Be honest

[Kalashnikov]

I know this is Ch.0 but fuck it. Mods can move it if they want. Seems like the appropriate place because this is where the few back-in-the-day people that are still here post.

 

So now that some years have passed. How many of you still paint? No hate for those who don't, just genuinely curious. I still catch handstyles around town just in my daily life on a regular basis, but my sneaking into buildings/on rooftops to do fills time seems to be dwindling. Every once in a while I will when I see a good spot and when I'm feeling up to it, but it's not often. I still have the love for it, but sometimes I just feel like a total DAO if I neglect my adult duties because of graffiti.

 

Like now that I'm older and actually have a career and shit to lose, knowing that a new charge would make my life just that much more difficult, I find myself not willing to take big risks like I used to. And when I do write, it's completely for myself. I always got personal satisfaction from it, but 10 years ago it was for personal satisfaction, plus fame, plus excitement, plus everything else that comes with writing. Now I couldn't care less about the rest of it, if that makes any sense. I don't need to be the most up writer in the city, it doesn't mean anything, if that makes sense.

 

So what about you? I guess this post really isn't directed from the people that are relatively newer here, but anyone can answer.

[Kults]

Its rare af tbh. Too much to lose, not enough time and circle drifted apart. Once in awhile though, sure

[+plus+]

im washed bruv

[Kalashnikov]

11 minutes ago, Kults said:

Its rare af tbh. Too much to lose, not enough time and circle drifted apart. Once in awhile though, sure

The not enough time is a huge thing too. Between all of the adult bullshit, it's hard. Same thing with circle of people. I don't know anybody that paints anymore in real life. They either moved away, I moved away, got out of it, died, or whatever else. So when I do go, it's typically alone.

[Schnitzel]

The skull crushing boredom of being an adult takes over too much. 

 

Totally washed up nowadays beyond a few tags in the area on my evening walk.

 

Made a vow in 2017 I wasn't going to paint anything legal if I could help it. Then shortly after this huge abandoned complex near me  was demolished and  that hindered me a bit

 

I painted  a couple of freights last year and those were the last things. I'm not built for running (at least not fast) and  the person I'm trying to get as a look out is usually tied up. The spot is such that it really needs a look to help with the nerves. Last two times I was completely shook and it shows!

 

Trying to organise the fellas for a crew reunion in Italy next year to do a couple of really dope end to ends/ crew wholecars as a last gasp of youth.  But considering we're spread over 5 cities, there are 9 kids between us ranging from 2 to 16 years old, mortgage repayments, child support, car loans etc. careers or lack thereof I don't see it happening.

 

 Still love graff more than ever but it's easier to document now.

 

 been a long long long time since this sweaty shook pic with long hair and a BDP shirt  doing his first trackside.

 

tl:dr

 

washed up

[Hayabusa]

This right here

 

[Mercer]

 

I used to like blowing rainbow boogers after a long night out.

 

Now I only like acquiring capitol, and snuggle time with the wife, and my dog.

[Hua Guofang]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

 

Now I only like acquiring capitol, and snuggle time with the wife, and my dog.

Well, if you're doing three ways with your wife and your dog, at least some part of your life is still crazy enough!

 

 

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

 

 

 

And shit, I'm a couple of years off 50 and haven't painted illegally 10 years now. Fuck it. Graff isn't for life and anyone who tries to make it their life is gonna have a shit one. You don't have to be the same person all your life. I didn't go through a crisis when I stopped watching sesame street when I was 7 years old and I'm not freaking out now that I find some 'mature' women sexy! life would be boring if you did the same thing the whole time.

 

I'd like to still get up but I have other things that i like better now and shit, my knees are shot and I couldn't run if I tried. I like my career, I like brewing beer, I like mountain bike riding, I like my house, I like painting legals and I don't give a shit what 17 year old me would think about 47 year old me. I only care about how I feel now. And I feel good.

 

Yay for happy shit.

[mn1_fuckos]

ive completely fell off of the scene. Although I recently started hanging out with old friends over the last couple years and started hanging at P-Walls again. I started sketching again though.

 

unfortunately I dont have time anymore to hop on the train and a bus just to go take photo of graff all day long. 

 

As of right now Ive really got into the Vintage car scene and going on road trips. so that where most of my money and free time goes too

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2019 by mn1_fuckos

[Dirty_habiT]

I'm 36 now..... hard to think I joined this site in 2001 when I was only 18.  I've spent half of my life registered here and in the "scene".

 

I don't paint anymore.  I occasionally draw on paper for my girlfriend.... or draw shit on dry erase boards.  I don't miss it that much.  There are parts I do miss.  I liked the "outlaw" aspect of doing shit that you weren't supposed to be doing.

