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This round of images is Elon-free ;)

• >NEW< EZK EricZeKing (FR)
• Protest signs in SF
• More Anti-Trump from TopZ in WA
• One in Atlanta, GA
• One in Asheville, NC
• One in Greenville, NC

Reading the Illegible: Can Law Understand Graffiti? 
Authors Katya Assaf-Zakharov and Tim Schnetgoke 
Document Type Article (DOWNLOAD)
From DigitalCommons (via Connecticut Law Review)
Disciplines Cultural Heritage Law | Property Law and Real Estate 

Abstract 

This essay focuses on graffiti—the practice of illegal writing and painting on trains, walls, bridges, and other publicly visible surfaces. 

Social responses to graffiti are highly ambivalent. On the one hand, media often picture graffiti painters as “vandals” and “hooligans.” Local authorities define graffiti as an “epidemic” and declare “wars on graffiti.” On the other hand, graffiti is recognized as a valuable form of art, exhibited in mainstream museums sold for high prices. Reflecting the ambivalent social attitude, the legal treatment of graffiti is highly uneven, punishing some graffiti writers for vandalism while granting copyright protection to others. 

Scholars have made various suggestions regarding the legal regulation of graffiti, ranging from toughening the criminal sanctions to providing more legalized spaces and art programs for the painters. Yet to date, no attempt has been undertaken to understand the dissenting message of graffiti and to consider an adequate legal response to this message. As Jean Baudrillard suggested, the subtle message of graffiti “must be heard and understood.” Doing this, in the legal sphere, is the central goal of this essay. Instead of suppressing or manipulating graffiti, we propose to answer its message with redefining the boundaries of physical property so as to restrict owners’ control over surfaces that shape our urban landscape. These surfaces will then be used as a medium of free visual expression, creating a public “forum” in its classical sense: a place of discussion, opinion exchange, and purely aesthetic expression. 

Recommended Citation 
Assaf-Zakharov, Katya and Schnetgoke, Tim, "Reading the Illegible: Can Law Understand Graffiti?" (2021). Connecticut Law Review. 465. https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/law_review/465

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If we're going to join the clickbait chum that always surrounds Banksy's new ones, we might as well add a few other updates for your maximum enjoyment. Thanks to the social streams for these European images.

• >NEW< Tabby (DE)
• Banksy
• Eclair (SF)
• Marshal Arts (DE)
• A small pile from San Francisco's Upper Haight

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https://www.echomusee.com/ :: https://www.instagram.com/galerieechomusee/ 

Ongoing and upcoming: Yarps :: Docteur Bergman ::: Adey + Sure ::: Artiste Ouvrier

Programmation du Festival Paris Stencil 2025 
Les pochoristes à la Goutte d'Or 
Galerie Echomusée 
21 rue Cavé 75018 Paris

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Mostly single photo uploads from all over the world. Big submission thanks to: Amanda, Andy, BeneRegoef, James Generic, Tim, and all you social media peeples who actually include locations with their posts.

• >NEW< TopZ-TerV up in Seattle
• South Africa
• Washington, DC
• Glasgow
• Italy
• Greece
• Georgia, USA
• Chicago, IL
• Oregon
• Philly, PA
• Puerto Rico

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The San Francisco Stencil Archive has been completely updated. Thoroughly enjoyed the S-Z archives visit, especially the Shy Girl / Heart 101 photos. 

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Also, The Strangers' "She Loves the Moon" stencil story game was a nice rediscovery. Years ago, we tried to put the stencils in order to make sense of the progress that was made, but I recall that archive update being unsatisfactory. Here's an early Joe Eskenazi article from 2007 about the long-gone project. Here is a Stencil Archive post about chasing the stencils and following the story.

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Finally, Tech Destroys mostly dropped anti-tech, hip hop, and Grateful Dead humor stickers around SF, but they also managed to put up a few acid-influenced stencils around. 

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Sometimes uploading new images to Stencil Archive is smooth and easy! Thanks to Amanda for continuing to snap stencil pics and submitting to us for all to enjoy. We get emails with the photos attached, then rename and resize. Boom, on the site. The one from Colombia is off the socials, so thanks to folks that also share in those worlds.

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Colombia
• Cartoonneros

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Jane Verma, one of the metal artists that designed and fabricated the CELLspace Metal Mural back in 2009, just sent us a stitched photo of the whole work, along with the 2009 Stencilada panels installed beneath the planter boxes. While working various activist jobs as well as continuing to promote the "Stencil Nation" book project, Russell Howze got a call from the CELL Metal Shop folks about their idea of installing stencil art under their new mural. What a great idea! Jane and the Metal Shop crew helped coordinate with the artists, pay for the panel shipping, and organize a fun opening day on the wall. The call was sent out to anyone who wanted to stop by and lay down a stencil, and this photo looks like it was taken just after that event.

From left to right, the known Stencilada artists are: James Sellier (RIP), Russell Howze with Hugh D'Andrade, Crystal Townsend, Dignidad Rebelde (Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes), John Koleszar, Scott Williams (RIP) with Russell Howze, Tiago Denczuk (wheatpaste to right of door), Peat EYEZ Wollaeger, and Chris Benfield with Russell Howze. Plant Trees gets some respect to the far left, and the artist who sprayed the green and white stencil did not want to give his name during our opening collab party.

In the upcoming Midway Art Gallery exhibit CELLspace PopUp, three surviving panels will be displayed: Hugh and Russell's CELL panel, Koleszar's men working panel, and Scott's troika panel. One of Peat's panels was stolen, the Dignidad Rebelde panel was sold, and the rest did not age well in storage. 

This September, the Midway Gallery here in San Francisco, will celebrate the final install of the CELL Metal Mural (it took ten years, and two new fabricated sections, to finish the project) by showing some of the stencil panels that were originally installed under the Metal Mural in 2009. Other early 2000s murals, featuring Icy and Sot, Regan Ha Ha Tamanui, and Peat EYEZ, will also be on the walls, with new works from CELL alums and other CELLspace ephemera. More posts coming soon.

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We spent a little bit of time this week dusting off some more older corners of the Stencil Archive's SF Artists piles. Amazing what can be uncovered, like the "Jessie's Girl" spoof stencils that showed up to razz politician Gavin Newsom. If you do not remember, he slept with an aide's wife while going through a divorce with now infamous Kimberly Guilfoyle.

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Then there's the gem from a CELLspace artist who got inspired and decided to cut two sets of footsteps in the Mission District. Walk one way, or walk the other....

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Finally, there was a moment in the early 2000s where Romanowski had stencils on walls all through the Lower Haight. One wall is still running and full of fun portraits and details that will make you walk up a stranger's steps to get closer.

We ended this week's revisions at Scott Williams (RIP), which we updated after his recent death. There are 100s of photos of Scott's work that you all should visit soon and often!

Still left on the updating route: S-Z SF artists > Europe Artists > the difusor 2007 stencil meeting archives > USA Artists. Still a ways to go, but we have plenty of dusting materials to get us through it.