Graffiti — Street Art — Urban Art

Gallery 1
from June to September 2014

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The Quarter

This gallery shows snapshots of a city district, that is called Quarter, situated in only one kilometre distance to the downtown. It is a very old district with classical houses. Also, you can find small lanes with little houses. There exists a theatre, a culture meeting point and many cafés with terraces to sit outside. Little shops offer freaky fashion and gifts.

Meanwhile many of them are closed due to the economic crises. More to the fact economic crises in ten years, because I do not want to make a sociopolitical statement.

In the whole city, you can't find more freethinker than in the Quarter — or people, who live their own way of life.

Nearer description of the idiom freethinker in 10 years. In 20 years I will add a detailed description of the word subculture.

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On the way back to »Graffi-Tours-Mobile«

Yes, it was a long way back to our car, because we park outside downtown near a stadion, a highway-bridge and much crossings. It is a paradise for sprayers, and sometimes you can see skaters, who speed along the rises between the railway and street embankments.

Surely not allowed!

You see the image 04? This sprayer seems to be very busy, because you can find this - What is that? A ghost? - everywhere. You can search it on our following photos, too.

Later we stopped to photograph them, because they were all around and we were in danger to lose the capacity of our memory stick.

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An Industrial Building

Some words to this gallery. I like it very, very, very much. The panoramas with the mafia-door look very impressive. Not only on the stitched photos, but in reality, too. It is a building one kilometre away from us. The metal wall is hidden behind trees and has a length of estimated more than 100 meters.

It was a little complicated to shot the photos, because there was much gravel and an old rail-track; many bushes hinders you to make photos — and more, to make photos, which could be stitched. We made some detail photos, because it was fascinating to see, where the color searched its way along the metal wall.

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A Rear

This is famous gallery, because these graffiti-sprayers had time to ground the wall and to create their artwork without any rush. Fantastic compositions that are perfectly combined with the architecture of the houses — brilliant, powerful colors. Yes, it was a feast for our eyes to wander along the estimated 200 meters long rear of:
a) a supermarket,
b) a simple wall to an empty estate,
c) an industrial complex, processing old textiles.

To this company and the loud and aggressive roaring of their employers (when they saw us only looking at the graffiti!!!).
We were standing on a public path and are very civil!!!.
I will tell you a very very kind anecdote, but better in 10 years!

It was not easy to photograph, because, the sun was shining bright and there were dark shadows.

Have a look at image 04, the crow. It was overgrown by prickly bramble hedges. Generally there were much prickle and thorns. We kept away. We don"t want to disturb the piece of the animals living in there, not because of any photos. Best motive, we think, is the the "Star Wars" graffito. You must pay close attention to these single images and puzzle it together to a big panorama. Impressive, yeah?!

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Two Short Trips

Some graffiti from two short trips into downtown. The first nine photos of the gallery RHI were shot at the rear of a theatre and in 20 meters distance to the classical building of the land court. The other were shot under the bridge, where our Graffi-Tours-Mobile was waiting for us. You will find more »bridge photos« in the following galleries.

Gallery WAG is very short, yes. We have to hurry, because of a date. A little bit dangerous to go around with a camera in this suburb, too. Gazes are following you and maybe more than gazes.

More details to this sort of gangsters, who do not like photographer, in ten years!

Dangerous, yes.

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Three Stations

The beginning.
»We need milk, bread and ... Take the camera as a precaution, because I saw ...«

We walked through a little park with a little course of a creek and little ponds.

Nature, but not nature, because the distance between the houses and the express way is less than 200 meters and maybe exists only, because it was too much marshland to built houses!

A neatly swept pedestrian underpass ...

... which seemed even in the daylight like »doom city«. The stench of wet concrete testifies this!

No passer-by.

Finally we followed an accidental beaten path along a hoarding, which separates the express highway from a settlement. Never used. Some trees on an elevation ... On the hoarding more than 100 meter of graffiti, hardly to reach and to photograph. On the way back, an other pedestrian under-path. It became dark. We hurried ...

... because night photos without tripod ... and if you are very alone in the big, big darkness ... far away from ... ayayayayay...

You can stitch some of the photos and create panoramas for yourself. This day, when I upload this gallery, my monitor had an error and I saw much black. I only guessed, what could be on the pictures and cut black pictures to shape. Looking at an other screen, I saw, that I had turned a concrete column at its side ... I thought: Later, I will stitch and finish! But then later ...

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On the Way Back to Graffi-Tours-Mobile

We were in hurry. Obviously I shook the camera too much and many of the photos were blurred. Nevertheless we decided to show all.

Because all the other photos of the Graffiti gallery are far away from studio quality, too. There are enough perfect photos in the www, you don't need these of us! Creative teamwork! Contrast them by yourself!

