Fun Or Dumb? Graffiti (1976) from Skip Elsheimer on Vimeo.
I had to post this ridiculous retro graffiti video from 1976 called “Fun or Dumb?” (created by Vancon Films). The first mind blowing thing that I noticed when I viewed this video was the Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory sounding soundtrack. I was waiting for the dance-line of Oompa Loompas to appear, waving hands and all. So classic 70s, so “WTF?”. Next thing I noticed was the overall take on graffiti, and the huge contrast in thought, especially in regard to my earlier post “Random Thoughts on Big Business and Graffiti Art”.
This video was created for use as an educational tool for the Philadelphia school district. The overall message states and re-states (in classic 70s fashion) how terrible graffiti art is, and how it will never become a true art form, and that it is in fact “Dumb”. Wow, that would have got me thinking twice for sure. 20+ years later as graffiti artists and stencil artists rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars for their street work I think it’s safe to say that they were wrong. At the least this video is a great reminder to us that things change and what may not be considered art now, may be considered art in the future. This find is great timing for me, because I was just about to produce an educational video on how videos shot with low tech point and shoot cameras should never be considered art, and that doing so is “Dumb”. Pheww!
Below are some modern day graffiti sources that reflect the current state of the graffiti art culture (for FUN).
Poster Boy – NYC Subway poster artist on -> YouTube
Banksy’s -> Website and portfolio
Streetsy Urban Art Blog -> http://www.streetsy.com/
Graffiti Research Lab -> http://graffitiresearchlab.com/
