BREAKING NEWS: Art is Now a Crime

Endless Canvas recently posted a nice article on the troubling public space issues facing Portland and LA. The article reflects why PublicAdCampaign exists and calls into question how we use the streets and walls of the cities we live in. With an increasingly advertising centric use of public space not only do we risk polluting our surroundings with corporate sloganeering but we loose opportunities to enrich our neighborhoods with content that speaks to our personal lives and struggles.

VIA Endless Canvas

(Above – Permission murals by Jules Muck declared as illegal graffiti.)

If you ask a person on the street “Is there a difference between advertising, murals and graffiti?” they would probably say “Yes, of coarse”, considering they each have their own definition. However, those in positions of power in the cities of Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles have made conflicting claims as to the significance of these definitions. Billboard companies have accused murals as being advertisements, and City offices claim that local murals are illegal graffiti. Meanwhile, graffiti and mural artists, who struggle to legally provide beauty and insight for their community, are stuck in between a web of legal code. The future of public expression in Portland and LA, and even America as a whole, is under compromise. Here are the signs of the probable ban on your right to public art. More [Here]