The reputation of graffiti art is not what it used to be. Once viewed as a nuisance and a sign of crime and social degeneracy, more and more cities are taking a new approach by putting up welcome areas for street art, or commissioning artists who are proficient with spray paint to decorate old buildings with murals. Of course, graffiti varies heavily in terms of complexity and mass appeal, and many argue that by arbitrarily picking what kind of street art is socially acceptable and should be encouraged by the law is simply creating a sanitized version of the traditional form of expression, as even the simplest scrawls have a purpose of expressing an opinion, frustration, or simply affirmation that one exists and wants to be heard.
Most of the graffiti in this post falls into the latter category, but with one common feature: the writer put it there just to make the next person laugh, smile, or think with their funny messages.
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Scrawls on public bathroom walls are a bit different and fall into a category of their own, a phenomenon that has been the subject of entire academic studies. Officially called “latrinalia,” writing on bathroom walls is something that psychologists have suggested we do because of the potential to express things that may be inappropriate without being suspected, as it’s being done behind closed doors in a space where people usually keep to themselves.
Such bathroom art is almost like posting on online forums. And much like the modern anonymous comments section, the content often tends toward crude and inflammatory, but this list shows that there are some well-wishers who want to brighten their captive audience’s day with cute messages.
Some people have even used the stereotypical kind of vandalism that city councils hate for material good. Last year saw an epidemic of Brits forcing their local authorities to prioritize road repairs by painting every uninventive tagger's favorite body part over the offending potholes.
In 2015, one anonymous chaotic good character became infamous for the practice in Manchester, calling himself Wanksy, and apparently the approach that he pioneered has been repeated with success elsewhere. Locals can complain about this method all they want, but they can’t say it doesn't get the job done.
was literally there for years until it was recently painted over by a graffiti artist called Helch - I miss Peas
Note: this post originally had 75 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Ugh, whilst many of the messages were nice I would be fucking pissed if someone did graffiti on my property etc. I don't care if the message is positive it still looks like shit and is completely disrespectful which actually takes away any of the positiveness of the messages actually written.
I lived in a semi-detached and the side was CONSTANTLY tagged by less-than-great 'artists'. After years of scrubbing, i decided to contact my local street artists and had them commission a BEAUTIFUL piece there instead. Cost of paint: £50, Cost of seeing taggers faces when their 'blank canvas' was stripped from them: Priceless. Taggers don't tend to scrawl over a fellow community member's work. Checkmate!
I wish that stuff would work as well in Chicago and environs. Unfortunately, gangs don't give a shit, and locals are too afraid to do anything like what you did. Kudos, my friend.
Nicholas Kriho easy
I feel like the people who do the nice messages pick areas that are already used for graffiti of look don't look well cared for. I also side with them when they alter advertising, because they never agreed to have it plug up the otherwise beautiful and noncommercial landscape. Do you see where I'm coming from?
agreed! I mean, there are different people in the world who actually wanted to make changes to them grafities
Manh Grande what
what if it looked like art and you loved it
most of these grafitties don;t only have a positive message, but also a purpose and a good outcome. This post is wholesome
Oh is it really you or is it one of your bored panda stalkers lmao
Yeah, cute that they are compliments, but it's still vandalism and ugly. Ruins everything.
Eh, I knew a guy, who was a proper graffiti artist that would go around and covering up the bad graffiti. I mean, the tasteless crap. usually he'd ask permission first, unless it was an abandoned building. was always at least amused if not out right impressed by the time and effort he put into fixing other people's vandalism.
They kinda do something like that in my town, local artists are hired to paint bus stops, large walls, cable boxes etc. There's still tagging around town but not as much, usually just a silly teen or two. Plus it looks nice and it's fun to spot all the art around town
Daniel your friend sounds awesome
I currently live in Brazil and I’ve seen some of the best street art in the big cities. Granted, a lot of it is just plain vandalism for the sake of vandalism, but some of the really cool stuff looks amazing. I think people should pay more attention to the difference between graffiti and street art
No it’s not they go perfectly together with all that stuff but I’m a fashion weirdo I see beauty in stuff like that
When graffiti is done in commision and by an artist with talent and skills I enjoy it. It's art, it brightens up places, it makes you smile or think. Spraypainting some wall with some "witty" remark is petty and vandalism. When people doing that get caught they should be forced to remove all their graffiti themselves.
We need separate words for commissioned artwork and defacing of other people s property. Agree; for a vandal s first offence they should be allowed to use their hands to remove it. second offence, one hand, third no hands, just their tongue!
when it’s commissioned/done with permission it’s just a mural?
Ugh, whilst many of the messages were nice I would be fucking pissed if someone did graffiti on my property etc. I don't care if the message is positive it still looks like shit and is completely disrespectful which actually takes away any of the positiveness of the messages actually written.
I lived in a semi-detached and the side was CONSTANTLY tagged by less-than-great 'artists'. After years of scrubbing, i decided to contact my local street artists and had them commission a BEAUTIFUL piece there instead. Cost of paint: £50, Cost of seeing taggers faces when their 'blank canvas' was stripped from them: Priceless. Taggers don't tend to scrawl over a fellow community member's work. Checkmate!
I wish that stuff would work as well in Chicago and environs. Unfortunately, gangs don't give a shit, and locals are too afraid to do anything like what you did. Kudos, my friend.
Nicholas Kriho easy
I feel like the people who do the nice messages pick areas that are already used for graffiti of look don't look well cared for. I also side with them when they alter advertising, because they never agreed to have it plug up the otherwise beautiful and noncommercial landscape. Do you see where I'm coming from?
agreed! I mean, there are different people in the world who actually wanted to make changes to them grafities
Manh Grande what
what if it looked like art and you loved it
most of these grafitties don;t only have a positive message, but also a purpose and a good outcome. This post is wholesome
Oh is it really you or is it one of your bored panda stalkers lmao
Yeah, cute that they are compliments, but it's still vandalism and ugly. Ruins everything.
Eh, I knew a guy, who was a proper graffiti artist that would go around and covering up the bad graffiti. I mean, the tasteless crap. usually he'd ask permission first, unless it was an abandoned building. was always at least amused if not out right impressed by the time and effort he put into fixing other people's vandalism.
They kinda do something like that in my town, local artists are hired to paint bus stops, large walls, cable boxes etc. There's still tagging around town but not as much, usually just a silly teen or two. Plus it looks nice and it's fun to spot all the art around town
Daniel your friend sounds awesome
I currently live in Brazil and I’ve seen some of the best street art in the big cities. Granted, a lot of it is just plain vandalism for the sake of vandalism, but some of the really cool stuff looks amazing. I think people should pay more attention to the difference between graffiti and street art
No it’s not they go perfectly together with all that stuff but I’m a fashion weirdo I see beauty in stuff like that
When graffiti is done in commision and by an artist with talent and skills I enjoy it. It's art, it brightens up places, it makes you smile or think. Spraypainting some wall with some "witty" remark is petty and vandalism. When people doing that get caught they should be forced to remove all their graffiti themselves.
We need separate words for commissioned artwork and defacing of other people s property. Agree; for a vandal s first offence they should be allowed to use their hands to remove it. second offence, one hand, third no hands, just their tongue!
when it’s commissioned/done with permission it’s just a mural?