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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
The students and faculty riding the light rail into Auraria from the south have no doubt witnessed the graffiti on the walls.
Between the Broadway and Auraria stations are many different types of graffiti art from tagging or bombing, to throw-ups.
Tagging or bombing is the signature of the artist, usually in a unique style, while
throw-ups are larger tags with emboldened letters, sometimes filled in with color.
Now it seems that the usual graffiti art is taking on a more unique stance in either protest or humor. Between the light rail stations there are several written protests declaring, "Stop the oil war" in reference to the United States' presence in Iraq.
On the lighter side, there are amusing statements that read, "Being Irish is all the luck you need" on the week of St. Patrick's Day, which has since been painted over.
Even philosophical phrases like, "Running from the answer brings us no closer to the truth" appear. Many of the above wall writings seem to be thrown up by "Eye."
These are only examples from a city filled with graffiti art and gang graffiti, but
graffiti is nothing new, and it is all over the world.
On the Berlin Wall, graffiti art spanned the West Berlin side, whereas the East side was blank showing the contrast in their societies.
One of the largest fights against graffiti was led by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1995. The struggle to clean up the city even went as far as banning children under 18 from purchasing spray paint. Denver city government and businesses have a task force of their own called the Denver Partners Against Graffiti.
DPAG works to rid the city of graffiti through citizens reporting the problem to the company. DPAG will remove graffiti from commercial or residential buildings, or it will give callers their own supplies to remove it themselves.
DPAG's paint bank is where citizens can go to pick up supplies to remove the graffiti. Supplies must be ordered in advance and picked up by someone with proof of residency.
The city also installed cameras in select areas last November to catch taggers in the act. These cameras are programmed to immediately inform any officer in the vicinity of the vandalism.
With a $5,000 price tag, the cameras do not come cheap for any business owner wishing to keep their walls clean.
The Colorado State Capitol tried to pass House Bill 1023, which would make the possession of spray cans and other instruments that are needed for the act of graffiti illegal. The bill was rejected by a 6-5 vote.
There are areas for taggers to legally show their artwork around the city and state. One of those is an alley wall just off of Sherman and Grant streets. However, this wall takes only the best and will be quickly painted over if the artist's work is under par or affiliated with a gang.
Boulder has a 100-foot wall where it is legal for taggers to spray as long as there is no nudity or profanity.
Denver may need another wall to keep up with the popularity of tagging.
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