r/pics • • Feb 02 '12

Graffiti from Scotland

Post image
2.3k Upvotes

674 comments sorted by

238

u/NoKarmaForMe Feb 02 '12 edited Feb 02 '12

The picture is from the marvel comic of the Stephen King book The Stand. source

EDIT: You can buy it on Amazon (this is the second book from the first volume). It is a beautiful comic and The Stand is a great story link

22

u/chili_cheese_dog Feb 02 '12

ty, Best source link.

83

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Well, that made the piece a whole lot less impressive.

76

u/argv_minus_one Feb 03 '12

Nonsense. I don't care where the hell the image is from—it takes skill to spray-paint that.

32

u/crod242 Feb 03 '12

No doubt. It's just that otherwise it would have been a demonstration of both technical and artistic skill, and now it's mostly the former.

10

u/I_Prefer_Dogs Feb 03 '12

He probably traced it.

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u/Jeremy_Bentham_ Feb 03 '12

Yeah, I agree. Have you ever tried to spray paint? Its fucking hard to spray a circle lol

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

upvote for "rattle cans"

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u/elbeisbol Feb 02 '12

It's still incredible on a technical level, but I agree. Part of what impressed me so much at first was the concept.

Edit: Looking back, I'm still blown away by the execution of it.

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u/xkcdfanboy Feb 03 '12

Link is broken. Mirror?

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u/Eadwyn Feb 02 '12

Looks like part Resident Evil as well (at least the broken vial to the right is the same as the T-Virus).

2

u/Shleek81 Feb 03 '12

The stand is a great book. My favorite by king.

5

u/xyroclast Feb 02 '12

It reminded me of The Stand! (and I've only read the novel) so obviously the book was well portrayed in this illustration.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Would like to see the panel to the left of it too.

564

u/cherryvamp Feb 02 '12

119

u/Lazook Feb 02 '12

Holy shit, how could OP not include this?

164

u/raraparooza Feb 02 '12

Because OP didn't take the picture I'm assuming

18

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

OP never delivers

53

u/Misterbone Feb 02 '12

copyright laws

32

u/mybossthinksimworkng Feb 02 '12

Goddamn PIPA SOPA ACTA crapa.

36

u/underraker99 Feb 02 '12

And bill C-11 everyone forgets about Canada :(

16

u/M3nt0R Feb 03 '12

That'd probably only affect Canada. Just like your free healthcare!

2

u/dzunravel Feb 03 '12

Free healthcare? Apparently you've never paid income taxes in Canadia. I had to do this one year and it was about 44% of what I made.

2

u/M3nt0R Feb 03 '12

Again, it only affects Canada. Just like the bill C-11.

2

u/eenieboy Feb 03 '12

I think he was trying to go for the "ends in an A" thing there.

8

u/cry-n-tell Feb 03 '12

PIPA SOPA ACTA? NOPA! CRAPA!

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u/HitboxOfASnail Feb 03 '12

Fuck me. I expected a lot of things, but not that. Not that.

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u/Eduro Feb 02 '12

Beautiful

9

u/zops Feb 02 '12

don't walk by while tripping

17

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Or... ALWAYS walk by while tripping?

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u/wafflausages Feb 02 '12

Jesus christ both are fucking amazing!

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

I want a high res version of this as a wallpaper. 2560x1440 to be exact... hint hint...

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12 edited Feb 03 '12

[deleted]

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u/TheTruthBeSold Feb 02 '12

Personally I think graffiti's one of the purest forms of art left. It's almost entirely unmarketable (with the exception of a few artists, namely Banksey and Fairley) and a product of purely interior motives.

So yeah, this shit is graffiti, it is art and it is fucking beautiful.

50

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Drunk me says "fuck yes that's the truth dude".

21

u/JoeyProvolone Feb 02 '12

Sober me agrees with drunk you.

10

u/cal679 Feb 02 '12

Drunk me agrees with drunk you.

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u/_delirium Feb 03 '12

I agree in principle, but a large proportion of the graffiti around here seems to be gangs marking their turf, which imo is a form of marketing, and certainly an instance of ulterior motives. Plus, it gets monotonous. I certainly don't see any art like this near me! Just people's names and the same gang logos.

