The railway underpass in the centre of King City (Keele St. & King Rd.) is the largest art gallery in the village...maybe the entire township. Below are a few of the tags to be found along the railway tracks. Regular commuters on the GOtrain have a chance to see the tags every day. Otherwise, most residents are probably not aware of their colourful presence. My Oxford Dictionary of New Words defines a tag as follows: "noun: A graffito, usually consisting of a decorated nickname, word, or initial, made by a graffiti artist as a personal 'signature'." It also defines tag as a "transative verb: To decorate (a place or object) with graffiti; to leave (one's graffiti signature) in a public place". And of course, a person who paints a tag is known as a tagger.
Tagger unknown
Tagger unknown
Tagger unknown
Tagger unknown
Tagger unknown
Tagger unknown
The 'New Words' dictionary says that graffiti tags started to appear in the streets of New York during the early seventies - and were called tags in 1980. The practice of tagging did not spread far outside large American cities until the mid-80s. Then it was the popularization of hip-hop culture that involved youngsters in constructing the highly decorated nicknames, often on highly visible public buildings. The 'New Words' dictionary goes on to quote England's Guardian newspaper which stated in its Feb.22, 1995 edition, that "Someone was tagging the subway walls at the White Hart roundabout, in west London...They subsequently caught a youth in a nearby park, hands and jacket covered in silver paint...and put him in a police cell at Southall police station. They returned to find the cell wall had acquired a beautiful tag, precisely matching the White Hart subway work of art".
It makes me wonder...if we artistic souls all had the chance to do it over again, would this be a tempting and irresistible venture? Hmmmmm.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace
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