Christ taken off the cross, we immediately think of an image, or the idea of Christ being taken off the cross. So when I came across a weeping Marry over her dead son I immediately recognized the image but what I saw was not painting or sculpture but graffiti. On my way home I looked up at an end of road sign, a “T” on a blue field with the top of the “T” red and the rest white, and I am confronted with this image. Marry is in the streets still weeping over her dead son, I can still see a ghost image of christ’s body having been previously hung on the cross, “T”. This image is so loaded it is perfect for the political side of graffiti and at the same time the maker of this image is having a conversation with every artist who has ever made such a work of art. In no way do I think the maker is mocking the church but is choosing to reappraise the image. Even if the maker is mocking the church he/she is subtle in his/her stance.
Throughout the history of art there have been collectors and connoisseurs and with graffiti any and everyone can be both. All you need is to take a moment and look around, take a picture if you want, question its motivations, ask questions that cant be answered. Decide for yourself if graffiti is art, if so why, what is good, what is bad, what do you like, what do you want to see? Graffiti has no patron but is a product of its time and place. Only here in Florence could I see Marry weeping over her dead son’s body in class then go to any museum and see it in person and be in aww of its power as an art object and on my way home see it again this time new and fresh as graffiti.
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