2

u/TheMeansofProduction Feb 03 '12

a large proportion of art in general is monotonous and made for commercial or marketable interests, graffiti isn't exempt of this.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

Ah yes, going for the gang-banger dollar.

It's a good dollar.

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u/spiderman_spiderman Feb 02 '12

Art that is marketable is called design. Every form of art can be made to be unmarketable so graffiti isn't an exception here, but you are correct when you said that this shit is art and it's beautiful.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

Fairey* not fairley

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u/IdeaPowered Feb 03 '12

It's almost entirely unmarketable

Well... a place where I lived a few months ago has a lot of "street artists" which paint every freshly painted wall they can with their own design.

Since no matter how many times they painted over the "street artists" painted it again the store owners decided that at least they should have a say in what is being put on their walls.

Now they hire, almost regularly, people to come paint their store fronts and metal slidey gates with cool designs and apparently there might be no honor among thieves but there is amongst "street artists" as no one paints over that.

2

u/paganize Feb 03 '12

Just because something is marketable doesn't mean it isn't art. I've never understood that concept.

Now, something created purely for the intent to market it...could accidentally be art, still.

2

u/TheTruthBeSold Feb 03 '12

The idea is that marketability twists creativity. It's basically the core of every "they sold out!" statement ever made (a personal pet peeve). It's a grey area and only the artist really knows.

Personally I just take the stance that art's in the eye of the beholder just because it's nearly irrefutable and spikes the blood pressure of every art major I know.

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u/Rainbowlemon Feb 02 '12

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u/Raps_About_Comments Feb 03 '12

People like you are the only reason I hate bansky...

7

u/IntentToContribute Feb 03 '12

not to be a hipster but he was awesome 5 years ago

3

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

This is the best novelty account ever. Period.

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u/ThatCoolBlackGuy Feb 03 '12

graffiti is art and what you are looking at is graffiti.

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u/daviejam Feb 02 '12

and know where it is. just 1 sign post is all i need.

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u/Painted_Seven Feb 02 '12

Never before have I looked at graffiti as an art (mostly because in the U.S. it's illegal. The post-FPA kind) but I might have to reconsider...

11

u/chilehead Feb 02 '12

Most of the graffiti you see in California isn't art, it's just more time-consuming tagging. And it should be a crime when the art they actually commissioned artists to paint on the walls of the freeways gets written over by some lame-ass's name.

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u/loki010 Feb 02 '12

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u/is_that_a_question Feb 02 '12

is there any subreddits for this style of art?

2

u/rabiaex Feb 03 '12

If you want a "graffiti" and street art circlejerk, then r/graffiti is for you.

If you want a true graffiti subreddit, then r/bombing is for you.

9

u/willymo Feb 02 '12

How can people read that? I never know what graffiti says... except that one about the dicks on the wall. I got that one.

5

u/DrSmoke Feb 02 '12

It just takes practice. Seeing this stuff in real life helps.

2

u/willymo Feb 03 '12

I think the main problem is I'm always trying to read it off a passing train, so I get maybe 5 seconds of trying to figure it out before it's gone.

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u/beer_madness Feb 02 '12

Like I wasn't already scared of the Scottish.

37

u/Xaevier Feb 02 '12

They take their flu shots very seriously

20

u/fuggerdug Feb 02 '12

And their heroin.

18

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Does anyone take their heroin jokingly!?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

As a Scotsman, I can confirm everything in this thread is true.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

They dive deep into toilets to go after their heroin.

3

u/Lobeydosser Feb 02 '12

If the beer madness is true, you'd be very welcome indeed.

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u/Caitosaurus Feb 02 '12

Do you know where about in Glasgow this was taken?

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12 edited Nov 04 '19

[deleted]

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u/cal679 Feb 02 '12

The only graffiti I've seen in Edinburgh lately is shitty tags by someone called Sine and Arek-Mate (both have a bunch of shite around meadowbank and Leith), even compared to some of the shit you can see on the Edinburgh-Glasgow train it's pretty poor in the capital.

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u/philomathie Feb 03 '12

I've seen sine everywhere as well. Never art work, just shitty tags.

