A big part of any type of graffiti is the fact that the city landscape is constantly changing. New construction removing the previous canvases, the weather wearing away the paint or glue, other artists taking over the space to express themselves, and many other elements. But one big thing that affects graffiti and the stickers around the city is actually the city's government. Graffiti has always been on that border of being artistic expression and public defacement, causing a mixed bag of illegality and beauty. One common solution to remove graffiti is painting over it. And while this does generally remove it from sight, I can't say it's the most effective method. Like putting a layer of foundation over a bad breakout, they may be less visible but there is certainly enough of a remnant to make you stare. The lines of the different stickers creating a topography that causes one to wonder what exactly is beneath the paint. There are also the cleaning attempts that clearly don't hide things quite as well as they would like.
It was the stickers on the other side of this box that originally caught my eye, I have to admit I'm not that good to spot this one immediately just wandering the streets. I'm assuming this one is more a child's sticker than an artistic statement. The design is just a little too simple and cute to seem like the typical sticker I find. What really caught my attention with this sticker though was what it reminded me of. I'm not sure how many of you were fans of Aeropostale but I really thought that this sticker was their monkey design from the early 2000s. On closer inspection it doesn't look to be it, the mouths are lifted in the opposite directions and the ears here have a bit more of a circular squiggle on the inside than the Aeropostale one. I was probably a little more than obsessed with the Aeropostale cartoons they used to have, I can't remember how many shirts and sweatshirts I had from there. I will fully admit that my fashion sense was fairly abysmal in High school, if it wasn't a mouthy t-shirt or one with some cartoon on it I was in a tee from a sporting invite. Not that my fashion sense has really gotten much better over the years, I've just reduced the amount of t-shirts with logos on them. Anyway it doesn't look like Aeropostale kept with the monkey, seems like they have geared themselves toward more grown-up feeling. Just another one of those small reminders of one's past in the end.
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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