Street artists know very well that one of the chief features inherent to their works is their very efemerality. In this photo, which I took on September 29, 2016 at one of the corners of the cozy Fógetagarðurinn square, in downtown Reykjavík, just besides the Settlement Exhibition, you see what I took as one of my favourite graffiti of the city, if you abstract it from its surroundings and consider only its aesthetic appeal as a creative work, although it was certainly rather impactfully placed (many would say insolently placed perhaps, but I think this location, together with its being the only piece in place, was an important part of its artistic allure).
I was there again on September 7, 2017, and the view was completely different:
Am I the only one who compares the two photos and sees the replacement as less than a shadow of the original? That piece of wall WAS truly a piece of art (of a sort). Now there was ONLY a wall tainted with graffiti.
Besides, in this 2017 visit, my eye was a bit keener to pinpoint, besides the inherent brilliantly artistic quality of grafitti practice, its Mr Hide, sinister or ugly facet. You will see a few examples later on in this blog.
