As you know, pieces get buffed, or cleaned, regularly. With the help of these pages those pieces can still be viewed. It does not need to be lost forever in a blast of sand and water or because someone else painted over it. It will still have a public place here where it can be viewed freely.
Not all of the work here is illegal. Some of the pieces have been
commissioned by various groups, or are places that may be painted on
freely without risk of prosecution. If more of these places were made
available it could help young artists stay away from the lawless
side. The current situation is, if you want to get your work noticed
you have to paint in unauthorized places.
Some have even argued that graffiti has no place on the Internet. To
me this seems pretty absurd. As we all know, the Internet contains
information on just about everything, so why not graffiti? Graffiti
galleries are ideally suited to this new, unrestricted, free for all
technology. I see no reason why the two cannot co-exist together.
Fortunately most visitors like these pages. I have had many letters
stating they are grateful for what I am doing. Thank you to all who
have written in.
What are the aims of this site?
One of the aims of this web site was to promote the artistic
side of graffiti. I, like many other similarly minded people, look at
it as art not vandalism. Art, such as graffiti, should be in a public
place. I did not start the Helsinki Connection with the objective to
encourage illegal activities. There are many talented young painters
in Helsinki and this site is dedicated to proving that to the world.But isn't it illegal?
By showing a collection of pieces on the Web I am not breaking the
law. However some of the artwork featured is done illegally, without
the property owner's permission. This is the reason why some people
object to this web site. I often see cleaners buffing a wall to
remove the pieces that have been painted on it. Empty, gray walls are
boring and depressing, there's nothing quite like a good piece to
brighten things up. That is my view. Unfortunately society has
dictated that is viewpoint is wrong. There are people more qualified
then me to argue this point, so I do not want to spend too much time
writing about it here.Who else might object?
Some people in the business of graffiti do not like to see their work
on the Internet. So far I have received a couple of requests for
their own work to be removed. This is not a problem and I respect
anyone who feels his or her efforts should not be featured on this
site. But it is a little ironic
considering that they paint in public places with the aim of getting
as many people as possible to see the results (which is the whole
point of graffiti, and this site).When are these pages updated?
Never, it's all over. So stop bugging me about it, dammit!!Why spend so much time and money on this?
I do not pay for the web space.
Art Crimes in the US has kindly
provided it free of charge. The only cost involved for me was the
small phone bill when uploading files. Similarly, I make no money out
of this at all. However it did take quite a bit of my time and
effort. I did it for the love of this art form. I guess it was my way
of giving back to the graffiti community, rather than being directly
involved in painting myself.
