Spraycan graffiti artists

Painting a mural for a Brighton music shop in August 1999 (image f1465-10)

This week's picture set takes a look at spraycan artists and the use of aerosol containers to paint graffiti murals. It's a contentious subject - spraying on someone else's property is a criminal offence, yet some sprayers are praised as important artists and their work sold in commercial galleries for a small fortune. Depending on your point of view, Banksy is either a social menace or a brilliant critic of contemporary society. Graffiti, which for centuries had been a simple matter of scratching and writing on walls, was transformed by the use of spraycans, first deployed on a large scale in New York in the early 1970s. That same city now has a law (Title 10-117 of the New York Administrative Code) that bans the sale of cans to under-18s. In the UK, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act even includes powers to prosecute property owners who allow graffiti on their premises. Now that owners of Banksy-decorated walls are carefully taking them down for sale on the art market, the law is clearly in a bit of a muddle. If Leonardo had invented the spraycan, would the Mona Lisa have been given an ASBO ?

Snow last week

Snow in April was last week's picture feature, taken in Brighton on Sunday 6th. Apparently there's now a greater probability of a white Easter than a white Christmas in England, but it still comes as a bit of a shock to encounter a wintry blizzard on a spring day, when the grass is growing and the tulips are out. Maybe this is global climate change, maybe just good old English weather in capricious April (traditionally the "cruellest month"). Either way, it all makes it pretty difficult to decide what to put on in the morning.

Brighton's West Pier, Bournemouth and Weymouth have been the subjects of recent picture sets

It's five years since a huge fire consumed Brighton's lovely old West Pier. All that's left is its rusting carcass, a splendid but irretrievable ghost of what had been the finest pleasure pier in the world. The picture set a fortnight ago showed the West Pier 1998-2008 - eleven images, one from each year. A decade ago the pier was empty and unused - it had closed to the public way back in 1975. But it was still intact, complete with its marvellous theatre, pavilion and kiosks. The shame is that it wasn't rescued then, when a relatively modest amount of money (certainly compared to the ludicrously overblown London Olympics 2012) could have brought it back to life. The West Pier now lies dead in the water. But what a death !

After the preceding set on Weymouth, the picture set three weeks ago travelled 30 miles east and 11 years back in time to Bournemouth in June 1997. Although it was a nice summer's day, the Hampshire resort was not exactly lively. There weren't many people on the beach, and they were mostly of a certain age. Indeed, in front of the pier, there was a man who called himself The Age Guesser. You gave him 50p and, without him seeing, wrote your age on a piece of paper. He would then "guess" it - if he was wrong (within a year either way) you won a prize. Not the quickest way to riches, but he seemed happy enough. Bournemouth has always had that sort of comfy sedate image and, apart from a few lairy teenagers in the park, there was little to be seen that day in 1997 to dispel it. Since then, reportedly, the place has had a bit of a youth makeover and is not as it was a decade ago. It'll never be Brighton (too unmetropolitan and far from London) but Bournemouth is obviously not stuffy any more. Good for Bournemouth, no doubt, but still rather a shame. If everywhere became groovy, life would be an unending hell of grooviness. We need places that are unchanging, comfy and, yes, even stuffy. Just so long as we don't have to live in them all the time !

The pictures four weeks ago came from the lovely Dorset seaside town of Weymouth. They were taken during the coldest Easter weekend for many years and the resort's fine seafront and beach, swept by an Arctic wind, were not exactly humming with life. Come the summer, however, the town will be full of tourists and sailors. Weymouth has been an important fishing base since the 13th century and is still the home port for 67 fishing boats. Tourism here also has a long history, started by George III, who came for his summer holidays between 1789 and 1805. Were the town not so far from London, Weymouth might have become the urban seaside playground that Brighton did under the patronage of George IV. It still feels gratifyingly distant from London - prices are much lower, the pace is slower and the attractions enjoyably old-fashioned. Weymouth is a charming place, well worth visiting even when you need to wear three pullovers.

Over 50000 pictures now available

The picture library offers more than 50000 images and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include spraycan art, snow in springtime, Brighton's West Pier, Bournemouth, Weymouth, vans, flowers and cars. The site has several ways to help make relevant and fruitful searches, including index pages for both subjects and events & places.  There is also a useful search guide and information page.

A good showcase of the type and range of photography available can be explored in the pictures of the week series. Published on the site since December 2001, this now totals over 3000 images. Each week brings a set of ten pictures about a particular place, event or theme. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD, prices start from as little as £8 and there is further information on the prices and terms & conditions pages. You can also contact David Gray for quotations and availability for new photography commissions.

Jeans for sale in a Brighton street market, April 2008 (image 2755-56)