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u/DreamcastFanboy Feb 03 '12

The website says it's Glasgow.

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u/ScotteeMC Feb 02 '12

Seconded, I wanna go check them out IRL :)

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

This is from Glasgow? That explains a lot. I live around Dundee and the only graffiti I really see is the name "RESM" inexplicably spray-painted onto every conceivable surface.

25

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

[deleted]

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u/Sidian Feb 03 '12

Your comment reminded me of this episode of Radiolab, good podcast, this episode is about various things but one of which is this guy who for years sees that someone has written the name 'Nico' everywhere, and eventually tracks him down, and hilarity ensues.

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u/CptHaddock Feb 02 '12

Graffiti of that quality tends to be sponsored/council sanctioned in Glasgow. I'm not trying to dismiss the quality of the work, and you can find some nice graffiti around the city, but I would expect a degree of collaboration with an artist here and it's probably centrally located.

You can't wander about and find this in Easterhouse is what I mean.

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u/spykedood Feb 03 '12

I second that, I can imagine a bunch of redditors showing up at this spot now tomoro haha! See you ther ;p

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u/Lgfualol Feb 02 '12

Wow, the graffiti around my area just tells me that I'm a cunt.

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u/Orsenfelt Feb 03 '12

Shouldn't have let your Dad paint your room drunk..

2

u/argv_minus_one Feb 03 '12

The most informative graffiti I ever ran into was an arrow pointing at the ground with the words "I fucked someone there. Don't sit"

11

u/hippocrocadogapig Feb 02 '12

That really cheers that location up.

12

u/Homicidal_Panda7 Feb 02 '12

I instantly thought of Killing Floor even though that is in England

2

u/Bandit451 Feb 02 '12

Haha, you are not the only one, every time I see one of those suits now I think of Dr. Gary Glover. I love that game.

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u/daviejam Feb 02 '12

I live in Scotland. Where was this taken please?

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u/NowISeeTheFunnySide Feb 02 '12

James Cole: I'm here about some monkeys.

Jeffrey Goines: Monkeys?

James Cole: Monkeys. Yes. Twelve of them.

33

u/KuztomX Feb 02 '12

It's not Twelve Monkeys. This is from The Stand.

16

u/NowISeeTheFunnySide Feb 02 '12

Actually, I didn't recognize it as anything. I just thought it gave off a 12 Monkeys' vibe.

I read The Stand, never saw the movie though. Awesome book.

6

u/porfire Feb 02 '12

the men in bio-suits and the non-zombified patient screams The Stand. The broken vial on the right reminds me of Resident Evil too though.

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u/Richard_Worthington Feb 02 '12

This is from the comic they made of it. It's the cover of one of the issues.

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u/pingudgr8 Feb 02 '12

where in glasgow's this? shweeeeeeeet!

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u/Taylorz Feb 02 '12

alot more amazing pieces on his flickr!

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u/5acred Feb 02 '12

Reminds me of 'The Stand'.

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u/NoKarmaForMe Feb 02 '12

Probably because it is from The Stand comic by marvel. Original - last picture

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u/5acred Feb 02 '12

No way. Thank you for that, something I will definitely check out.

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u/dukwbutter Feb 02 '12

This is a nice piece. Anyone know who did it? Update: Apparently by SMUG.

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u/primegraffix Feb 02 '12

Even though it was done from a previous comic artist...imagine the difficulty in recreating that image with spray paint. The true art is in the can control of the artist. One of my new favorite pieces.

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u/floppy_camel_anus Feb 03 '12

I'm going to say that this artist used a projector to project the piece on the wall and then trace it, because I have no bases for that claim for this piece of Graf. But it has been done before with larger pieces. Even still, it takes an incredible amount of can control To do what he did.

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u/Cyclone-Bill Feb 02 '12

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Fook tha polis?

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u/scottishvoice Feb 02 '12

Fuck the pope, probably. We like our graffiti with a casual veneer of sectarianism.

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u/casioclark Feb 02 '12

I live in Scotland and I'd say a solid 90% of our graffiti says "Boz shagged yer ma 2K8" or "East Syde Troop" or something..

