viz.

I've always thought that the best graffiti is on train cars. Maybe it's not always the best graphically, but I like the statement--not only has the tagger tagged, but the canvas is mobile and likely to get pulled all over the country, set forth into the world. It's bold. Not as bold as the graffiti on interstate signs where some kid crawled out on a metal pole over 80 mile-an-hour traffic, but bold nonetheless.

On the other hand, I've always looked down my nose at graffiti I find in places that aren't readily visible. For example, when I walk to my local grocery store I cut through some trees on the side of the building. There's a lot of graffiti on that side of the building, I guess because the trees offer protection to the artists, but no one ever sees their work, since relatively few people take the footpath through dumpsters and trees to get to the store. This seems to me to defeat the purpose of graffiti, which at least has its roots in thumbing one's nose at The Man, and above all, is meant to be seen.

Mojo's, a now defunct Austin coffee shop near UT, used to have a policy of allowing artists to graffiti their building. It struck me as smart because, graffiti is hard and expensive to fight in some areas, and they got some free art out of it, as well as a lot of, I'm sure very lucrative, cred with the hipster crowd. But it does seem to defeat the purpose of graffiti, which is all about, in addition to a possible larger statement, doing something illegal, often just for the sake of it. Interestingly, I never saw an artist at Mojo's working in the daylight. Did they only paint there at night so they could kinda sorta maybe pretend they were still getting away with something?

Bottom Line: Graffiti is best when bold. I'm offering a $100 bounty to anyone who can prove they tagged Air Force 1, and I don't care what you write or who's president when you do it. Bounty will remain available until claimed. I reserve the right to seek verification.