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Many
of the photos of graffs on these pages were taken at Toulouse.
If you like this display, please don’t forget that the
photographer was not the artist, and that the work of art is not in the
photo but in the original design.
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The
term GRAFF deserves some explanation. Often confused with the TAG, it is
important to make the distinction.
A tag is a simple signature or cipher, generally a simple
spray of paint, done haphazardly, and therefore is not very
well-regarded. These GRAFFS are elaborate drawings or even frescoes.
After having been worked out and drawn on paper the GRAFF
will not be ready for application until the chosen surface has
been prepared, which take many hours owing to the usually poor
state of the walls. Then
the actual work may take many more hours.
The
graff is not necessarily painted on with a spray. In some cases
a paintbrush may be used. |
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Forward
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You
either like it or you loath it, no one is indifferent.
There are those who are absolutely against it, and those who insist
that the art of the graff is comparable to the cave-paintings of prehistoric
times. |
It’s
always a mistake to have too cut-and-dried an opinion.
For myself, in order to take my photographs, I have often been in
lots of unsavoury places where I have to say that the graffs were the only
attractive thing about the place. I
am also sure that many people would not have ventured down certain back
streets of Toulouse for their Sunday walks if they hadn’t been attracted
by the presence of graffs in some of them.
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