Monday 10 September 2007

Graffiti




Last two Pics Crime and Punishment. First pic an entry in Jack's Homework Diary which details a detention. When I asked Jack why he had got it he said "Hitting David" so second pic me and Jack recreating the crime, though Jack's teeth look funny, they don't in real life, maybe he was eating a french fry.

More evidence of crime in Jack's diary which I discovered when I was flicking through it - graffiti, though of course it is debatable whether this is a crime or whether Jack is an alternative artist. Third pic makes it clear that he thinks of himself as a graffiti artist, as he has drawn a picture of a spray can alongside his name. When I had a job as an invigilator I noticed a lot of graffiti on the desks, and a lot of names, so maybe it is an adolescent thing, asserting your identity. Elsewhere Jack appears to be making political statements with his graffiti (another function of graffiti) with 'Everybody hates spoilt rich kids' and 'Boring', presumably of school.

Top two pics are quite disturbing. What the heck is that weird dog/horse-like beast at the bottom of the first picture? It looks like Jack has drawn round his thumb and added features.
Lots of weird snake/dragon/worm-like beasts. I can only think that Jack has been heavily influenced by his love of Japanese cartoons like Pokemon and Digimon, with their weird composite creatures. One doesn't like to think too closely about this sort of thing.


8 comments:

lebanesa said...

It's a teenage thing.
I let my daughter graffiti her bedroom wall. Having said she could decorate it how she liked, I was on a bit of a sticky wicket.
It was eventually (bubblegum pink) covered in black gothic type writing and grafitti, manga and various pictures, lots of swear words... Her friends thought it was fan-b.....-tastic, so she had a lot of street cred. This summer she has painted over it in tasteful Jazzberry and we are yet to see what will be next.
So let him express it at home, he's less likely to be caught grafitti-ing the local church... he'll grow out of it by the time he's fifty...

Bobbie said...

Maybe he is just doodling? That's what it looks like, except for the paint can thing.

laurie said...

i think it's a youth thing, too. my little brothers got black El Marko permanent markos when they were 9 or 10 or so and illustrated their bedroom walls with drawings from "the lord of the rings." (this was loooong before the movie, of course.)

they even created an "ancient rune" language and wrote all over the walls. to this day none of us know what it said.

i think my mom wishes now that she had pictures of this. of course it was painted over, but she let it stay for a long time.

art? or graffiti? who can say?

Debi said...

LOL, Frances. Have you grown out of it? I think not.

You have it right, Beverley. Don't think too much about it. Boys will be boys, and it looks like he has a great outlet for his wild side.

(I hope you help Jack keep his journals. My mom kept lots of my drawings as a kid, gave them to me as an adult, and they are precious to me.)

Irene said...

Jack is very creative, Beverley, there may be a cartoonist hiding in him. Please keep encouraging him to draw. He may be the next Matt Groening.

Bev said...

He is a very good cartoonist, actually, and I will post some examples of his work in future posts.

Bev said...

Frances, I remember once a teacher at school once said that one side of the wall was a graffiti wall (presumably to stop people defacing the rest of the school) but after a few days the graffiti was so outrageous that he tore it down on a temper. I think you are on the right tack with your daughter as she will feel no great need to rebel and she will feel able to tell you things.

Bev said...

Laurie, your brothers sound very creative. This reminds me of the Bronte sisters who spent their childhood writing tiny little books and invented imaginary worlds.

Did your brothers end up writers?