 

I don't miss the stupid people, the police encounters, the getting all fucked up on drugs or drunk, and the constant burn of brain cells associated with being around spray paint.  My dad told me an important thing when I was young, it was that if you stick your head in the trash can the world begins resembling trash.  This is what I did by being into graffiti, i was sticking my head in the trash can.

 

I now choose to surround myself with successful people that have positive things going on for themselves.  I make over double the median household income in America by myself.  I would never be capable of doing that if I were still wrapped up in acquiring paint, being cool in front of people I didn't know, and trying to go against the grain of society.

 

I am not suggesting that anyone "conform"..... I'm just saying it's a lot easier to get what you want out of life by "doing what you're supposed to."  If crawling around in dumpsters looking for a good place to require a tetanus shot is "your thing" then that's something I won't stand in the way of, it just didn't work out for me getting what I wanted in life.

[misteraven]

7 minutes ago, GANGBOY20D said:

honestly 12 ozprophet just banned my friend he said he only made three posts fuck this website yall some pussies

What user name? If he didnt do anything, then have him email info@12ozprophet.com but we're well past the days of banning people just for fun. Plus @seekinghasn't been around lately so most of you guys are safe.

[morton]

I like the part of this video where he talks about picking up bombing again in retirement, I think it is a nice idea in some ways.

 

 

 

[Hua Guofang]

3 hours ago, misteraven said:

What user name? If he didnt do anything, then have him email info@12ozprophet.com but we're well past the days of banning people just for fun. Plus @seekinghasn't been around lately so most of you guys are safe.

It's the same guy with 15 different usernames tooling the place up.

[Kults]

13 hours ago, Hua Guofang said:

Fuck it. Graff isn't for life and anyone who tries to make it their life is gonna have a shit one.

Yay for happy shit.

Ya I gotta disagree with you there. If it doesnt fit your life anymore thats perfectly understandable. Throwing everyone who still does it under the bus like that is lame.  Im sure many older writers have good lives.

[Kalashnikov]

5 hours ago, Dirty_habiT said:

I don't paint anymore.  I occasionally draw on paper for my girlfriend.... or draw shit on dry erase boards.  I don't miss it that much.  There are parts I do miss.  I liked the "outlaw" aspect of doing shit that you weren't supposed to be doing.

 

I don't miss the stupid people, the police encounters, the getting all fucked up on drugs or drunk, and the constant burn of brain cells associated with being around spray paint.  My dad told me an important thing when I was young, it was that if you stick your head in the trash can the world begins resembling trash.  This is what I did by being into graffiti, i was sticking my head in the trash can.

Yeah, I hear you on some of this. I'm in my 30s now too. Graffiti and drugs/alcohol pretty much go hand in hand, people that enjoy the graffiti lifestyle are also likely to be risk takers and enjoy other things... like drugs and other typically sketchy situations.

 

I miss a lot of stuff. Seems like most of the writers I've seen up and met personally over my painting days were the types that went hard as fuck for a summer or two and then just grew out of it.

 

Also, it's worth noting that things always seem nicer when you're reminiscing as compared to when you're actually doing them.

 

I guess what I miss most is just the ability to not give a fuck. That can be a good or bad attitude to have in the long run, probably bad, but meh.

 

19 hours ago, Schnitzel said:

 

 Still love graff more than ever but it's easier to document now.

Yeah this really blows too in terms of getting away with things. There's more cameras than ever and the picture just gets better and better. All they really need is a good shot of your face, and with facial recognition if you've been arrested... that's it. Of course, is a big city going to take the time to do this for graffiti? Highly doubtful. But the point is that it's possible.

 

14 hours ago, Hua Guofang said:

Graff isn't for life and anyone who tries to make it their life is gonna have a shit one.

It is pretty crazy nowadays though how if you're good at graff and gain a following, you can make some money off of it. Commercialized, I guess. But yeah for the most part you're right I think, unless you can maintain it without getting caught, or if you have a job where it doesn't matter if you get caught. I was watching a bombing video on YouTube the other day, can't remember what it was called, but they were talking about their fallen homie. The guy said something like, "You get to a point, for most writers it's in their 30s, where you get to a crossroad. You either stop doing graffiti because you have too much to lose, or you keep doing graffiti because it's all you've ever done and it's all you know how to do."

 

That kind of stuck with me for some reason.

 

8 hours ago, mn1_fuckos said:

unfortunately I dont have time anymore to hop on the train and a bus just to go take photo of graff all day long.

 

Same, and this is something I miss a lot too. I never was much into taking pictures, but I'd ride transit almost all day, usually by myself, looking for spots to hit at night. There was something chill about it.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Kalashnikov

[LUGR]

I still hit up a foggy mirror after a shower.

