My Second Favorite City: London

Last spring I spent five months studying abroad in London. Stephen Sondheim hit the nail on the head when he wrote “There’s no place like London”. Don’t get me wrong, I missed Philadelphia every day I was there, but London has its own magical, unforgettable personality that I will love for the rest of my life.

This spring it’s my boyfriend, Alex’s turn to head to London. The other day he stumbled across a really extraordinary selection of street art in a place he’s called the “Graffiti Tunnel”.

Personally, I’m not much of a fan of graffiti. Graffiti is a type of script writing spray painted onto walls, trains, basically anywhere with a flat surface. Street art is more dedicated to painting and drawing actual images. I believe that some people use graffiti the wrong way, with profanity, and sexual innuendos, and those people are what gives the entire idea of street art a bad name. Nothing makes me more mad than seeing a dirty word on a street and knowing that one day a child will see that same thing and have that idea of street art forever.

I was surprised, however, when I saw Alex’s pictures. The graffiti tunnel was really beautiful. The colors blended together so perfectly to light up the underground tunnel miraculously. I was really blown away.

The Graffiti Tunnel: London

Graffiti wrapping around the walls out into the streets of London

One really impressive piece

Graffiti is everywhere in the Graffiti Tunnel, even on the lights!

Read Full Post »

Stickers in the Snow?

I recently had some big plans to hop on the bus from my place in Glassboro and head into Philly to investigate new stickers and take some pictures to put up on here. But, apparently that isn’t happening soon! Philadelphia has been hit with one of its biggest blizzards in history, covered with 8.8 inches of fresh powder overnight.

This isn’t the first big snow of the winter, in fact its a pretty normal occurrence in 2010 so far. All this snow does have me a bit concerned for the city’s street art. Don’t get me wrong, I am loving the snow. Its a really good time to just sit around in the house with my room mates eating junk food and watching Paranormal Activity (very scary).  But for serious street artists this blizzard could be disastrous.

Most street art is done with pretty simple matte-vinyl sticker-paper, so the paint has something to cling to.  They are pretty sturdy, but in the end they are still just sticky pieces of paper. I don’t know how well these little mini pieces of art are going to stand up against this insane weather. I have a feeling that a lot of Philly street art is going to be washed away into the snow. Until all of this is figured out , the street artists of the city will just have to bite their nails and wait.

Read Full Post »