Last week we wrote about the graffiti artist who's tagging "Dork" all over Ridge Ave. in Roxborough. Neighborhood residents are not happy, understandably, but local detectives believe they may have the scoundrel on surveillance. Good police work, gents. We'll catch this artful dodger yet.
Meanwhile, we reached out to the editor of 215 Graff, a blog that hosts the largest collection of Philadelphia graffiti photos, spanning five decades. We asked him about the difference between what Dork is doing (tagging) and what other graffiti artists do—the quote-unquote real ones.
Here's what he said via email: "Graffiti art is when you take graffiti-style letters and color them in, with a background, add a few characters, and the wall is legally obtained. Most artists who do murals, or 'legal' walls, start out as 'taggers' or 'writers,' and most still do illegal vandalism to this day. Although I don't believe in tagging schools, cars, houses and especially churches, it does happen."
The blogger, who goes by Reker SCK, says the taggers and writers in Philly are aware that graffiti started here and they know who defined the movement early on. "Every true Philly writer knows their history," he says. "It's a must before you go out writing, so you don't go over the wrong person. It's like being on the Eagles and not knowing who Cunningham was."
Does Dork know all this? Hard to say. Roxborough isn't exactly graff central. But Reker SCK thinks he might be motivated by the rush. "It's a very cool sense of accomplishment. Society may hate us, but we'll always be there while you're sitting in traffic on I-95, 76, Route 1, or any small neighborhood you may be traveling through."
· NBC 10: 'Dork' on Tape? [Roxborough-Manayunk Patch]
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