[Hua Guofang]

11 hours ago, Kults said:

Ya I gotta disagree with you there. If it doesnt fit your life anymore thats perfectly understandable. Throwing everyone who still does it under the bus like that is lame.  Im sure many older writers have good lives.

To a point, I agree.

 

However, if you got family that rely on you to be there and you're risking that to write on walls, I got little respect for that. I know that's different than having a shit life, but you're skating really close to fucking over the people closest to you and ending up in prison or shot by a cop. If you're 50 and don't have a life-partner (or aren't a rich playboy), then I also reckon they missed the bus. If you're not into your career enough not to risk it to write on walls, then you're life does suck more than mine and others on this page who do enjoy what they do for around 30% of their adult life.

 

But that's the way I see life, others likely experience things differently. If I wasn't loyal to my family and had a job I didn't care about, I'd definitely still do something every now and then. But those things aren't even comparable to graffing.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Hua Guofang

[Hua Guofang]

10 hours ago, Kalashnikov said:

It is pretty crazy nowadays though how if you're good at graff and gain a following, you can make some money off of it. Commercialized, I guess. But yeah for the most part you're right I think, unless you can maintain it without getting caught, or if you have a job where it doesn't matter if you get caught. I was watching a bombing video on YouTube the other day, can't remember what it was called, but they were talking about their fallen homie. The guy said something like, "You get to a point, for most writers it's in their 30s, where you get to a crossroad. You either stop doing graffiti because you have too much to lose, or you keep doing graffiti because it's all you've ever done and it's all you know how to do."

 

That kind of stuck with me for some reason.

 

 

YEah, that sums it up. I'm glad I'm more than a one trick pony that has varied experiences and accomplishments. As well as having things that are highly valued that also value me the same way.

 

And fuck it, I own a place with a huge workshop with 12 foot walls, an outddor firepit with a wall for painting (right next to my outdoor hottub :)) and I have a rack with over 400 cans in it to paint whenever I want. That shit is waaaaaay more satisfying at my age than working hard to impress other writers that I likely don't know and then always wondering when the knock on the door will come with a warrant to search!

Edited February 21, 2019 by Hua Guofang

[Fist 666]

I threw up about a dozen tags last year and havent painted in many years. 

 

Besides watching trains at RR crossings and time spent here or on ig my only interaction with graff life is old can collecting; which to me is as much/more about design and typography and general collecting satisfaction than it is graffiti. 

 

I agree with hua on judging reckless behavior of adults with real responsibilities. My favorite writers are absolutely doing this, and I appreciate their sacrifices,  but I'm not about to throw down and help them with a patreon/gofundme when they fuck up (saw this recently for rusto) because they are adults and knew the risks...

[Schnitzel]

4 minutes ago, Fist 666 said:

I'm not about to throw down and help them with a patreon/gofundme when they fuck up (saw this recently for rusto) because they are adults and knew the risks...

I have a huge problem with people doing this.

as a grown up handle your business don't beg others when you get into trouble....

 

I wouldn't feel good about it.

 

[mn1_fuckos]

14 hours ago, LUGR said:

I still hit up a foggy mirror after a shower.

Every time I stay in a hotel I write "Toilet destruction tour" on the mirror in hopes someone gets to see it after they shower.

 

[Kults]

[Mercer]

12 hours ago, Hua Guofang said:

To a point, I agree.

 

However, if you got family that rely on you to be there and you're risking that to write on walls, I got little respect for that. I know that's different than having a shit life, but you're skating really close to fucking over the people closest to you and ending up in prison or shot by a cop. If you're 50 and don't have a life-partner (or aren't a rich playboy), then I also reckon they missed the bus. If you're not into your career enough not to risk it to write on walls, then you're life does suck more than mine and others on this page who do enjoy what they do for around 30% of their adult life.

 

But that's the way I see life, others likely experience things differently. If I wasn't loyal to my family and had a job I didn't care about, I'd definitely still do something every now and then. But those things aren't even comparable to graffing.

This holds true of 99% of the writers in their 40's, but having been in and out of the fringes of graffiti for so long,  I've met a few people over the years that have done extremely well for themselves financially from graffiti while still painting illegally. Likewise, I've know several people raising/providing for a family (and doing a good job of it I might add) that still bomb occasionally, and are heavy in the legal wall scene.

 

To be honest, no matter how far I drift away from it, there will always be a part of me that kind of admires the fact that even some of the so called losers in this, broke and over 40 with open graffiti cases, that couldn't quit even if they tried. Many of them I still hold in high regards in my alternate universe.

[iloveboxcars]

No. Not for any real reason but myself. I got caught for the last time about 10 years ago and I eased up a bit, and about a year or 2 after that I told myself I'm either going to do this shit 100% or I'm going to get my life together, I got my life together.

