Urban Art

I have done a lot of work with juvenile delinquents.  My best friend in college studied illustration.  I love traveling and bike riding.  Somehow this all bundles together to lead to a great appreciation for when I stumble upon what I call Urban Art, and what others may simply call "graffiti."

I remember driving through Los Angeles as a child, no doubt en route to a Dodger's game, and looking at the graffiti covering the freeway overpasses and sound walls.  Even at a young age, I remember thinking that if some of these vandals put their obvious talent to good use, they could probably land a successful art or design career.

To me, much of this type of vandalism, although arguably illegal, is harmless.  It's not a true victimless crime the way that running a stop sign at 2:00am in the middle of nowhere when you know that there is no one around for miles is.  But at least no one is getting punched.  So, for the kids, I give it a legal pass :)

(above: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  Inside of a dog, its too dark to read. -Obama"  Although I think Groucho Marx is actually credited with this statement.)

And sometimes they can be SO STINKING CLEVER!

Often, youth are rebels without a cause.  But that's just a part of the adolescent condition.  Juvenile brains are often physically limited to seeing issues as black and white ONLY.  Its not that they roll their eyes because they hate you, but because they honestly CANNOT put themselves in your shoes and understand that what is clear-cut and "right" to them, may not be right to someone else.  And since juveniles have little or no voice in our society, sometimes they've just gotta shout from the rooftops, proclaiming the wrongs they perceive, which seem so obvious to them.  And sometimes this rooftop-shouting is expressed in art.

[Above: "The people consent: Mitt Romney for Emperor / FASCISM NOW (in the USA)".]

And at the age of adolescence, they've been armed with just enough political knowledge to be dangerous :)

These photos were taken, of all places, under an overpass next to a small Amish dairy farm in Central Pennsylvania that I encountered on a bike ride.

And I took this last one in D.C.  I've shared it elsewhere before; it bears Benjamin Franklin's quote, "Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."

Impressive.