Flowers are blooming, the sun’s appearance is more frequent and the ocean water is warming. Things are looking good and the spirits of village locals are high… or are they?
During the nights of the second weekend in April the Carlsbad Village became a message board for the mind, or minds, of individuals with dark and gloomy thoughts. A wave of fairly clever, yet depressing, sayings were “tagged” in black, red and blue spray paint on a variety of high profile walls leaving the local community confused.
Though there is a similar theme in these sayings, maybe it is not about the message, but about the act and the rebellion. The simple defacing of property void of any artistic relevance may suffice in their minds and agenda.
As seen in the aggressive vandalism of Sãn Paulo, Brazil called Pixação, vandals cover every inch of the city with ancient European calligraphy which is undecipherable scribble to the untrained eye. The Pixação is so thick and the pixadores are so aggressive that the city realizes they are no match against the 30 year tradition of Pixação.
There are no factions within Pixação. Territory is not claimed by individuals or independent groups within the pixadores. They are one; they are the forgotten, underprivileged youth of Sãn Paulo whose options other than Pixação are limited to a soccer field, a bar and a crack house. Without Pixação, they are lost and forgotten. Pixação gives the recognition, recreation and and protest. Pixação is their voice.
Are the individuals who scribbled on the walls of our Carlsbad Village seeking what the Pixação’s seek? Could these scribbles be an attempt at recognition? Are they choosing the act of scribbling because the the local community lacks appropriate recreation facilities and are they using this medium as protest?
The streets of Sãn Paulo remain covered in undecipherable banter while the scribble in the Carlsbad Village has probably already been cleaned. These two communities have different cultures and are 6,048 miles apart, but one commonality that remains loud is the subversive voice in the streets.
What do you think of these scribbles?
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Whoever did that in my beautiful village of CBad, is NOT cool….
Seem’s like some highschooler’s, (younglings)in the village are bored and need some attention from the community. What should we do?
I like “carlsbore” it says a lot. Maybe they really were just bored. . . Carlsbad can be boring sometimes, especially if you’ve grown up there and you don’t have a lot of money to spend on drugs. Good looks on relating this type of street art back to Pixação. I would also like to give honorable mention to the “arcade fire” reference and “gay dinosaurs” just because I think they are clever and funny. 🙂
Carlsbad is not necessarily the beautiful village, to all, that you may see. I do not condone the apparent vandalism resulting in the defacement of public or private property however the city of Carlsbad might take this opportunity to reach out to the disaffected youth and gang members in their midst with help finding job opportunities with local merchants and civic programs designed to facilitate and allow them artistic and cultural freedom of expression. Instead of condemning them you might try accepting them into your community. After all, they do live there too. There are quite often sound reasons for rebellion. Look inward, first then reach out. Bryan Snyder is a great asset to the city of Carlsbad. His activism concerning public art is to be commended. The city might seek his advice and assistance and even create a city position that can help accomplish their objective. The city will be rewarded for their efforts and might actually become the “beautiful village” for everyone that it is for you.