Best of the Bombers

fuzzytank: 20th May 2005 - 05:23 GMT

real nice
good to see all the different textures and how the tag changes over time

i think it qualifies as historic, marking the city but responding to the surroindings

Peter: 20th May 2005 - 13:31 GMT

cool... yeah definitely looks like a graf quilt... my favorite one is the blue/white/yellow one on the bottom row...

kobe: 20th May 2005 - 16:10 GMT

jeeff, youve got a good eye, mate. nice job with the montage, too. ive been loving the photo montages here lately.

jeeff: 20th May 2005 - 20:47 GMT

i had some confusion about whether this was a collage or montage. time to check dictionary.com.

and for the record, the bottom-right corner is my fave, because i like the bigger ones and because the bricks are showing through where the paint has chipped off.

jeeff: 20th May 2005 - 21:22 GMT

yeah, montage is more accurate. *hangs head in shame*

elaine: 21st May 2005 - 08:17 GMT

i still want it to be a quilt! it has a kind of knitted look - i think that about brick sometimes anyway. This would look fantastic on a bed or as a printed textile

jen (jsunshine): 23rd Jun 2005 - 15:03 GMT

I had the extreme pleasure of not only meeting the man behind the pig last night, but I watched him create a 4x10ft mural! This man is so talented, the pigs are just the tip of the iceburg.

jeeff: 23rd Jun 2005 - 16:17 GMT

yeah, no doubt. the pig is kind of old, non? i think he's moved on to bigger & better things. i'd like to see more of his work.

green: 5th Aug 2005 - 18:38 GMT

big up jafar
most recent work of his that i know is in the block west of the drake
part of resurface june 2005
courtesy of the style in progress cru
www.styleinprogress.ca
peace
green
www.rhythmicru.ca

sins: 7th Sep 2005 - 21:40 GMT

calm down, man... it's JUST graffiti. you need to chillax, it's just a bomb, and NOT a metaphor for human nature. that's really pretentious.

Jafar is amazing, though, man. those pigs are massively important to the graffiti scene in toronto. i haven't seen anything really by him other than the pigs though, and i've never seen pictures... just the pigs... it's a bit dissapointing

jeeff: 8th Sep 2005 - 00:58 GMT

sure it's just graffiti. and music is just music, and books are just books. but there's a reason we all keep doing it, non?

Peter: 8th Sep 2005 - 13:37 GMT

i might reccommend that sins "chillax" and realize that one of the most integral part of art/aesthetics/creation/information is the beauty and variety of everyone's individual interpretations.

and everyone has the right to interpret this collective sense of "art" however they want.

and though i realize you have no way to know this, sins, let me assure you that jeeff is probably more qualified to critique/interpret art than most of us on here ;)

JayEastsider : 12th Sep 2005 - 20:24 GMT

This so called artist is nothing more then a vandilizer Jafer which he likes to call himself (I know his real name) has sprayed painted his ugly tag all over this beautiful city I have personally taken more then 100 photos across Toronto I am not just talking about the pig but his Jafer tag if I could ask him one question it would be dude are you suffering from an idenity crisis? and you suck pig shitzzz oink oink little piggy you got to creedy

jeeff: 12th Sep 2005 - 20:27 GMT

if you think it's so ugly then why did you take over 100 photos? that seems stupid.

JayEastsider: 13th Sep 2005 - 15:53 GMT

I took the pictures to make a mini documentary on the difference between graffiti artwork vs. tagging everything from peoples homes to historic buildings (and everything else between) and Jafer is by far one of the guiltiest for this if don't believe me just take a walk along from Queen E to Queen W and I am sure will come across at least 100 of his tags

Peter: 13th Sep 2005 - 15:56 GMT

so what exactly gives you the ability to judge what is "graffiti artwork" and what is "tagging"? your personal preferences? because i could argue that jeeff's or mine or anyone else's personal preferences are just as valid, and if opposite yours, would totally negate your premise.

jeeff: 13th Sep 2005 - 16:14 GMT

i'm not so big on tags. that's why i didn't focus on tags in this article (although i've never seen any jafer tags that offend me more than any of the rest of them). i hope you enjoy your mini-documentary. still sounds pretty pointless to me.

colavito's ghost: 13th Sep 2005 - 16:17 GMT

Right on, peter. Graffiti artists are always going to be villified for what they do, but the one question that is impossible to answer is: "Where is the line between art and eyesore/crime (if one even exists at all)?" What it boils down to is, if an artist can get away with something and is willing to take the risk, that, TO THEM, is art. And they're going to do it. Trust me, Eastsider, calling it vandalsim does nothing to deter graffiti artists. If anything, it has the opposite effect.

