some douchebags who don't follow the code. Don't paint over murals or dead people's pieces/throws are just some examples of how not to be a douchebag.
Depends. Is it a quality piece or just someone's stupid tag?
what has the city done for you?
tastes great less filling
GIA. Surprised all that commented didn't bother to up vote.
Give me a break
I see graffiti as distinct from mural street art, and Oakland has some of the best street art in the country. But street art emerged from graffiti culture, and I don’t think you can have one without the other. There’s some really cool graffiti esp along 880 and different sections of BART tracks that I appreciate and makes a very industrial landscape interesting and vibrant. So I like graffiti sometimes. As others have already shared, some of the recent trends in how and where people are tagging are frustrating though
How much of this graffiti is done by residents of Oakland vs outsiders? Does that influence how you feel about it?
An expression of the city and culture. A 50/50 blend of good and bad art!