The Hayes Gal (or, Crime or Miss Demeanor?)
There’s a lot to be said for living in a city that boasts 5+ art schools. Add to that a bunch of hacks like me, and you’ve got a recipe for a lot of art spillage-over. Now, I’m not jumping into the fray of Graffiti: Art or Crime? because I admit my view of it is slanted – if I like it, it’s art. If it’s over my property, it’s crime. Now isn’t that (conveniently) simple?
That said, I do seek out the good stuff. And there is a lot of it. My current favorite is a little 2-color stenciled beauty that is gracing many street corners around Hayes Valley. I call her the Hayes Gal. She’s saucy.
I have to say that I am not a big fan on these. I am in Hayes Valley a lot so I seem them everywhere. I am a bigger fan of the stenciled words, I guess because they are all different and they aren’t everywhere.
True, if I had to see her every morning on my way to work I’d probably start groaning, but I love how it captures a fleeting moment. I like the phrases, too, but I desperately want to change their fonts!
Crime. Especially stickers on signs and mailboxes, etc. That’s not to say I don’t smile at some of the street stencils. But at the end of the day, it’s *our* sidewalk, not any one person’s canvas. So as cute and creative as people think they are when they spray their mark, they’re just violating common courtesy – along with some laws and municipal code sections.
I like these ones- there are some in North Beach of this chicka. I have to remember where. I feel like we should make a tag called “sidewalk art.”
Some of the art is really… bad. (Not this one, tho).
Art! …provided it’s not on private property. Stencils like this one are a new-ish form of work for budding artists, and there’s a lot of creativity to be explored in it (>2 layer stencils, multi-colors, complex designs). I do, however, think that the only really appropriate places for them are on either sidewalk in areas where graffiti is already prevalent (Haight, Hayes Valley, Mission, etc.) and thus not a traditional eyesore, or on moveable things such as trashcans (they go away after trash day, so does the graffiti).
Big up to the stencilers in SF!