SMRT Train gets painted
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CV4JYKBEQo[/youtube]
In what might be the first case ever, a Singapore MRT train was graffiti’d while parked in the depot. Train painting has a long history tied to the origins of modern day writers and is fairly common in some parts of the world, but until now unheard of in Singapore. It’s easy to pass something like this off as simple vandalism but in a country which such well known policies against it this is kind of an exciting occurrence, as many people believe that graffiti is an example of the culture of a society being so active it literally bursts onto the walls. Active culture is a good thing in my book, and something that takes a little looking for in S’pore. Here’s a brief documentary about the Singapore Graffiti scene called The Art Behind The Vandalism.
Interesting to note that the authorities are currently exploring designated walls for graffiti artists to express themselves, but that pretty much defeats the purpose of graffiti. Incidentally we have not clamped down on another ‘street’ art in the form of parkour, which in my opinion is more hazardous if merely imitated.
[...] follow up on this story about an SMRT train getting painted, graffiti artist Oliver Fricker has been convicted and given the minimum sentence which is 5 months [...]
if you treat your graffiti artists like terrorists, no surprise there is no creativity in singapore.