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Vandalay Graffiti Industries: Taggers Come From Overseas
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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This must be what happens when the Euro is strong and the U.S. dollar is weak. It turns out that 70% of elaborate subway car graffiti is created by Europeans. The Daily News puts this on the cover, noting that many taggers from "from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway to spray-paint their murals and elaborate tags - called "pieces" - on trains, fully aware that the Transit Authority will scrub them clean within hours." Why? So they can photograph their work to give them some NYC street cred back home! The Daily News has a great quote from Lady Pink, who says that New York taggers aren't interested in tagging trains: "Painting to take a photograph, for us who live here, is kind of the wussy way out. The point is to have it run [on the tracks and be seen]."
Many subway cars require at least 8 hours of cleaning after being tagged. Noted graffiti-hater City Councilman Peter Vallone says, "New York City is not a Disneyland for vacationing Euro-vandals." No, it shouldn't be, but that's an interesting idea. We're sure that if the MTA opened up a train yard where people could tag broken, out-of-service trains to their hearts' delight, the MTA could make a pretty penny from charging admission.
Photograph of a tagged 5 train by Joe Holmes; Joe found out from Matt Webert, "A friend of mine who's a graffiti expert passed along this info: In case you didn't know that was a VIM(OA) car. The Vandals In Motion and Monsters Of Art crews are brother/sister crews from the Copenhagen, Sweden, Holland area and I guess one of them was visiting NYC on vacation."
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City Councilman Peter Vallone
Councilman Peter Vallone
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peter vallone
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The Vandals
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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