Graffiti is vandalism. Pure and simple. Doesn't matter how much anyone likes the art. If the artist doesn't have permission of the owner, then it's a crime.

you know what they say " if the aids don't get you then the sh!theads will!!!!"

can't wait for artists around here to step up their game and quote the mags, murphys law, breakdown and warzone... i saw a huge OPEN YOUR EYES in brooklyn the other night and pray that it was in reference to what i hope it is a reference to


graf is a viable medium for the artist to express themselves i am not a fan of pure vandalism but can appreciate the fine art of getting up, i mean i don't really need to explain this to any art respecting jersey city tenants right???

Hudson's mysterious graffiti tagger: An appreciation

Saturday, 15 August 2009 14:11 Allen Ginsberg

http://www.cliffviewpilot.com/hudson/ ... ti-tagger-an-appreciation

http://www.examiner.com/x-2446-North- ... ylan-Germanic-film-others

Bob Dylan's name might not ring a bell at the Long Branch cop shop, but an unknown graffiti tagger in Hudson County is quoting him as part of an effort to encourage people to support those in need.

"Dear Hoboken," one tag reads, "don't follow leaders, watch your parking meters." The tagger is copping a line there from Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," arguably the first-ever rap song.

The 1965 tune is best expressed as visual art in the film "Don't Look Back," with Dylan holding up and rifling through cue cards scrawled with different words and phrases (Click here for the video). The point of it is to speak truth to power -- and watch your back when you do.

Like Dylan, today's tagger traffics in positive messages, which he scrawls on walls and bridges in and around Weehawken, Union City, Hoboken and Jersey City.

hobokengraffiti1
?Your days of plenty are numbered? is the closest we get to a warning or a threat, though it actually serves a different purpose.

The phrase comes from the German film "The Edukators," in which a couple of young anti-capitalists break into rich people?s homes, rearrange their possessions, and then leave without taking anything or causing any damage. Their calling card is a note that says: ?Your Days Of Plenty Are Numbered.?

Their motto is ?Meet one, educate a hundred,? so don't be surprised if that tag turns up somewhere.

Hudson's prophet urges people to fight for what they believe in, invoking the aphorism: ?Better to be a lion for one day than to be a sheep your whole life.?

But he's kept his sense of humor, signing one of his messages "Team Love" -- an obvious dig at the group "Team Charity," which earlier this summer sponsored a t-shirt graffiti event to raise money for "philanthropic young professionals" in Hoboken.

Taken as a whole, the "exhibit" exudes the spirit of an era a half-century past, before the "me" generation, corporate greed -- and, yes, gentrification -- paved the paradise of peace and love.

Then, like now, Americans are facing intense levels of social injustice that breed frustration, anger, and even danger. Still, the tagger is harmless. He clearly hasn't crossed the line yet into cynicism -- otherwise, he'd toss his can. He even uses the peace symbol, affixed with a long tail. Love and artistic anarchy are clear signs that he still holds hope.

For his most important message, the unknown tagger selected Hudson's most visible area, the Hoboken waterfront. The message, in blue block letters, says: ?HELP THE HOMELESS.?

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The literate graffitist
Who?s been leaving leftist messages around city borders?

by Caren Matzner
Reporter Editor

Whoever he is, he?s an advocate for the homeless and artists, has terrific grammar skills, and believes Union City is better than Hoboken and Weehawken.

An anonymous graffiti artist has been scrawling sentence-long messages on walls and bridges near Weehawken?s border with Hoboken for more than a year, as well as near Hoboken?s border with Jersey City. While most other graffiti in the area consists of barely decipherable scrawl and gang tags marking territory, the literate graffitist seems to have an agenda.

He?s poetic, as displayed in an orange taunt under a Hoboken bridge near the Jersey City border: ?Dear Hoboken, don?t follow leaders, watch your parking meters.? This message, prophetically left months before the new mayor?s resignation, is mysteriously signed ?Team Love.? However, other messages in similar handwriting are unsigned.

Two of the notes have a special symbol at the end: a peace sign with a tadpole-like tail. One of them is an ominous message on a wall in northwestern Hoboken warning in blue: ?Your days of plenty are numbered.? At the other end of town, under a bridge leading to Jersey City, the artist begs in bright white: ?Support your local artists.?

The graffitist also left a short note in black paint on a Weehawken house near the Hoboken border, saying, ?U.C. is better,? perhaps favoring nearby Union City as a more affordable artists? haven. Just blocks away, the Park Avenue bridge in Weehawken is coated with a red ?You?re only as good as your word.? And further north, another bridge in Weehawken says ?Better to be a lion for 1 day than to be a sheep your whole life? as well as ?Lion wears the crown.?
_____________

The artists apparently favors the poor, the homeless, and?well?artists.
________

Finally, the same person has added blue block letters on the Hoboken waterfront: ?HELP THE HOMELESS.?

So who is this spray can-wielding soul who knows to use ?than? and not ?then??

?I?ve never seen it before,? said Weehawken Public Safety Director Jeff Welz recently. ?We do take care of graffiti. Even though it?s not offensive graffiti, it?s negative to the community. It?s a quality of life issue. Our procedure is the police make a report, [especially] stuff that may be gang related. Then we get it we give it to Bobby [Barsa, head of public works] and he removes it. So there?s a checks and balances. I?m amazed it fell through the cracks.?

The day after Welz was interviewed, township workers slapped gray paint over the sayings under the Route 495 bridge in Weehawken, and they were gone.

John Pope, who just took over as public works director in Hoboken, said recently that he wasn?t familiar with the graffiti either. ?I need to drive slower,? he said.

He said that his department frequently removes gang tags, and that among those reporting them is former Mayor David Roberts.

?On July 4, there was [a gang tag] added to the Neumann Leathers building,? he said. ?It was in white paint.? It was promptly removed.

In Guttenberg, police cracked down on graffiti last year in an effort to stop gangs from leaving tags on their turf. But the different colors of neatly written aphorisms perhaps come from another place.

So who is ?Team Love? and why is he taking the risk of writing 16-word aphorisms in plain sight? Perhaps he or one of his associates will e-mail us at editorial@hudsonreporter.com to explain, or comment on-line at www.hudsonreporter.com.

Caren Matzner can be reached at cmatzner@hudsonreporter.com.

Graffiti busts near Square

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Two men were arrested early yesterday after allegedly writing graffiti on several storefronts near Journal Square in Jersey City, according to police reports.

Charles Shelton, 27, of Van Wagenen Avenue, and Erik Whalen, 23, of Hudson Street in Hoboken, were caught on surveillance cameras spraying buildings on Sip Avenue at Van Wagenen at 4:20 a.m., police said.

Cops found the pair hiding in a nearby alley with two permanent markers, latex gloves, a squeeze bottle and spray paint, reports said. They were charged with criminal mischief, police said.

PAUL KOEPP

For Graffiti Artists in Jersey City -- Texting Replaces Tagging

RIVER VIEWED -WALL TEXTING

River View Observer
http://riverviewobserver.net/?p=336
Posted on September 8th, 2008 by

Graffiti Artists in Jersey City Find New Ways To Reach Their Audience -WALL TEX TING- Gone are the days of leaving tags -now its sayings and other messages of love lost and profound sayings.