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The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal

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Graffiti Removal: the process of erasing
graffiti by painting over it.

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Subconscious art: a product of artistic
merit that was created without conscious

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artistic intentions.

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Graffiti removal has become one of the
more intriguing and important art

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movements of the early 21st century

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with roots in abstract expressionism

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minimalism and russian constructivism.

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Graffiti removal is both a progressive
continuation of these movements

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and an important step in
the future of modern art.

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What makes graffiti removal
particularly intriguing though, is that

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the artists creating it are unconscious
of their artistic achievements.

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(mysterious music)

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This unconscious or subconscious
production is nothing new

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and examples can be identified
at any urban landscape,

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in mediums ranging from sculpture
to design to performance.

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Stemming from a basic natural instinct
to be artistic and creative

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human beings create subconscious
art on a daily basis.

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Of course as is the case with many
conscious artists, much of the work

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has little artistic merit and fits more
accurately into the category of exercise.

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But occasionally an individual or group

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subconsciously create a work
of true artistic genius

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(Music)

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When compared to the works of
the great abstract artists

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such as Rothko, Rauschenberg
and Malevich's,

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graffiti removal can be seen as the
culmination of many of the important

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movements of modern art

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while maintaining its own distinctive
traits and qualities.

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Examples of successful 
graffiti removal pieces,

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also known as ‘buffs’

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will often free a balanced composition
of densely layered floating shapes,

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and areas of colour, and often fall
into one of three stylistic forms:

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symmetrical, in which a recognisable
geometric order of layered squares

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and rectangles can be identified.

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Ghosting, in which the remover follows the
lines of the graffiti piece it is covering

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so that the general form and shape
of the original tag is emphasised.

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And radical,

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in which the remover uses neither geometry
nor the original tag as guidelines

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for their painting.

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Often called an outside the lines remove.

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But regardless of its stylistic form

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graffiti removal will always make a 
decisive rejection of recognizable imagery

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and in fact repress
communication entirely.

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(Music)

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Graffiti removal is a layered
and complex art form

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and what makes the removal movement

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so significant? Its that is unconscious,
accidental and collaborative.

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Removal pieces may take
many months to complete

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and can be a collaboration of
several taggers and removers.

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Graffiti removers are not schooled artists

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but government employees who possess
the qualifications of responsibility

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and dedication

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They are trained to operate machinery, 
drive city vehicles and are versed in

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anti-graffiti legislation.

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They are equipped with brushes,
rollers and a palette

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that includes colors such as
halation, dove, and red.

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Although graffiti removers are
making aesthetic choices

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about color and technique
in their daily routine,

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they don’t set out to create public art

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but rather to uphold anti-graffiti
laws and deter civil disobedience

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halation should be down there with those.

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Well, could be this one

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Well, obviously it’s this one. 
Well, this is halation right here

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Is that right here, I pulled it out. 
You pulled it out?

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I thought that was snow.

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The streets of Portland Oregon’s
southeast industrial district

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have become a hot spot in
the graffiti removal movement

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creating the first official 
graffiti-free zone

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city legislators have passed
laws mandating the daily patrol

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and immediate removal of all tags in
graffiti within this two square mile area

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Portland is becoming known as
a very unfriendly for taggers

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in a nutshell a graffiti-free zone is
where you go in and you clean

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the graffiti up each day,

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it’s you go in and start in the same
place and clean it up day after day

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the goal being that the taggers
will quit marking the territory

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in terms of the rectangles that you're
talking about in terms of when we

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clean it up

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but what we do with rectangles it’s just
better, It's easier on the eye if you

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do a square as opposed

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to just you basically have an outline
of the tag if you just cover the tag

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the goal is not to have
rectangles the goal is really

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to match the building as close as we 
can and not have it stand out, but

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occasionally you have different people out
there doing it they they clean it up

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differently and you end up with a result
in different patchwork looks out there

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sometimes, well, it's oftentimes difficult
to get politicians and government

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officials to share their
artistic motivations.

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Closer examination of the interview
video tapes reveal the more accurate

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and repressed subliminal intentions
that are at work in terms

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of the rectangles that you're talking
about in terms of when we clean it up.

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Beauty and art is the intended goal that
we have when we go out and clean up

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it is no coincidence that funding for
anti-graffiti campaigns often outweighs

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funding for the arts while not being a 
conscious decision on the part

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of the ruling class

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the declared war on graffiti plays
an important role in the

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furthering of the art form, the

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unconscious artistic desires of even the
most conservative members of the ruling

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system leak out in this
subconscious conspiracy

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to fund and promote creative endeavors

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it is a complex set of circumstances that
fuel subconscious art production

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human beings have a natural
instinct to be creative and artistic

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but conflict arises when society favors
material wealth over creative expression

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when individuals are encouraged to repress
their natural instincts in order to pursue

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the accumulation

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of commodities a dangerous buildup of
repressed artistic desire is generated

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graffiti removal and other subconscious
art forms are the natural

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eruption of these desires and
their ubiquitous forms speak

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to the passions and dreams within us all,

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(Music)