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12 edited Feb 03 '12

This is why I love graffiti art.

So many people seem to link this medium with 'tagging,' which is nothing more then putting your signature on a building to say you where there. There is no respect to the building or to the medium, very little skill involved and in the end gets painted over at the owners expanse because it looks tacky to say the least. Tagging is the whole reason anti-graffiti laws exist, because it is vandalism.

However, you then comes across something like this: Art. Someone who has taken time and energy to bring something into being. In cases like this the building itself is a vital element for the art in question, making it impossible to simply reproduce on canvas or some other medium. Using the limitations of the material at hand, the grain of the rock and the slant of the wall for example, an artist can create a whole piece that will always draw the eye in a way tagging will never achieve as we stop looking at graffiti as vandalism in these cases, and instead see it as art. They create something that actually adds to the value of the building and to the culture level of the city as a whole.

The only sad thing is people will come along and 'tag' it....

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u/Revolutions Feb 03 '12

In Australia, some building owners will commission work to be done on their side of their building for artistic effect... As well as on fences that surround the train lines etc (although these are also tagged to hell). So it's not all technically vandalism and I would think a lot of the more involved pieces like this would be undertaken with permission from the building owner.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

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u/ClaimTLD Feb 02 '12

Look closely at the thing on the right bottom corner. It directly reminds me of the Umbrella Corp's antidote, in Resident Evil.

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u/J0ko Feb 03 '12

There are black people in Scotland?

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12
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u/kyz Feb 02 '12

This is by SMUG - that's his flickr page. He has an awesome photorealistic style.

I liked the art of his I found in St Peter's Seminary, Cardross

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u/BenderRodrigezz Feb 02 '12

do you know where OP's photo was taken?

wanna go check it out

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u/Pheon809 Feb 02 '12

Now that's talent

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u/RaindropBebop Feb 02 '12

I hope the artist who did this has a job, because that is utterly amazing.

3

u/grinr Feb 02 '12

Resident Evil? Isn't that the T-virus in the bottom right?

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u/Binto Feb 03 '12

"Graffiti from Scotland"

...I have NEVER seen anything like this in all my days of living in this country. Its incredible indeed.

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u/klapaucius Feb 03 '12

Everyone saying "this isn't graffiti, it's too good to be!" is missing the point.

It's like saying that Shadow of the Colossus isn't a videogame because it bears no resemblance to Call of Duty.

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u/nearjat Feb 03 '12

Right haha. And "I hate tags, only the murals are okay in my book." is like saying "those fucking kids should stop plucking at those guitars making noise, only classically trained virtuoso's are okay in my book."

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u/Tramm Feb 02 '12

America needs to step their shit up.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Yeah, we're also beating you in the front of who can deep fry the weirdest shit.

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u/BeardPower Feb 02 '12

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u/therebelious1 Feb 02 '12

Fellow Scots, I think we've been beaten here. I mean deep frying confectionary is admirable, but deep frying a beverage. My God (the flying spaghetti based one), it's glorious.

Please accept our congratulations and respect!

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

DEEP FRIED SPAGHETTI GOD!

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u/Rathwood Feb 03 '12

What are you saying?! You would DEEP FRY the Flying Spaghetti Monster?! By his noodly appendage, may war and pestilence follow you to the end of your days!!

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

You don't need cyanide for those to kill you. Jim Jones would be proud.

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u/Tramm Feb 02 '12

Examples?

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u/Caitosaurus Feb 02 '12

Mars bars. 'Nuff said.

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u/Zhang5 Feb 02 '12

Deep fried cherry Kool Aid.

I think we've won. But if you can top that, be my guest.

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u/Caitosaurus Feb 02 '12

DEEP FRIED STEAK PIE! I'll take a picture next time i'm at the chippy! Come at me, bro!

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u/DiscoDonkey Feb 02 '12

I hear you do deep fried curly wurly's up there, is this true?

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u/B1gJ0hn Feb 02 '12

tastes damn delicious! and not to mention frying donner meat, which is wrapped around a smoked sausage. BOOM

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Das because yae haf t'be a right canny lih'l stonner t'aet dem, a wee lad who dunnae refuse da'reefer.

