grafitti in skateparks...yes or no????

**skategeezer** · 09-18-2009 12:21 PM

Me, I say NO.

this park in Toronto is not open and yet has been tagged.

I say build an area for graffiti artists...let them go crazy...but I don't think it adds to things...

Ashbridges Bay Skateboard Park already getting lots of air

Ashbridges Bay Skateboard Park already getting lots of air. Dave Kerr jumps one of the obsticles at the new skateboard park at Coxwell and Lakeshore Blvd. Friday. The park, which will officially opened late September, already has graffiti spray painted on a few of the ramps and rails. Staff photo/DAN PEARCE

The cement is barely dry on the city's biggest and newest skate park, but already dozens of skateboarders, BMX bike riders and even in-line skaters have been testing out their moves.Slated to officially open on Saturday, Oct. 3, the Ashbridges Bay Skateboard Park has been a community driven dream for more than 10 years now.
Despite the best of intentions, the city faced several challenges to get the park built. Several thousands of dollars extra had to be spent to stabilize the land beneath the park as the site, which is located at the corner of Coxwell Avenue and Lake Shore Boulevard East, was once marshland.
Fundraising must also still be done to complete its second phase, which includes a bowl.
Recently Beaches-East York Councillor Sandra Bussin admitted there have been a few challenges, notably vehicles driving and parking on the newly seeded soil surrounding the facility.
"My staff and I are on damage control," she said, adding she's requested to have parks staff patrol the area.
"It's a challenge with an open concept park like this, but it was understood from the beginning."
Conceding people shouldn't technically be on the site, Bussin said it's impossible to have city staff monitoring it 24/7 and the sport's enthusiasts have been using it for a few weeks now.
As of late last week, night time lighting at the skate park had yet to be installed and garbage was piling up as trash receptacles had yet to be brought in.
A few illegal artists have also been busy in recent weeks tagging the 21,500 square-foot street-style concrete plaza with tacky slogans and scrawls.
"Any park is going to get tagged," said Paul Bridger, a Bowmanville resident who came to practise his skills at the new park last Friday afternoon.
Skateboarding for more than 10 years now, Bridger said obviously he'd like to see the graffiti gone, especially the "stupid tags" but admits it's hard to stop.
Regardless, he couldn't say enough good things about the facility.
"They've done an awesome job on this. It's almost too smooth," he laughed. "This is clearly over the top. It's a lot of fun."
Bussin said she isn't against graffiti at the skate park, but would like to have some sort of rhyme and reason to it.
"I can see competitions and paint-offs here in the future. We'll deal with each challenge as it will come, but I do think we can deal with this creatively," she said, adding she'd rather have tagging at this site than on private garages and other public spaces in the neighbourhood.
"My preference is that those who must tag, tag here. I think it's the best place for it."
Still in the early stages, Bussin said more consultation with the community must be done to determine the best course of action for dealing with graffiti there.
She also said BMX bike riders may have caused some surface damage at the site, but it is being taken care of.
The Ashbridges Bay Skateboard Park will celebrate its official grand opening on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 1 p.m. All are welcome to attend the event, which is expected to include skateboarding demonstrations and competitions.

**Cann0n** · 09-18-2009 12:52 PM

Well, I think they should allow it. I've asked the local park owner here if I could throw a mural up. He said he'd love for someone to add flare to his park. I just never got around to collecting all the paints.

I think as long as it's not offensive, gang related, or profound, there shouldn't be a problem with it.

**stringtheory** · 09-18-2009 12:56 PM

I have mixed feelings about it. When an artist is commissioned and it's a cohesive piece, it can look amazing. But when it's tagging and all over the obstacles, it looks lame.

What I like:

What I hate:

**K-Rimes** · 09-18-2009 01:10 PM

I seriously hate riding vert or tranny that is caked in paint. I've slid out more than a few times on some of the newer "paintings" and sometimes just can't hit the line I want to due to fat swath of paint I have to use a bit of traction on. The "art" that most people put down is nothing more than lines from a spray can.

I like that there is some creativity in the pieces (very few) and that occasionally someone has taken the time to do a real piece of work but inevitably it gets covered up with people tagging "nut suckerrrr" or some equally lame writing atop or a big ugly smilie face and then whatever art was there becomes marred and unappreciated.

There should be spray paint areas in a city where it's legal and appreciated, almost like a free art gallery. Then on top of that people can still put tags in creative places that can be appreciated due to their complexity and locale.

**RyanTheMann** · 09-18-2009 01:16 PM

I don't have all that much preference. I hate when kids draw penises and obscene words all over the place and people try to tag but it ends up looking like crap. Gang related and racist stuff is terrible as well. I do however, really enjoy a good quality mural, tag, logo, stencil, whatever, on a ramp, I think it adds a lot.

Lansdowne, for instance, has layers upon layers of graffiti, dating all the way back to its opening in the late 70s. I think it's awesome there. It just gives the place a really cool feeling, rolling over all that art that people have been putting up for decades.
Examples from Lansdowne (recent photos, in older ones much of the paint was a lot less faded):

Love the Misfits skull, classic punk icon:

My local park, a tiny concrete street course, was recently tagged up not too long ago. I'm not sure if whoever did it was permitted or not, but it looks great. Another one of my local parks, with skatelite and metal ramps, was covered in terrible graffiti. It looked like some 6th graders with spray cans and sharpies went crazy.