Peter: 13th Sep 2005 - 16:28 GMT

yep. thers definitely crap graffiti out there- dont get me wrong- im not trying to make a blanket statement here regarding the fact that good and bad graf exists.

but its when people label potentially cool stuff as "crap" because its "tagged" on "everything from peoples homes to historic buildings (and everything else between)", well, thats the rub. thts like basing the merits of a matisse painting on what museum or private collection it hangs in. i think a qualified "critic" would be careful to differentiate between the context and the quality of the "art/non-art" itself.

when people bite off the whole vandalism-versus-art-versus-tagging thing in one chew, it becomes a tad much to consider all at once. and quite hackneyed, if you ask me.

JayEastsider: 13th Sep 2005 - 16:35 GMT

Your absolutely right peter and after I did my mini doc I realized it is pretty pointless after all but what I don't understand is why does somebody like Jafer feel the need to place his tag everywhere it's like getting a tattoo of your name on your arm and saying hey everybody this is my name and don't forget it, like talking about yourself in the third person (I dunno maybe I am just rambling on) on a different topic can anybody tell me how to post a pic on this website?

Peter: 13th Sep 2005 - 16:43 GMT

so, i get it that you dont think its cool, and you have the right to feel that way for sure... but at its core, whats so bad about "getting a tattoo of your name on your arm and saying hey everybody this is my name and don't forget it"? or talking about yourself in third person, for that matter. it might annoy some, but it isnt inherently antisocial or dangerous behavior. it just indicates that someone might have a creative lust and a big ego. and id say we all have that, to some degree... whether we spend an hour primping and preening before we go out on a date or whether we paint our names all over the city.

to post a photo:

go to www.citynoise.org/post.php and click the "upload photo" link. a popup window will open that allows you to browse your hard-drive for the photo. select it.click the "upload" button. it will generate a dialog that says something like uploaded 'whatever.JPG' into citynoise as photo 4861 click here to insert this photo so click that "click here" link. it will insert code like img:blahblah with two brackets on either side. paste that whole thing- brackets and all- into the comment or entry you want to upload it in.

cheers.

JayEastsider: 13th Sep 2005 - 16:52 GMT

jayeastsider thanks you for the info peter jayeastsider is going to get a big tattoo of my name on my arm lol look for my shopping cart pictures I will be posting them soon I took a bunch pictures of shopping carts that people took from stores and have left them in various different locations across the city it is quite an epidemic I also phoned all the major grocery stores and they really did'nt care but I will get into that later on (I guess I got to much time on my hands lol)

Peter: 13th Sep 2005 - 17:04 GMT

cant wait to see the photos. email the editors if you need additional help :)

reposte in tertio: 13th Sep 2005 - 17:39 GMT

i love jafars shit. but to each their own i suppose. just chalk me down on the side that considers it art.

jeeff: 13th Sep 2005 - 18:54 GMT

re: tattoo & talking about yourself in the 3rd person - hey, steve-o made a career out of shit like that. ;)

jayeastsider - definitely post some stuff. i'm curious to see what you've done. "pointless" might be a little harsh. i just think that if you spend so much time harping on what you don't like, you miss out a lot of opportunities to focus on what you do like.

Peter: 13th Sep 2005 - 19:30 GMT

I hope jayeastsider sticks around. sometimes new opinions make for good discussions, and isn't that the point here? post something, dude! :)

JayEastsider: 17th Sep 2005 - 03:54 GMT

this website by far is my most favorite site i have come across in years i had almost giving up on the internet. i have gone post crazzy but really to all the people out there that contribute it just makes this world more open for everybody to see whats out there thanks for keeping it real peace.

JayEastsider : 17th Sep 2005 - 03:57 GMT

and jeeff i really love these pictures thanks dude peace JayCee

Jamie: 17th Sep 2005 - 08:18 GMT

i like it when people get citynoise. so many people don't.

Peter: 19th Sep 2005 - 13:52 GMT

jayeastsiter: awesome! and let me say thank you forsticking around and showing us some awesome stuff! heres to keeping it up and spreading the word :)

sultan JAFAR: 8th Nov 2005 - 04:18 GMT

YEAH..who would have thought....i'm glad peeps are having a discussion about graff and me. I'd have to agree that graff is vandalism but vandalism can be art. & yeah, I haven't bombed in TO for almost 3 years. I don't live there but still, a city of plain concrete is hideous, but a city with colour on the concrete is at least stimulating. Adios.

zoe the great : 9th Dec 2005 - 05:31 GMT

seeing that the nefarious Jafar is my lover, i feel at liberty to disclose to you jay-east, that yes, some times he does refer to himself in the third person.

Tony Styles: 10th Jan 2006 - 20:00 GMT

Eh jafar, i used to be into the graff. game laying low right now, how many charges have you caught during your graff career, i got two, so i gota lay low for now. I heard the 3rd time, you really get f***ed over.

I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say , but that's how it is. It's not important. I've just been letting everything wash over me these days. Shrug. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about.: 2nd Jan 2008 - 04:55 GMT

I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say , but that's how it is. It's not important. I've just been letting everything wash over me these days. Shrug. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about.