you kids and your spraypaint

When I wrote this post I considered saying something about Berlin being totally coated in graffiti, then didn't because I figured it would be pointless snark. But today I had lunch with N.Lu and she told me about this story from last weekend's New York Times, which answered some of my questions, such as: What, is graffiti legal in Germany? and Why are those kids spraypainting that wall in broad daylight? and Holy cow, that is some elaborate graffiti, what is the deal?


(That wall, incidentally, I'm pretty sure is not The Wall. It runs along where the wall ran, but it's the wrong kind of construction. I think it's part of a sports complex.)


I like the ones that are cool pictures (and I assume the laundry one was commissioned), but the tagging is just obnoxious. I mean, if you're going to be a jerk and paint on someone else's property, at least paint something that's worth looking at.

The Times article mentions the tradition of painting on the West-facing side of the Berlin Wall. Fun fact: The whole wall was technically in East Germany - they're the ones who put it up, and it was a few inches on their side of the line. So, according to the book I bought about the Wall, the East used to send people through to paint over the graffiti, but eventually they just gave up. (I am now completely obsessed with the Berlin Wall. More on that later.)