By the way: It is really »on the fly«, written by life.

Have a look at image 16. There you can see an advertisement bill with the text: »FASTER«, a train rushing past and the graffito. The same placard and graffito we found somewhere else. Seems, that this sprayer don't like it faster?

But how does he sprayed?
a) On stilts?
b) Or like the German term »Räuberleiter« (robber-ladder: one hold his hand and the other uses them as a stirrup)?
c) Or does he stand on a bicycle or on the roof of a car (but in the very near is a police station)?
d) Or head-first from the embankment?)

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Between Industrial Estate, Highway and Rail

»Are THEY not able to plan a real city for us AND the nature? Why do they create ugly areas, blight by over-development? Can't be so complicated.«

Here our Graffi-Tours solution, free delivery:
1. One district for: citizen and shops, fences, meadow, street lamps, flower-borders etc.
2. One district for: pure industry like mines, monoculture, animal husbandry etc.
3. One district for: recreation area for citizen, parks, golf, playgrounds etc.
4. One district for: real nature (only for animals and trees, without any citizen!!!)

No, not planned economy or yes? But nice for nature!

But: Here a little green next the streets, there and there ... fences ... not enough for animals to live, but enough to throw trash inside.

You can hear and see no bird, no animal, because they find nothing to eat and nothing to hide in the area HSB. Like a cemetery, which is near. Oh, I forgot. On this cemetery you find trees, hear birds ...

But the real urban development ... tell you in ten years ... I´m not a pessimist, but nobody will change his/her opinion to nature!

Let's see, how street-artists decorate this »pride of suburban development« with their colors ...

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Asphalt Life, Transformer Stations and Graffi-Tour-ists

On the search for graffiti we found this, too.

Near the »climatic health resort« of the steelworks and the waste-incineration plant are areas with big signs:

KEEP OFF
MORTAL DANGER!

Looks suffocating, yes! And when I report in ten years about sustainability, overexploitation and environmental protection ...!

We shot a photo series of the imposing industrial parks, but we will present you only the »standing army« of the transformers, because we are afraid of big industries revenge, if they find themselves on our photos.

Notice: Gallery STW, image 39, is an upended stitch photo.

Gallery ASL, »Asphalt Life«, results on a former idea for photo series theme, called I WANT TO LIVE, showing plants in urban context.

But I found, this topic would be too melodramatic. I had no time, too. Maybe in ten years?)

Isn't it fascinating, how this tree grows into the fence, isn't it?

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Two Little Galleries and some Great Words about Chainsaws

The first gallery was shot in our very near vicinity. It is a little hot-dog stand, someone »decorated« with graffiti, nearly hidden. Enjoy it, because in the meantime a commando unit with a »gardener hero« had chopped the whole bushes and most of the trees to ugly hedgerows, messy cut. Away the owl, the bats, the birds and the romantic »leafs roof of safety« we wandered trough. Welcome to be on show (for all to see).

Live.
Put into the trash.
Grown for nothing.
Waste of resources.
Final take. Shoot.

The other, the »livid« text I wrote before, I had put away, until I have calmed down in twenty years! — YOU MUST have read this text: real revolution on the desktop, burning fingers, burning monitor, yeah! I regret to put it away, but I do not want to sit in a broiling desaster. If you are sounding too emotional, nobody takes your words seriously.

In the whole suburb, you must now walk along ugly sad white stunts of 20 centimetres diameter, choking, coughing, no air. And better for you, if you don't walk along this highly frequented main street with much backup, if you do not want to smell and hear the traffic much more than ever before.

Generally, hundreds of trees had been cut in this year here. No one planted, only destroyed. We live »Avatar«, but there is no hero to save us. And the best: The steelworks and the waste-incineration plant didn't install the promised filters. Fog, stench, no air to breathe any more. That is that:

We do not save the trees and the trees do not save us.
I like graffiti.
They are there.
You can over-paint them, but they come back.
Trees and birds not. BYE!

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From the Dark into the Colour

Back to downtown — Hip, hip, hooray! — you can see a famous and one of our favourite graffi-tours.

Best of all graffiti, we ever saw, is in the gallery BHG-II 80-82, which is the second one above. It is near the freight station (in part II you will see more of it). This graffiti is situated in a little dark site between two streets. On the one side a high hoarding, the other side a fence, right and left houses. There is NO WAY through — or you jump over the high fence. We don't.

More sociopolitical details to that place in ten years!

You may look at these images and your fantasy may build a whole scenario of it. Yes, a real STREET-ART-WORK. Wonderful shining colours in a perfect colour balance, a fascinating construction, a wonderful idea ...

We are happy, that it is placed there, where it will not quickly been removed.

And the other pictures? I think, this gallery speaks its own — wonderful — language and there is nothing to say any more. Enjoy it, the coloured urban life!

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