Beating the Writers
‘Writers’ is what Milan’s band of graffiti artists call themselves. I’m not all that sure as to the artistic merit of their efforts, which in the main appear to be attempting to scrawl their names just about everywhere and anywhere, including on the façade of our appartment block.
All the scrawl finally got to the Milanese authorities and measures have been taken to reduce the effects of the so-called writers. One of these measures has been the removal of the ‘art attacks’ from many of the buildings in Milan. No mean feat, as it would appear that these chaps, for they are mainly male, have managed to cover just about every single building with their ‘art’.
Our appartment building recently benefited from a ‘writing removal’ session, and it looks much the better for it. Indeed, many of the buildings around us have had the artwork removed, and, they too, look much more civilised.
Meanwhile some of the main ‘artists’ have been rounded up and fined.
As to how long all the clean walls will last, is anybody’s guess, but for the moment, this little battle appears to be being won.
As can been seen from my ‘Shutter Art‘ post, some of the writers have taken up gainful employment as real artists, and busy themselves brightening up the steel roller shutters which adorn most of the shops in Milan. I’m all for this, as Milan after shop closing time does become a little grim with all these grey shutters down.
Hopefully, more of the name scribblers will find something better to do and leave Milan’s walls and monuments alone.
Many years ago when I first came to Milan one thing really struck me - and that was all the graffiti. It just made the whole city look a mess.
Now Milan is looking much the better for all the anti-graffiti efforts.
The Dragon’s Revenge?
Anti-Chinese feeling in my area of Milan appears to be running a little higher than usual. Someone seems to be getting some kind of warped pleasure out of scribbling ‘Cinesi merda’ (’Chinese shit’ is the translation) on the walls alongside Chinese run businesses in Via Paolo Sarpi and its immediate vicinity here in Milan.
Oddly enough, the Chinese residents of the area have not taken to writing ‘Italiani merda’ on the walls in the area, or have they? Well, I don’t really know. So, I wondered, how do you write ‘Italiani merda’ in Chinese.
Well, out of sheer curiosity I asked the bar staff of Chinese origin in a bar I pop into on Sundays for a quick coffee to write ‘Italiani merda’ in Chinese. These people chuckled a bit at my request, smiled, and then obliged, with one of them writing the offending words on a paper napkin.
Ah, I thought, now I’ll know if the Chinese are getting their own back. Except for the fact that I discovered, about two minutes later, that I could not even work out which way was the right way up for this group of two, what I assumed to be, words. I don’t even know whether the writing was a translation of the offending words, or a Chinese equivalent, to be honest. The writing could have read ‘Who is this idiot asking such a stupid question’, or worse, for all I knew.
This rather pointless act of abject curiosity has brought me to two conclusions.
First, it really would be pointless for the Chinese to go around scribbling ‘Italiani merda’ all over the place in Chinese, as the Italians would have no idea they were being insulted.
And, secondly, I doubt whether there are that many graffiti artists in China, as it would take them ages, in their elegantly complex language, to write anything on the walls there, especially seeing as the spray paint cans beloved of those who write all over the place are not the most precise of instruments. If anyone would care to correct me on the existence of graffiti artists in China, then please do.
PS We went for a Chinese meal in one of the restaurants near us this evening. And it was very good. Indeed, the fame of this particular place has even reached as far a field as Genova, or so I discovered from a friend of mine from Genova this evening.
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