I’m not a graffiti writer, save for a few scribbles over the years. Lack the art talent, definitely the nerve. But I’ve been interested in the civic and cultural intersections brought to life by graffiti in any city, including in my hometown of St. Louis. Through the aughts and 2010s, I published quite a bit on the topic for local and regional websites and magazines.
In the summer and fall of 2013, I punched up a series of 10 pieces relating to St. Louis’ graffiti scene for the fine local site, nextstl.com. You can find links to those piece in my 2013 clips page; or you can find a small handful of them here.
And here’s the video that accompanied the successful Kickstarter for the series.
As a post-script, here’s an essay on the South Side Y’s graffiti afterlife.
For stlmag.com, I’ve written a few pieces, each of them among the top-ranked blog posts of their given years. Here’s a selection:
Confessions of a Graffiti Artist: Tron Love on the Tagging of St. Mary’s (5.21.12)
The Return of Paint Louis, As Told in Three Acts (10.9.12)
Slideshow: On the Trail of One of St. Louis’ Most Prolific – and Controversial – Graffiti Artists (11.13.12)
Slideshow: The Ruins of the U.S.S. Inaugural, as Revealed by the Receding Mississippi River (12.3.12)
Slideshow: A Look Back at Paint Louis 2013 (6.25.13)
Pilgramage to the Floodwall: Paint Louis 2014 (9.2.14)
Slideshow: Paint Louis 2015 (9.15.15)
In early 2014, I wrote a piece for Louisville’s WPFL. It’s about Brrr:
When Louisville’s Brrr Went West to St. Louis
For Curator Magazine, I wrote Graffiti Church in 2014.
My Flickr stream has a goodly dose of graffiti, primarily St. Louis-based, but also featuring a bit from beyond local borders:
St. Louis
Southern Flood Wall
Rat Fag (in STL)
Paint Louis, 2015
Paint Louis, 2014
Paint Louis, 2013
Paint Louis, 2012
The Y
Bywater/NOLA
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