I was just looking at my Columbia, Missouri photoset on Flickr when it struck me that Austin, at least the area where I live, is comparatively poor in good graffiti. Columbia had great scribbles and scrawls, some of which showed insight or artistic talent; some not so much. I’m glad to see others appreciate it as well.

I used to like to walk around downtown and take note of the best of the graffiti, and right before I left town I took pictures of a few. The best of all I never did get to document: it was at 9th and Cherry, a huge scrawl across the wall of what was then Glenn’s Cafe: “PLASTIC, MUST YOU CONFORM?” Punctuated correctly and everything. The wall was painted over when Glenn’s went out and the building became a Nothing But Noodles franchise.

Sigh. I realize that a lack of graffiti likely means that my part of town is relatively free from organized criminal activity, and that most people don’t appreciate youths with spray paint cans. And I certainly would be angry if someone defaced my house, or my fence, or my bus stop. But yet… good graffiti can certainly contribute to an interesting cityscape, on mental and visual levels.