It's all very true. I saw the Barcelona cathedral covered in giant mobile phone adverts as well; seems somewhat incongruous.
In Shoreditch there's regular huge 'graffiti' (or if you like 'graffadi') advertising murals appearing, changing weekly. Often for luxury products costing thousands of pounds, which seem out of place in the area. Usually just a flat copy of whatever the brand's advertising already looks like. Very occassionally with a bit more creativity.
Also sometimes these aren't even painted, but large-scale paste-up billboards, but resembling a subtle graffiti style.
However on the other hand, much of these are done as a source of income by graffiti writers themselves. So for me there's a bit of mixed feelings there, as I respect they have to make money somehow. But I'm still not a fan of these ads everywhere.
As someone who has loved exploring street art around the world, I'm incredibly disheartened to learn it's being appropriated by corporations. I hope something can be done to stop them.
I’m still gutted I couldn’t join the Paris trip, I’ll definitely look at your stories and check out the map next time I go! And thanks for this fascinating discussion! It makes the skin crawl a bit.
It's all very true. I saw the Barcelona cathedral covered in giant mobile phone adverts as well; seems somewhat incongruous.
In Shoreditch there's regular huge 'graffiti' (or if you like 'graffadi') advertising murals appearing, changing weekly. Often for luxury products costing thousands of pounds, which seem out of place in the area. Usually just a flat copy of whatever the brand's advertising already looks like. Very occassionally with a bit more creativity.
Also sometimes these aren't even painted, but large-scale paste-up billboards, but resembling a subtle graffiti style.
However on the other hand, much of these are done as a source of income by graffiti writers themselves. So for me there's a bit of mixed feelings there, as I respect they have to make money somehow. But I'm still not a fan of these ads everywhere.
As someone who has loved exploring street art around the world, I'm incredibly disheartened to learn it's being appropriated by corporations. I hope something can be done to stop them.
Btw I don’t know if you saw my little tour of Grenoble street art already, would be awesome to get your thoughts! I still feel like a newcomer to the whole scene. https://annethomas.substack.com/p/blurred-lines-street-art-of-grenoble
I’m still gutted I couldn’t join the Paris trip, I’ll definitely look at your stories and check out the map next time I go! And thanks for this fascinating discussion! It makes the skin crawl a bit.