Banksy is not Ukrainian

I made a rule when I started this blog that it would, where at all possible, remain positive. As in all countries there are many things to complain about and there are already plenty of people who oblige by complaining.

‘Not here’ I said, not on bluetoyellow.com — this was a space to enjoy, to laugh at, to ponder and to enlighten. It was to be a place to celebrate the lighter side of Ukraine.

Well, not today. Sorry guys, but I’m allowing myself a negative post because I cannot deny this for any longer – Graffiti in Ukraine is shit. S.h.1.t

There I said it! Ukraine has some of the most artistically impoverished graffiti artists of any country I’ve ever visited, bar none.

Of course, bad graffiti exists everywhere and travelling around Europe I’ve seen a lot of it, but very few places have universally bad street art.  For example, the ubiquitous pointy ‘GD’s which are sprayed all over Ljubljana in Slovenia are pretty monotonous (and very 1980’s) but at least this is countered by the unforettable Metalkova and the cute mouse with the longest tail in the world which existed in the city center for a while.

Metelkova Mesto, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Graffiti done well

Metelkova Mesto, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Graffiti done well

Mojca, the Slovenian graffiti gremlin

 

Sadly, the same isn’t true in Kyiv.

Kyiv can be artistic, and kyiv does have *some* good examples of an alternative art scene, but graffiti isn’t it. Most of it consists of signatures, initials, scrawly patterns, insults (often in confused English) or cartoon-like drawings similar to those found in caves when humans were still developing.

Have a look for yourselves, this is what I’m talking about:

Pro? ...more armature I would say

 

Some basic stencil use, surrounded by crap

 

What's he saying? "help me"

 

You had a whole wall to play with ...and look what you did!

 

FAT? FFS!

 

Bosie ran out of red paint

 

??

 

See what I mean?

One has to assume that most of it is territorial. As Wikipedia explains:

“Territorial graffiti serves as marking ground to display tags and logos that differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.”

However, that’s no excuse and lets be honest, how many ideological ‘stern gangs’ are fighting turf wars in Podil?

Of course, its entirely possible that I’ve missed something, after all I’m no graffiti connoisseur, and I’d be delighted if someone can prove me wrong by submitting some good example of Ukrainian street scribbling, but until then, I announce Ukraine as the ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World for Bad Graffiti’.

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22 Comments

  1. Olya Dovgodko

    I agree. Although I have seen some nice graffity and personally my favourite near my house…but I do have to agree its one of the few. Ill post a photo?:)

  2. Olya Dovgodko

    I agree. Although I have seen some nice graffity and personally my favourite near my house…but I do have to agree its one of the few. Ill post a photo?:)

  3. 🙂

    Maybe you can post them on the Facebook page? I don’t think we can post in comments here.

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/From-Blue-to-Yellow/194770380600952

  4. 🙂

    Maybe you can post them on the Facebook page? I don’t think we can post in comments here.

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/From-Blue-to-Yellow/194770380600952

  5. I agree, it is really terrible 🙁

  6. I agree, it is really terrible 🙁

  7. Even if you said that you wrote a negative post, I still laughed :)). You have a funny way of writing. I think that those graffiti are made by bored children that had nothing better to do than to ruin all the walls in the town. :))

  8. Even if you said that you wrote a negative post, I still laughed :)). You have a funny way of writing. I think that those graffiti are made by bored children that had nothing better to do than to ruin all the walls in the town. :))

  9. Eugen

    есть и другие примеры граффити. к примеру, вот статья о граффити в Николаеве (на русском языке) http://niklife.com.ua/citylook/26539

  10. Eugen

    есть и другие примеры граффити. к примеру, вот статья о граффити в Николаеве (на русском языке) http://niklife.com.ua/citylook/26539

  11. Eugen

    There are other examples of graffiti. For example, here’s an article about graffiti in Nikolaev (in Russian) http://niklife.com.ua/citylook/26539

  12. Eugen

    There are other examples of graffiti. For example, here’s an article about graffiti in Nikolaev (in Russian) http://niklife.com.ua/citylook/26539

  13. alexnjoy

    I must disagree with you. I think you just didn’t find the right place. There are a lot of beautiful graffiti art works in Kiev. If you want, I can show you some examples.

  14. alexnjoy

    I must disagree with you. I think you just didn’t find the right place. There are a lot of beautiful graffiti art works in Kiev. If you want, I can show you some examples.

  15. Have you ever walked along the embankment from Dnipro metro station to the Monument to the founders of Kiev? There are some amazing graffiti works – mostly in the “upper level” of the embankment. Highly recommended! (I hope I’ll get round to posting some photos of them online sooner or later.) And this one (not far from the Friendship Arch) is great too: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z_MTNbTxLAE/T4nGNImntUI/AAAAAAAAAcI/yDZvdAWDBWU/s647/hole.jpg
    But a fun post – and the graffiti in Ljubljana rocks! 🙂

  16. Have you ever walked along the embankment from Dnipro metro station to the Monument to the founders of Kiev? There are some amazing graffiti works – mostly in the “upper level” of the embankment. Highly recommended! (I hope I’ll get round to posting some photos of them online sooner or later.) And this one (not far from the Friendship Arch) is great too: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z_MTNbTxLAE/T4nGNImntUI/AAAAAAAAAcI/yDZvdAWDBWU/s647/hole.jpg
    But a fun post – and the graffiti in Ljubljana rocks! 🙂

  17. All right, here’s a little tasting of classy Ukrainian graffiti:
    http://www.dzm.com/~zuzana/photo/ukr/kiev-graffiti/index.html
    (I took all the pics in 2009-2011), so I suppose there might be new creations covering these now.)

  18. All right, here’s a little tasting of classy Ukrainian graffiti:
    http://www.dzm.com/~zuzana/photo/ukr/kiev-graffiti/index.html
    (I took all the pics in 2009-2011), so I suppose there might be new creations covering these now.)

  19. dilapidate

    Banksy sure isn’t Ukrainian, but actually since you posted this, he did made a visit and put up a nice piece portraying Tymoshenko behind bars at ul. Prorizna. But as for the Kyiv street art scene it is absolutely necessary to mention Interesni Kazki. Their stuff is great and makes up for a lot of the poorly made tags around the city. http://interesnikazki.blogspot.se/

  20. dilapidate

    Banksy sure isn’t Ukrainian, but actually since you posted this, he did made a visit and put up a nice piece portraying Tymoshenko behind bars at ul. Prorizna. But as for the Kyiv street art scene it is absolutely necessary to mention Interesni Kazki. Their stuff is great and makes up for a lot of the poorly made tags around the city. http://interesnikazki.blogspot.se/

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