Thursday, May 14, 2009

Some cops and robbers

While Nikki and I meandered around Phoenix we found a junkyard wall covered in graffiti. How could I pass that up? The wall had a general theme of the imbalance of power between law enforcement officials and those who cross them, with a little fun poked especially at Mericopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

 

Making off with the loot:

 

Johnny Law:

 

Piggy’s just looking for a donut:

 

JailBird:

 

The venerable Arpaio, looking a little crazy eyed:

 

 

Of course the artists needed to maintain their anonymity:

 

Only one HDR of the wall, this dead-eyed thug being processed at county:

 

Heck, Nikki even put up with me taking a few shots of her. :)

 

To see all 30 pics, check out the flickr set.

7 comments:

Catalyst said...

The Phoenix graffiti artists certainly put Prescott's to shame. Too bad they can't be drafted into some kind of work using their talents for good rather than defacement.

TomboCheck said...

Cat - judging by the coverage on this wall and the stark blankness elsewhere, I'm guessing it wasn't a defacement. I'd call it more likely that the junkyard owner was of a same mind with the artists and so donated his exterior wall to them.

I could be wrong. :)

Granny J said...

Possibly like the walls over at Discovery Works being open to graffiti. Cat-A is right, more talent, and a nice change from the usual LSD lettering.

Chickenbells said...

I absolutely LOVE the graffiti artists face in the one shot!! How fantastic is that?? When I was living in San Francisco during a brief stint with Ms. Dina, we loved to walk and see all the different graffiti they welcomed and left up on all the buildings. Some of it is such wonderful art isn't it??

TomboCheck said...

GrannyJ - an apt correlation I think.
And it is definitely nice to see a different form of art than the usual lettering. :)

Sadira - Yeah, that face was my favorite part of the whole wall!

I imagine SF has some seriously talented folks spraying, I'd love to do a walk there.

Melissa said...

Ah yes, the sheriff.

You know I totally dig this art.

TomboCheck said...

Melissa - :) The sheriff, you either love him or you hate him.

As for the art - it blew me away. Constantly amazed at what people can create.