Graffiti is the New Water Colour

I can't say that we'd feel the same if we were commercial property owners, but because we're not and have a soft spot for civil disobedience, we can appreciate and sometimes actually love graffiti as a medium.  Now, we're talking about actual graffiti art pieces, and not the senseless vandalism that is the tag, which is simply an artistic impression of ones signature and is randomly scrolled on anything that'll accept spray paint.  The book above attempts to document the history of the medium and was a lofty undertaking, as more often than not the art pieces in question are destroyed or painted over faster than they went up.  Like any counter culture or subversive activity, someone somewhere had the foresight to document the art and speak with the artists that initially drove the movement that has become a legit art form, an art form that launched the careers of Shepard Fairey (Obama Hope poster), KAWS and Banksy (whose art can now fetch $100,000 at auction).  The book is beautifully laid out and shows how meaningful collections of photos and information on the subject can be when edited with a careful eye.  Vancouver as a city has begun not only accepting graffiti, but actually having the grey lifeless parts of the city rendered more colourful by the local talent and displaying a Vancouver history lesson in the process, like the mural on Beatty street(pics after the jump).