So as far as whether I'm for it or against it, I don't know.

**robert borek** · 09-18-2009 01:19 PM

my local park has tons of awesome graffiti, along with several big walls used by the local university art students, the ramps are also repainted on various fundays and things, graffiti is great when its done properly by skilled people

idiots who just go and tag #### over the top of the good stuff piss me off though.

examples of the park:

http://www.thetrickfactory.com/oli/blog/111007/1.jpg
http://www.concretedisciples.com/cd_...-deanlane1.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/...93e87f.jpg?v=0

**Delta** · 09-18-2009 01:26 PM

i'm a big fan as long as people follow the 'rules' throwups cover tags, pieces cover throwups, and commissioned murals can cover whatever.

**Wells** · 09-18-2009 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by K-Rimes

I seriously hate riding vert or tranny that is caked in paint. I've slid out more than a few times on some of the newer "paintings" and sometimes just can't hit the line I want to due to fat swath of paint I have to use a bit of traction on. The "art" that most people put down is nothing more than lines from a spray can.

I like that there is some creativity in the pieces (very few) and that occasionally someone has taken the time to do a real piece of work but inevitably it gets covered up with people tagging "nut suckerrrr" or some equally lame writing atop or a big ugly smilie face and then whatever art was there becomes marred and unappreciated.

There should be spray paint areas in a city where it's legal and appreciated, almost like a free art gallery. Then on top of that people can still put tags in creative places that can be appreciated due to their complexity and locale.

Hammer, meet nail.

Ramps are for skating, not painting.

**K-Rimes** · 09-18-2009 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by Wells

Hammer, meet nail.

Ramps are for skating, not painting.

Thank goodness.

**flannelman** · 09-18-2009 02:13 PM

amen^^^

10agree

**Wolfin** · 09-18-2009 02:52 PM

My local park has a "Artistic Graffiti Allowed" policy. Most of the taggers obey this, and there's some really good art there.

**rosewood thief** · 09-18-2009 02:56 PM

its up to the owner(s) of the park.

personally, if i owned a skatepark. id be cool with it, why the #### not?

**endzone_bob** · 09-18-2009 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by rosewood thief

why the #### not?

see teh K-Rimez post above

**Cann0n** · 09-18-2009 03:51 PM

I like marker tags a lot. It takes a talent to write an actual good tag. I've seen so many that just sucked. A good sign of a noob writer is the type of ink they use, and the lack of curves. I make my own makers and inks.

Just for the record, I quit doing that sh!t long ago.

If you are ever in ATL... There's a shop on Forsyth street near 5 points. It's a cool shop. It's a thrift/dj lessons/graffiti shop. You can't miss it. It's a giant wall of murals, some 20 foot high. If you leave the station at 5 points, turn right out and you will be looking at a mcdonalds. once you hit the corner McD's is at, turn left. Keep walking you find an open parking lot on the left, once you hit it, look behind you.

**the cruisader** · 09-21-2009 07:40 AM

Spray-painting in public skateparks is a distortion of the very nature of the skateparks initial purpose.
I remember an old ad reading : "Every artist needs his canvas"…
Well, skateparks are the blank canvas for skateboarders and, since not every skater is into graphic arts,
it would be nice to respect their own visual work, their self expression, places for what they represent, people for what they do…
Graffiti is a territory conquest by nature so let it be where it belongs.
Skateboarding is graphic, no need to decorate it no matter what marketing shows us.

**-Mu-** · 09-21-2009 07:57 AM

Some times I see a guitar with almost no finish on it at all, hardly even a clear-coat, it often looks stunning because the quality of the wood was allowed to show through. Not everything requires paint, some things should be allowed to look good and function on their own merits. I agree that it should be up to the owner, I think it's sad that sometimes the owner doesn't get a choice.

**speshlspeclsteak** · 09-21-2009 08:15 AM

i dont mind it on stuff you dont need traction on like a funbox or whatever but keep that #### outof the bowls. im pretty sure the new park in boston is gonna have some designated spots for artists to paint so it doesnt get painted up too much

**motion** · 09-21-2009 08:27 AM

definite yes if its artistic.

**Flandan** · 09-21-2009 08:48 AM

I'm all for allowing artistic expression in society, but not at the expense of traction for my wheels. Some bright spark recently coated half the concrete in our local park in shiny white paint to create a blank canvas for a new batch of their crappy grafitti and it's like skating on ice. One of the sections now has a bunch of penises (peni?..or is that a type of pasta?) drawn all over it for some reason. That, and the usual offensive language, does put off a lot of the younger kids too.

Yeah, grafitti is "edgy" and "urban", but I'd rather not go skidding across a bunch of dicks. I'd also like to find out who spray-painted "Michael Jackson RIP" in four foot high letters around the bowl...

**dcphotos** · 09-21-2009 09:41 AM

No. It looks good to some people and bad to others, but some of those others are the ones sitting on councils that decide whether or not your town will get a park like the neighbor city. If the neighbor city has a clean park and it looks favorable, you're more likely to get one also. If it looks like a ghetto, you're not.

Private/pay parks are another matter. It doesn't belong on the riding surface, but I could care less one way or another about the rest of it.