Graffiti for a child

This is a curiously vibrant piece of graffiti for a rather unfrequented foot-tunnel.  It runs under the A50 at Blythe Marsh, more as a sort of rain run-off than anything else, as it goes to nowhere really.

But whoever sat here for those lonely hours creating these pictures seems to have wanted to imbue them with childlike fun.

Sort of like Banksy style

Looking very much like a work by the urban artist Banksy, in fact this a piece by the Stoke-on-Trent graffiti practitioner Professor Pigment. 
The text says: “realistically, you can’t jump off this wall” , with the response, “it’s easy, watch”.  The caption beneath reads: "Is to grow up to give up?"
You’ll find it on the wall adjacent to the south side of the Mitchell Memorial Theatre in Hanley.     

Sainted bee

The urge to leave graffiti seems to be a strong one - even if the subject matter appears to be incomprehensible, like this one (...a sainted bee?) found in woods near Silverdale.
Sometimes, graffiti seems to me almost like a coded message, only meant for the few who might understand it.

Graffiti marks the passing

Most urban/wild graffiti in Staffordshire is now removed as soon as it goes up - and I understand prosecutions have happened too - so you don't see much of it round here now, especially the more arty 'signatures'.

However, this subway, under the A38 at Shobnall, is a virtually abandoned one, more used for livestock than pedestrians I expect, and someone must have felt a little more at ease here to paint to their heart's content.
The colour is intense; and the blue/white image reminds of Matisse's paper cut-out pieces.

What I also like is the thought that, for this particular subway, the art is the permanent thing while the (virtually absent) pedestrians, and the artists, that have passed through are the ephemeral aspect, conspicuous by their absence.

This post was featured on the City Daily Portal March 2013 Theme

Graffiti illusion

Do you see the man buried by rubble?

As I passed this patch of waste ground to the back of Tesco in Hanley, I did a double-take, thinking I could see some poor homeless man, who had been pushed back against the wall - and was perhaps being crushed by a fall of loose earth.
As I was about to race over and save him, I realised it was just a piece of graffiti.

I can't help thinking the artist was trying to create the exact illusion that I fell for...!