the writing on the fence

I had planned to write a series of reports on our recent trip to Brussels and Cologne, but I’ve been going through the photos that I took in Manchester last week, and I’ve decided to jump ahead and post the following description of graffiti that I photographed in that city. They may not justify a special visit to Manchester, but if you’re in the city, they are worth going out of your way to see. They have all been painted on a temporary structure, so who knows how long they will remain.

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It was the first day of the academic conference at Manchester Metropolitan University, where Paula would be presenting a paper. I walked with her to the university’s business school, where the conference was being held, then headed to Oxford Street, where I’d spotted a flight of steps leading down to a canal. I was a student in Manchester between 1964 and 1967, and I never knew that there was a canal running under Oxford Street, although that might have had something to do with spending all my spare time, when I wasn’t attending lectures or working in the laboratory, in the bar of the student union.

I followed the canal towpath as far as Deansgate locks, where the canal—the Rochdale Canal—opened out into a kind of basin. It wasn’t obvious where to go next, and I didn’t think it worthwhile to simply retrace my steps, so I found myself following a busy road northwards, looking for a suitable place to turn east. It was then that I spotted some graffiti on a board fence on the other side of the road. There wasn’t a pedestrian crossing anywhere in sight in either direction, so I decided to cross where I was, which would probably have been impossible in rush-hour traffic.

Although I did photograph the first graffito, it was typical of many you see and not at all interesting. However, the second graffito provides the first indication that there is some serious talent on display here. There is only a narrow pathway between the fence and the road, so I’ve mostly had to shoot at an angle. And because this graffito is so wide, I’ve included photos taken from both left and right:

The next image includes the next graffito on the fence and part of the one after that. I’ve included both in the image because there isn’t a gap between the two, and although the encroachment is minimal, it seems clear that the left-hand graffito is the later one.

…and this is a better view of the right-hand graffito in the previous photograph:

This work includes the first example of a common motif: light glinting off the edge or corner of a letter, although this is simply a drawn representation, and some subsequent examples, like the next image, provide more of a trompe l’œil effect:

While the previous image contains many straight lines, the next one has none:

For whatever reason, I didn’t photograph the graffiti visible on the right of the previous image.

The next graffito reminds me of Chinese writing. It doesn’t look remotely like Chinese writing, but there are stylistic quirks that lead me to believe that the artist may be Chinese:

The next image is stylistically very similar to the last image in this report—jagged outline; red and yellow as main colours—and may therefore have been painted by the same artist. See what you think:

When I first saw the next graffito, I thought that it was a pity that the paint had run in a few places. However, notice that these ‘few places’ are all at the bottom of internal gaps in the lettering, from which I conclude that the running paint is a deliberate act by the artist. In fact, running paint is a recurring motif, the most obvious example of which I will flag up when I come to it.

In fact, you will see that stylized paint drops have been included in the next design:

The next image includes the most complex backdrop, but it’s also unusual because there are no curves in the main design, with the possible exception of the head of the insect on the right:

…and now for something completely different:

This image is more like an abstract painting than an example of graffiti. I’ve included what I take to be the artist’s signature on the left.

Calling occupants of interplanetary craft:

If you’re not convinced that graffiti artists deliberately include the dribbling of paint in their work, take a closer look at this image, where, inter alia, paint is seen running across the surface of three-dimensional objects.

I didn’t realize at the time—although I should have, given the uniform blue background—that the next image is part of the same graffito. I think it spells ‘alien’:

The immediately adjacent image is a return to basic lettering, although I must say that it has been done effectively. I’ve been amusing myself by trying to work out in what order the colours were applied, but the only thing I can say with certainty is that white was last.

There is a wide gap in the fence between the previous and the next image:

I spotted the blue face with the yellow cap in half a dozen other locations, not including this one:

Both graffiti in the next photo feature running paint, but the graffito on the right is probably the most ‘fluid’ in this entire collection:

The next graffito is unusual in that the outlines are defined by wavy rather than straight or uniformly curved lines:

The red lines in the next image remind me of the trace of an electrocardiograph. I wonder if that was the artist’s intention.

…while the similar shade of red outlining the adjacent graffito, coupled with similarities in lettering style, suggests that both were painted by the same artist:

The next two graffiti also appear to have been painted by the same artist, given the use of almost identical shades of mauve and yellow in both. In fact, there are also some ‘heartbeat’ motifs, so both could have been painted by the artist responsible for the previous two graffiti.

This is a closer look at the right-hand graffito in the previous photo:

The next graffito, partially visible in the previous photo, is probably my favourite:

This graffito reminds me of the pop art of Roy Lichtenstein, although that doesn’t mean that this was the artist’s intention.

There are only a couple more graffiti around the corner:

You will have noticed that I have routinely referred to the creators of these graffiti as ‘artists’. Of course, this begs an obvious question: are these images art, or merely a species of vandalism? I have no doubt that just spray-painting a name on a wall is an act of vandalism, but I’ve compiled this collection to support the notion that graffiti can be considered an art form, and like artists in more conventional fields, not every graffiti artist is equally talented. However, painting an image like any of the above on a wall without the owner’s permission is a criminal offence in the UK carrying a possible jail sentence. That seems harsh to me.

If you’re in Manchester and want to see this ‘gallery’, it’s located roughly halfway between Deansgate railway station and Manchester Cathedral. By the way, it is not my intention to claim credit for these artworks. I merely thought that they deserved a wider audience.