Friday 1 August 2008

Political art on the streets - is that graffiti?

I was having a quiet drink in the King William IV (Kensal Green, Brent) and there on the junction with Harrow Road and Warfield Road are three newish pieces of political contemporary comment - or graffiti as it is more fashionably and dismissively referred to.
Now let's be clear - I loathe graffiti - it's destructive, mindless, scruffy, unecessary and when it becomes a plague, the effect on a local community can be quite debilitating.
So when I saw these three I hesitated - all within 50 yards it causes you to pause and think - how do you define the criticism, where do you draw the boundaries, was it with consent, what if it was without consent but the community like it - does that in itself set a precedent...? All valid questions and largely without obvious or simple answers.
i assumed that someone soonish will be along to clear them off, paint them over so I'm glad I captured them on my lil-ol-digital...
Just so you don't forget Warfield Road is of course named after the landlord of the King William who rebuilt the current pub and they named the local road after him - must have been hell of a fella with a good reputation!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

talking about naming places or buildings after people, The Washington pub in England's Lane in Belsize Park is not named after George Washington the first American president,
It is named after the bloke who built the pub. His last name happened to be Washington!