New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | December 31, 2004

In December's artifact, Charles Paul Freund cleans up the line dividing graffiti, advertising, and plain old scum.

Comments

|12.31.04 @ 4:59PM|#

(sarcastically)
Graffiti on public walls? There shouldnt be ANY public walls!

fyodor|12.31.04 @ 11:53PM|#

Are they art? Or is this...mere public vandalism?

Why should "art" and "vandalism" be considered mutually exclusive?

Leaving aside whether it's art and addressing whether it's vandalism, that the work was paid for hardly matters. That it was done by cleaning does probably keep it from being vandalism, I would think. OTOH, the act of creating it might very well qualify, technically at least, as trespass, especially if it were done on a privately owned premisses. If it is a publicly owned wall, the trespass argument might be stickier, although still possible. Either way, I'm not sure if it should rise to an actionable offense since it would be so much easier (and more sensible) to simply wash the wall than arrest the trespasser.

Larry A|1.1.05 @ 11:04AM|#

"Either way, I'm not sure if it should rise to an actionable offense since it would be so much easier (and more sensible) to simply wash the wall than arrest the trespasser."

Isn't using "sensible" in a sentence about law at least a misdemeanor?

|1.1.05 @ 11:33AM|#

This keeps buzzing around in my head.

Hiya, pal. You're dat fella dey call Moose, ain'tcha? I'm Max, wit' District Council 47, AFSCME. Me and my boys here wanna talk to you about some o' dat "unauthorized maintainance" you been doin' on da Sout' Side freeway overpass. Ya see, cleaning bridge abutments an' da like is parta dere jobs, an' when amateurs like youse start doin' it for free, well, dey get kinda upset. Workin' out on da highway is for professionals. Some o' dem chemicals dey use for cleanin' is dangerous. Dey wouldna want for youse to have no accident. IfyaknowaddImean.

Yeah, I know, it works better with Teamsters, but what are you gonna do?

Kevin

|1.1.05 @ 2:33PM|#

Off topic but, Happy New Year to my fellow posters and the to the editors of the stellar Reason magazine and the best blog in the whole damn sphere. Here's anticipating another year of interesting, fun, discussion and debate. And, if we will make the effort, hopefully less government in our country!

|1.1.05 @ 6:29PM|#

Do you think they would have arrested him if he had cleaned the entire wall? I doubt it.

|1.1.05 @ 8:38PM|#

Damn! I already broke my new year's resolution to always use the Preview button.

|1.3.05 @ 5:36AM|#

Hmmm... let's think about some other 'improvements' we might engage in...

professionally restore an original van Gogh, but only in alternating squares, resulting in a striking checkerboard of brighter and duller colors...

replant trees in a clear-cut area, so as to form a swastika visible from 33,000 feet...

give wonderful Xmas gifts to the local orphanage, but lay them out carefully to spell, "SANTA IS DEAD".

Once you get past the pleasure at the conceptual creativity involved, it's obvious that this could be vandalism, and that it should not be immune to whatever relevant tort or criminal laws hold (depending of course upon the property status of the affected area). A change can be an improvement at one level of structure, yet have a higher-level organization which constitutes a harm. Duh.