Here is a quick question for everbody. Is boxcar graffiti an art form or an an eyesore? And if it is an art form, what is the best image or message that you have ever seen on a boxcar?
Some of it is interesting, but i"ll answer your question by saying that we have whole trains go by where it is easier to pick out cars that do have graffiti than those that don’t. And this means everything from box cars to intermodal flats. After awhile it becomes sickening to watch. Even the more elaborate ones, and sometimes they take up the whole side of a car! Don’t know how they do this or have the time, but as a railfan I would rather see which railroad the car belongs (or belonged) to. So I have to go with eyesore.
I am going to have to go with eyesore as well. Some might say that is doing the railroad a “favor” by covering up rust etc.(and yes that has been said on this forum before)but any way you look at it, it is still vandalisim. I hate to see brand new cars as well as very old rolling stock covered in “art”.
[xx(][V][tdn] EYESORE[2c]
I think the answer varies, depending upon which railroad is involved.
CSX, for instance, probably is thankful for the free paint job. [}:)]
[#ditto]
Pretty inflamatory topic on this forum.
Sam
I like seeing it on cars, albeit not for that reason.
At the risk of offending anybody, I think that it absolutely destroys the appearance of any railroad car. It often looks like a sudden depiction of cancer going by. It is the artistic expression of a chip on the shoulder. I vote eyesore.
If you are talking about the detailed graffiti and not the scribblings then it is surely an art form. One can see that it takes a certain talent to plan and construct these renderings. Granted it is mis-directed talent and to a certain extent damages others property, but that does not take away from that which is produced. I am talking about the best examples. Maybe I’m weird, but it sure looks like art to me.
Walter Boatner
But would you buy it?
Every time the topic is discussed here, there are generally three camps - the perpetrators should be shot; it’s mis-directed talent; or it’s not all that bad (and, as some have pointed out here, may actually improve the looks of the car).
My usual argument is - “How about they come tag your house or vehicle?” Same difference.
Vandalism is not art, it is illegal.
If some jag off was “tagging” my house and telling me that it was art I would light his***up with a couple 21 gun salutes…Spray paint yourself and keep your hand off other peoples’ property. Including railroads.
Art is seperate peice of work.
Art can be moved in freight cars.
Art is the logo and the color scheme applied by the railroad or leasing company.
Tagging a box car is not art.
Tagging is an eyesore. [B)]
Tagging is sloppy and often covers up important information like the reporting marks and road numbers.
Stop tagging and use that paint to improve the neighborhood.
Andrew Falconer
The question relates to the finished product, “is it art or an eyesore”. Not where it is located or what it does to the host, which in this case is railroad rolling stock. I know people who say they did not like Frank Sinatra’s singing, and the reason they gave was they didn’t like his life style, which has nothing to do with how well or bad he sings. If rail graffiti (I’m talking best examples, you have all seen them) is an eyesore to you, and would be if it were on a canvass somewhere, then fine, it is an eyesore. If the setting enters into your judgement, then you are not judging the work itself.
Walter Boatner
Box Car Graffitti is usually lousy tagging. There is not much art in sloppy tagging. Sometimes it is half finished. Whomever does it always does a bad job of working within the constraints of the “canvas” and the time needed to finish.
On the other hand I have seen some great High-Capacity Covered Hopper Art such as:
Faces of Great African-Americans
Scenic Vistas of the SouthWestern Desert
Andrew Falconer
this is a loaded question on this forum…
A couple years back in Milwaukee, several neighborhood youths began using a garage as a memorial to one of their “fallen” friends. Unfortunately, it didn’t belong to any of them, and the property owner was less-than-pleased!
And yet we had some community “leaders” encouraging this sort of behavior… [V]
Back on topic, I vote eyesore. Besides, most legitimate art is barely justifiable these days…
Well at least it covers the rust!
It’s an eyesore, just look back to the New York City Subway system in the 1970s and 80s.
Usually eyesore, but there are exceptions…like this one guy who tagged a TH&B gondola with what was obviously a C-Liner, without covering up reporting marks. The paint on the car was old, and I didn’t especially like the graffitti, but it was better than most crap out there!
its vandalism of rr property. I just wish some people with the kind of talents displayed would help paint houses for habitat for humanity or a commuinity center somewhere.
stay safe
Joe