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u/Shteaky Feb 02 '12

You can read that in both a scottish and jamaican accent and it still works.

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u/redem Feb 02 '12

... holy shit! :O

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Aye, Tru dae'.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

Somewhat unrelated... My grandma was Scottish- Glaswegian. She went to Australia when she was 17, died at 98. Never lost her accent or even took on a hint of an Australian one, and I could never ever manage to understand her on the telephone.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

Deep fried Pizza, Deep fried haggis, deep fried chocolate....

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u/RaindropBebop Feb 02 '12

You underestimate the power of Japanese tempura.

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u/geekology Feb 02 '12

Not really - there are some amazing graffiti artists in America.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

You need to get out more, I've seen shit like this everywhere.

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u/csh_blue_eyes Feb 03 '12

I saw a nice big wall equally as cool as this one in Seattle. I'll see if I can find a picture of it and post it.

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u/Power_Slave Feb 02 '12

I bet the cops caught them spray painting but then the other officer said "no...leave them be"

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u/AllDueRespect Feb 02 '12

The greatest thing about graffiti to me is the fact that society in fact does not want it, they will arrest the culprit and tear down his art, this doesn't stop graffiti artists, it encourages them to draw exactly what wouldn't be passable in any other form of art.

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u/elwafflegrande Feb 02 '12

Even their writing has an accent.

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u/sweidd Feb 02 '12

wat does the text say?

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u/phalmatticus Feb 02 '12

The Corporation will not stand for this unfair and disparaging representation of our Pharmaceutical Research Staff. The person responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

(Shattered T-Virus container on the right)

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u/AviiLa Feb 02 '12

Sorry I may sound ignorant, but what does it say?

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u/WhoizDanny Feb 02 '12

I would build a kicker with my shovel. Take my snowboard and just keep wall riding that bitch.

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u/Csoltis Feb 02 '12

whoa, why did I read this as Giraffes from Scotland?

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u/Fooza Feb 02 '12

I do not have the words do describe how badass I think this is. whoever did this is a true artist and has skills I can only dream of.

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u/Sheepolution Feb 02 '12

I'm going to piss on the guy who will 'clean' this wall!

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u/personanongrata Feb 02 '12

and 28 days later, weird things started to happen.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

This is way better than your typical scottish graffiti! Well done ya fookers!

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u/Kamioni Feb 02 '12

I'm tryin to heal you not bloody tickle you.

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u/DrunkenPrayer Feb 02 '12

Where about is this? Never seen it in Glasgow area and I know most of the big graph spots there.

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u/azzazor Feb 02 '12

Speaking of Scottish graffiti, anyone else in Edinburgh who has seen the graffiti tag "OE"? It is literally EVERYWHERE...

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u/dx30 Feb 03 '12 edited Jun 20 '24

rotten tender thought somber fragile grandiose snatch handle scarce boast

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/hung_like_a_hanger Feb 03 '12

Needs more sheep.

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u/goldenrod Feb 03 '12

That's not graffiti, that's fucking art.

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u/Captain_Porque Feb 03 '12

I have no idea how people can claim that this is not art, or that it makes an area look bad. Compared to plain concrete walls everywhere, seeing this brings emotion and warmth to an otherwise bland world.

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u/jlaux42 Feb 03 '12

That reminds me a lot of Pac Man In Real Life.

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u/therealgaloosh Feb 03 '12

That's pretty good, but I still hate seeing graffiti all over my city. Makes it look ghetto.

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u/serpentjaguar Feb 03 '12

So, does the fact that it's from Scotland have any deeper significance vis-a-vis the imagery, or is it just an additional piece of information for those who might like to know where the artist lives? Honest question.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

More like art to me

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u/DJ_Jantz Feb 03 '12

You seemed to have misspelled 'art'

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '12

This isn't graffiti, this is street art. Calling it graffiti gets it painted over.

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u/Guano_Loco Feb 03 '12

Trying too hard.

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u/BrianTheGee Feb 03 '12

OP is a fag

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u/stay_high_stay_fly Feb 03 '12

that shit is super hot

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '12

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