Step-by-Step. Graffiti in the Second Laneway

Not far from the Rona and Insa piece is another dead end lane that houses its own gallery of surprising delights:

The German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe defined architecture as commencing at the moment when two bricks were put together well. I like this idea, while it is simple and precise it also also requires a little unpacking (particularly if you live next door to a couple of architects who enjoy wine and beer). Still, the idea that given materials can be brought together well speaks of the act of creation as a self-conscious act, as being a deliberate rather than accidental or natural occurrence. Unfortunately the Romantic movement left the Western imaginary with the idea that artistry required no rules, that it was, rather, an expression of freedom that flowed naturally from those who were born with the gift. This is both a moral and a practical bucket of shit and it is no mistake that that the Romantic Geniuses who produced such works of beauty were both wealthy and well educated.


When we view works of street art such as those presented here we are viewing a level of skill that has been honed over time and, more importantly, a process that takes the artist from the first sparks of an idea to the finished product. All too often we are presented with a finished product without knowing the processes that went into creating it. These processes can stretch back to the first time you were given a crayon and encouraged to continue drawing by an environment that allowed such directions to flourish. But when we give in to the myth of the genius, and those other Romantic notions that can infuse the way we make sense of the world, we can be tempted to forego our own desire to produce something that inspires us to flourish in our own time.

Stuff can come easy or hard or, as is usually the case, somewhere in between, but it can never come without a bit of effort, without practice or without being taught. And there is always a process to follow, the rules to learn come before rules to flout. Watch any "How to" on YouTube and this soon becomes apparent (Photorealistic Graffiti, Graffiti Monster, A Graffiti Throwie). Step-by-Step. 

In part this is an answer to two separate conversations I recently had in which a grandfather and his granddaughter both filled the gap of their ignorance with the magic of genius. The reason why the myth of the genius is the moral equivalent of a bucket of shit is because it places limitations on our capacity to flourish. Imagine what it would look like if we filled this same gap of ignorance with colour theory, tonality, circles and squares and lines and shading. Can you draw a circle? Mix red and yellow to make orange? How about putting two bricks together well?