Bathroom graffiti is always the most vile, deranged, racist, bigoted, homophobic stuff you’ll find. At least that’s the case most of the time. Once I saw a phone number with the obligatory “call for a good time”, but under that someone had written, “No! Don’t! Gives terrible blow jobs!” That still makes me laugh.
And then there was this that I captured in an Alabama rest stop.
It’s etched into the mirror which took someone a lot of time and effort. It can be a little hard to read even if you click the picture to embiggen it, so I’ve done my best to recreate it:
I would assume this was some kind of white supremacy statement if not for the peace symbol. Maybe the halo and the triangle that gives the N an upward pointing arrow is a memorial to someone named Saxon. If that’s the case I think it’s a nice tribute, and one that will last longer than most graffiti. You can’t paint over the mirror or scrub that off.
Completely unrelated: The Bloggess spotted some much more hilarious graffiti. That’s one more reason it’s such a shame office supply stores all over the place are closing. For a little comfort here’s another bit of graffiti from a restaurant bathroom:
It’s strange but anytime I see graffiti, I have this instinct (?) to ignore it. Maybe my parents drilled that in my head when I was young. It’s evil! Don’t look at it! Or maybe I refuse to give the artist the time of day. I mean I know some of it is funny, and some is truly artistic, but my practical side (and she is out WAY too often) thinks about the people who have to spend the time and money to clean it up.
Signed: DEBBIE DOWNER
It’s something I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand I think some of it’s truly creative, some is funny, and some, well, I don’t know what it is. I hate it that people have to take time to clean it up, that it often defaces someone else’s property, but it’s also interesting that some people have this compulsion to create something, to make some sort of statement, that they won’t let little things like not having a legitimate outlet stop them.
I think graffiti has it’s place. I love the stuff that Banksy does. But it really makes me laugh when I see idiot graffiti – ie. ‘Micheal Smith woz ere’ and that sort of thing. If you’re going to vandalize something, why the f… would you write you’re own name on it?!
Also, excellent use of the word ’embiggen’ there.
Keith Haring and Basquiat also started with graffiti. I think they and Banksy really speak to how creating art isn’t a choice. It’s a compulsion. But, yeah, for someone to write their name is just a waste of time. If they want their name known they should draw something notable.