The World is Not Fine Art

By the people, for the people, with or without permission

Graffiti, stickers, and posters of mischief or political protest can be classified as vandalism by the state, and thus anyone who chooses to have this bad opinion can be righteous about it.

But that doesn't make it true.

I search for and revel in this form of art, at home and where I travel. It's made by people who think, care, and dare to share their thoughts through art — art that's not confined to people with season passes to galleries, but everyone who chooses to set foot in public space. Kudos to those that do this, and for those folk who see and agree, let's do so openly.

Updates will be made periodically, or rather sporadically, as is my habit in general.

a yellow pole about 1/3 into the frame from the right with a sticker featuring two tongues from feminine mouths, one labeled 'ke' and the other labeled 'we', licking each other. the background is a blurry late evening scene with green trees, fuzzy balls of light from streetlamps, sidewalks, street signs, and cars on the road. Winnipeg.

dozens of stickers all over a number of utility boxes/meters on an interior brick wall. Portland, OR.

a power box on the street painted with a sort of impressionist urban street scene on a puddle-ridden street with one person in a white jacket painted with their back facing the viewer. the middle of the painting is beige-yellow and the top is a dark blue and purple night sky. this painting is covered with all sorts of graffiti in white and pink, an eye painted in black, and the word 'hoser' in big yellow letters in the top right. Vancouver, BC.

a concrete curved plantert next to a sidewalk with red handprints all over it and a red sign with white letters saying 'SEARCH THE LANDFILL'. Winnipeg.

a lamppost next to a street covered in brown leaves with a white 8.5x11 sign with red, blue, and yellow butterflies, with white letters on scattered black rectangles saying 'a better world exists' with broken handcuffs hanging from the yellow butterfly. there is a logo in the bottom left corner of the sign that you can't really see, but the campaign is called Winnipeg Police Cause Harm, because acab. Winnipeg (obvs).

taken from high up, the rooftops of various buildings with various illegible graffiti in different colours (white, purple, blue). some of the rooftops are sloped with brick red shingles, some are flat concrete with black wrought iron fences around them. in the distance there is a wide building with 'HOLLYWOOD' in spread out letters between the windows on the top floor. the city skyline stretches to the slightly hazy horizon. Brussels, Belgium.

pavement between black bricks with something carved into it (done before the concrete dried) that appears to be two legs spread out exposing a relatively detailed vulva (given the medium) and an anus. Winnipeg.

the Lennon wall in Prague taken from a side angle with graffiti by a number of people with various tributes to John Lennon that are mostly illegible. examples you can see are 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'Love' and 'Let it Be'. in the distance are various people standing around the wall, some taking photos

trees sticking out of a crusted muddy bank with a sign painted on old blinds saying 'patience' at the top with two birds at a nest full of eggs, and the text 'press on' below the nest to the left and vertical text 'winnipeg' to the right of the nest. Winnipeg.

a poster on a wooden outdoor wall with three mice in various gendered gear in pink and blue colours marching while crouched over and holding signs saying 'the future is trans', the mixed gender symbol from combining venus and mars signs with 'and' in the circle part, and 'the future is NOW'. there are the edges of a couple of other posters nearby, and a bunch of staples from former posters that have lived there before.

a sidewalk between a tree-lined road and a canal with a grey power box with a sticker on it saying 'people don't become smarter, robots do' and a drawing of a robot

brown leaves and dying grass above a sidewalk with a white rectangle painted on and in black letters 'rise au crepuscule/dans ses paumes le clochard/recueille les pieces'

a concrete wall behind a sidewalk under a bridge with 'If I die of covid-19 forget burial. Just drop my (sic) on the steps of the MB legislative assembly

a grey power box on a sidewalk with a ton of mostly unreadable stickers, but some are readable, such as: 'Ruin Your Life', 'Sofa Concerts', 'Love, Seks, Bureks' with seks blurred out a bit