You either appreciate it or you don't, but graffiti comes in many forms. You get your talented stuff, encompassing murals, grand designs, huge epic pieces. Then you get the Banksy style, stencils, with various messages attached, and always found in quirky areas of our cities. Then there's taggin, which is poor, mindless, talentless, turf related bollocks. Now though there seems to be a couple of alternatives to the above, in the form of 'clean graffiti' and Cuprocking, both of which I find intriguing. Cuprocking was created by Andy Uprock, and in his mind, it is “a graffiti revolution”. The Sydney, Australia-based artist was inspired as a child while playing football with his mates on concrete playgrounds. The kids would stick their garbage into wire fencing and he would then creatively add more junk to form patterns and words. Later on, Uprock came up with the idea to use cups which fit nicely into diamond shaped wire fencing. The coloured plastic cups have become “floating walk-by galleries” showcasing his artwork. He typically uses 2,500 cups for each project which are then recycled. Uprock is so innovative, he has also come up with Braille poetry on the cups which some say is the first graffiti artform for the blind. His work has been exhibited around the world – in galleries both indoors and outdoors. Even though Uprock does recycle his cups after each piece of Cuprocking, you can't help but think that Uprocks carbon footprint isnt the best. With over 2,500 cups on average being used to create each piece, it does seem like a bit of a waste. Which is why, clean graffiti gets my vote in this new skool of graf. Paul Curtis aka Moose, as far as I'm aware, started the clean graffiti thing in Leeds. Moose creates graffiti by cleaning dirt from sidewalks and tunnels -- sometimes for money when the images are used as advertising. But some authorities call it vandalism. Mooses antics have not gone un-notcied by those in the advertising world and clean graffiti is being used as a form of very cheap, guirilla marketing. Labels: And Uprock, Australia, Clean Graffiti, Creative, Cuprocking, Graffiti, Moose, Paul Curtis, Trends |