 

Another dude I was crew mates with moved from another state to out here around the same time I was making this decision, and that dude was a needy motherfucker. Like, I was juggling 2 jobs and graffiti and I would go out and hit shit when I had a moment but not enough to wait for someone else type shit, and this dude would see something I did without him and whine about me doing graffiti without him. Straight up like a crazy girlfriend this dude left a note on my door where I lived with room mates saying I owed him money and for anyone to call him. I started reflecting on all the people I've met through graffiti and although there's been a couple alright people, and 2 guys that I miss and was super tight with, everyone else fucking sucked.

 

A friend and I had started a crew before this too, and one cat that we were in the process of putting down started hanging out with a known snitch so I called up my boy and told him this other cat needs to get cut off. My boy didn't follow through so I dropped the crew. Later they did cut that kid out but still, it should have been immediate. I still see that crew up sometimes, not as much as I would like though. I tell my wife "that's my legacy" in some dumb ass gangster voice and she rolls her eyes and tells me to shut the fuck up.

 

I haven't caught an actual tag in forever. I draw straight letters sometimes. I do shower glass tags pretty often.

 

The only thing I really miss about it is looking down at busy streets from rooftops. Or getting to spots themselves, kinda like puzzle solving in some instances. Out of the little bit of documentation I did do during that part of my life, I wish I had written down how I got into/out of/ etc places rather than taking a picture of the actual throw up or whatever.

 

 

*edit: when I say met through graffiti I don't consider anyone I met through here to be through graffiti

Edited February 22, 2019 by iloveboxcars

[Mercer]

16 minutes ago, iloveboxcars said:

I tell my wife "that's my legacy" in some dumb ass gangster voice and she rolls her eyes and tells me to shut the fuck up.

Can relate.

[Kalashnikov]

@iloveboxcarsThat dude sounds... strange. Who gets mad about some shit like that? Graffiti definitely attracts some strange types though. Seems most writers can fit into one of a few groups

 

1. Generic/"typical" kids from the suburbs

 

2. People who treat it like it's a gang and take the shit way too seriously. Actually got into a fist fight with one of these types that I bumped into at a spot once, when I was a little bigger headed and didn't really care.

 

3. Punk kids

 

4. City kids that are also into other shady shit. Burglaries, drugs, etc.

 

At least that's been my experience. So of course you find the crazy types somewhere in there. My girl says similar shit, apparently graffiti isn't cool when you're in your 30s anymore. Sometimes I definitely get that urge though. Maybe it'll go away someday.

 

[Hua Guofang]

1 hour ago, Kalashnikov said:

@iloveboxcarsThat dude sounds... strange. Who gets mad about some shit like that? Graffiti definitely attracts some strange types though. Seems most writers can fit into one of a few groups

 

1. Generic/"typical" kids from the suburbs

 

Me, to a T. White, middle class, suburban kid that liked graf even before I started listening to hip hop or anything (shit, hip hop hadn't even really hit Australia at that stage). At 12 years old, I saw one of Australia's first ever burners - B-Boy, if anyone remembers it from spraycan art - and I was blown away: "It looks real, and shiny!". So I started seeking out people who were doing it and went from there.

 

I still paint and sketch now, just nothing illegal. I did my time, got busted for a whole car, painted overseas, etc. I'm more than cool with not fucking the system anymore. Sure, I still see heaps of spots that I'd love to hit, but life moves on and other shit takes over.

Edited February 22, 2019 by Hua Guofang

[Schnitzel]

17 minutes ago, Hua Guofang said:

Me, to a T. White, middle class, suburban kid that liked graf even before I started listening to hip hop or anything (shit, hip hop hadn't even really hit Australia at that stage). At 12 years old, I saw one of Australia's first ever burners - B-Boy, if anyone remembers it from spraycan art - and I was blown away: "It looks real, and shiny!". So I started seeking out people who were doing it and went from there.

 

I still paint and sketch now, just nothing illegal. I did my time, got busted for a whole car, painted overseas, etc. I'm more than cool with not fucking the system anymore. Sure, I still see heaps of spots that I'd love to hit, but life moves on and other shit takes over.

@Hua Guofang

 

The bboy piece at Doonside? think sadly it was gone over by the time I got into graff. Maybe the Alien was still there but I think the B-Boy piece was gone by 1990

Would love to see that wholecar was it a rattler? 

Did you ever see it run? That would have been sick to see. I wish the people would ever get the Sydney history book going.

 

 surburban white kid - me to a tee

 

[LUGR]

33 minutes ago, auf said:

was this a layup or yard? what kind of train were you painting? i'm just curious, to see how people get busted, how it happened. i live close to a bunch of layups and never have I had any problems over the last 15 years, but i always paint at night.

TIA

[LUGR]

39 minutes ago, auf said:

i was hoping for a good story. ok.