Mini Graff©
Repressive Society
November 2008
Medium : acrylic paint, card, duct tape
Size : 1100 x 620 (variable)
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Artwork in response to:
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Sunanda Creagh Urban Affairs Reporter
November 19, 2008

GAYE FITZGERALD had a blank wall, $250 and an idea.

"I paid this artist to go over the wall with a bit of spraypaint and some stencil art and some freehand," said Ms Fitzgerald, who owns Bar Me in Brougham Lane, Kings Cross. "I wanted something with a bit of a bohemian jazz theme that would keep the graffiti taggers away and do up the lane. I wanted it to look nice."

That was in late July. In August, she came to work one morning to find the City of Sydney had painted the wall overnight. (contn. after images)

"They never even let me know," she said. "They didn't even send me a letter. It's my private property and now it's just a blank wall. How ridiculous."
The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, is a vocal admirer of Melbourne's famous stencil and graffiti adorned laneways. She has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into public art projects such as Art & About and reports on how Sydney can develop similarly vibrant streets.

But the City of Sydney has the toughest anti-street art policy in the state. Some streets are inspected every 24 hours, while others are checked every five days for graffiti, which the council defines as "any inscription, word, figure or word design that is marked, etched, scratched, drawn, sprayed, painted, pasted, applied or otherwise affixed to or on any surface".
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© 2007 Mini Graff © 2007 Mini Graff
DANGER!! A repressive society is coming! ! #2, Darlinghurst Road mixed media on buildings
© 2008 Mini Graff		 DANGER!! A repressive society is coming! ! #1 Brougham Lane mixed media on buildings
© 2008 Mini Graff
The council spends $3 million on graffiti and poster removal every year. Even private property owners who commission graffiti-style artworks without a development application can expect to have their walls painted blank soon after. The council says rapid eradication is needed to dissuade taggers and prevent streets from looking unsafe but some, like Kings Cross resident Michael Gormly, are sick of the tidy-town mentality.
"They spend millions on these one-off events like Art & About rather than just taking the screws off a little and letting the city become an interesting place," he said. "That's how Melbourne got a Melbourne-style culture."

In 2004 Mr Gormly's Live Walls project matched artists with Kings Cross businesses who wanted stencil-style artwork on their walls.

"Then bingo, two days later and there they are, the council contractors with their big rollers, just painting it out again," he said. "In Melbourne, tourists photograph the stencils and the street art … they don't photograph blank walls."

But Andrew Woodhouse from the Potts Point Heritage Society said the council is right to manage public spaces.

 If you do something in a public arena it has to be something that benefits the public, not just the artist or the property owner," he said. "I think there should be art but not visual vandalism."
Cr Moore says she recognises the legitimate role of aerosol art and murals.
City of Sydney spokesman Mark Scala said: "The city requires a development application for murals and artworks in the public domain, including council's own commissions on council-owned walls, to ensure artworks are legitimate, not the result of vandalism, endorsed by the property owner (not just a tenant), include appropriate content for the location and not inappropriately located, such as on sensitive heritage buildings.''

Graffiti artist Matthew Peet, who signs his work "Mistery", points out that "if there was an 'Eternity' tag that would technically be illegal under the council's policy".

"But now we consider [Arthur Stace] part of history," he said. "I have approached businesses to do works for them but they are worried that the council will paint over it. It's a shame because we have some world class artists here. The graffiti art community is a valid part of Sydney."

view SMH article here »
© 2008 Mini Graff