Tuesday, January 09, 2007

For The Love Of It...

One of the things that KC and I passed Friday night was the scene on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) where purported graffitti artist Ari Kraft met his end at the ripe old age of thirteen. In truth, Kraft wasn't a true graffitti artist in the true sense of artistry. Kraft was a tagger plain and simple. We had the opportunity to see the supposed "art" at around 3:00am when one of the local denizens stumbled into the scene and needed a cab ride to sobriety. Really, what he was being credited with was pretty bland.

There really is not artistry in tagging, in fact true graffitti art has taken a turn for the worst since 1989's Clean Train Movement by the MTA when the murals that once adorned the urban jungle vehicles have been wiped out through a combination of paint free surfaces and better security and enforcement in the train yards of the city where the packs of professional bombers would roam. Perhaps it is because I have more of a taste for the classical graffitti format that made the mundane unique instead of this apparent new rage that can only be compared to classic graffitti in a post-modern form.

No matter which way you do it, if Kraft truly was an artist who supposedly was known "for his graffitti" then he probably had some love for it. In an ironic turn of events his family will now be suing the LIRR for the hole in the fence that lead him onto the tracks. Yes, you read that right. His parents feel the railroad made him do it. The held a gun to Kraft's head, marched him up an embankment, through the hole, forced a can of paint into his hand, and made him technically break the law by vandalizing LIRR property which lead to his demise.

Is it just me, or is that just utterly ridiculous? In fact it is so ridiculous, I am contemplating researching Kraft's shitty tags, photographing them in the community, and then suing his parents for the vandalism and reputation damage he has contributed to graffitti art. Really. Parents who have failed to educate their children in right from wrong will blame anyone but themselves. These parents apparently plan to become rich (considering where they live... richer) off of it. In reality they should mourn their son and try to go on with their lives without thoughts of lawsuits, but in todays society it seems to be the norm to sue anyone we can for our children's missed steps and improve our personal wealth for it.

The worst part of all of this though is not the constant protection afforded to those who fail in raising their children. It is not the lack of respect shown unto the property of others or the continual de-evolution of an art form. The worst part is that one would think that Kraft fancied himself as an artist. The fact his family is using his death for a lawsuit is in fact the selfish prostitution of his life and therefore his art form... an art form he did for the love of it... and for no other apparent reason.

File this under as one more reason why those who can procreate shouldn't necessarily be doing it.
Posted by New York City's Watchdog :: 1/09/2007 01:52:00 AM :: Permalink :: 5 Bones Added to the Pile

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