I do believe that graffiti is a genuine art that should be given a legal space but "FREE KLUTZ" stuff all over that wall just cannot be admired. I would not mind if "Klutz" were drawing meaningful pictures or inventing thought-provoking phrases or something but tagging is pointless and a waste of time and tax-payers money. It means nothing to anyone except the chief scrawler and perhaps a few of his immature friends. The fact that there is no legal space for graffiti in Manchester does not give Klutz or anyone else the right to damage other people's property or force them to walk through desecrated subways.

It is the duty of everyone everywhere to fight, by whatever means available to them, for access to avenues of expression.

Don't miss the point. The images above are not works of art they are a protest against the incarceration of our youth.

For great cost of cleaning wall's hundreds of youth projects could have been funded to provide futures for our children.

This itself shows where the council's priorities lie and for this alone I will be out writing on the walls.

FREE KLUTZ!!!

>It is the duty of everyone everywhere to fight, by whatever means available to them, for >access to avenues of expression.

Do you find access to avenues of expression blocked for you then ?

>Don't miss the point.
>The images above are not works of art they are a protest against the
>incarceration of our youth.

The kid is 17 years old, and, unless he's mentally deficient, he should be held accountable for his vandalism (you've stated above that this is not "art") - or do you assume that everyone else should bear the cost of this self-indulgent selfish youth ?

>For great cost of cleaning wall's hundreds of youth projects could have been funded to >provide futures for our children.

He's 17 and not a child and did you ever consider the fact that if there wasnt shit scrawled all over the walls that had to be cleaned up then there'd be more money around to provide for the "futures for our children"

>This itself shows where the council's priorities lie and for this alone I will be out >writing on the walls.

Then you are a twat who obviously doesn't have to pay the ridiculous council charges that go in some way to clean up your mess.
Ask your parent(s) what they think about you vandalising your estate... i imagine they'll be thrilled !
You scrawling on walls will have absolutely no affect on the council whatsoever. You'll just make the areas around you look even more shitty than they do now. - but then, that was never your intention anyway.... You just want to look big around your mates and get a little bit of attention. - because, after all, you are *special* arent you.

the "punishment" that youngsters face for writing on walls seems to be a bad joke! we totally support the free klutz campaign - and would welcome space were people can express themselves and colour the city, use the walls as a canvas. Put in prison rapists, and murders, and provide public skateparks, with surfaces that people can express themselves. This is urban expression - give us our space We are not criminals and yes we have ethics!
Freedom for art and expression - no more grey walls!
Non Compos Mentis 2003 - o+ -

boomshanka!

yeah he is 17 and wrote on walls - Big Deal! not all people had a life full of inspirations and stimulation. yet he is treated as a criminal!

street art is an expression of our culture and counterculture. Communication = billboards, flyposters corporate advertising. As high tech communications increase a low-tech reaction has been the recent exposion in the streets (Tristan Manco)

"the idea of using the urban landscape as a canvas remains constant. if u want to get your point across there s only one way to do it: get your message to where the public can see it. Poster , sticker, stencil" D. Kinsey.

All our support to Joe and klutz and the campaign. Use the streets - communicate!

a marker and a spray can do not equal guns and knives: make our city colourful and safe! rather than project this "clean" walls within a city with real crime

o+ NonComposMentis2003 0+

Scrawling crap on a wall is not expression, nor is it communication, nor does it make the grey city any more attractive. In fact it does the opposite of all these things, as it is meaningless and only contributes to people's fear of the urban areas.

I do agree that Klutz should not be in prison though. He should be out being forced to clean all his pointless mess up. I am confident that this form of community service would genuinely rehabilitate him and show him that the rest of the world do not want to have to look at his tags, rightly compared previously to a dog peeing on a wall.

Scrawling crap on a wall is not expression, nor is it communication, nor does it make the grey city any more attractive. In fact it does the opposite of all these things, as it is meaningless and only contributes to people's fear of the urban areas.

I do agree that Klutz should not be in prison though. He should be out being forced to clean all his pointless mess up. I am confident that this form of community service would genuinely rehabilitate him and show him that the rest of the world do not want to have to look at his tags, rightly compared previously to a dog peeing on a wall.

by saying "free klutz" you ARE communicating that you believe he should be free therefore it is "communication" especially when people read it and react to it (contact us if u need a definition of communication). By using paint that is not grey you are changing the colour from grey to the colour u r using. ur arguments are poor and factless.
think harder
lots of love , NonComposMentis2003 0+

>...contributes to people's fear of the urban areas (paul -twice)

does graffiti contribute to people's fear of the urban areas? well as person who lives in the city drunk drivers, abusive people, rapists, gunshots and thief opportunists contribute to the fear of the urban life - not a picture or a writing on the wall saying Free Klutz i.e. free a 17 year old!

For Jeff's sake, get rid of rapists, abusers, paedophiles, murderers, drug dealers = this is what clean city should mean, not erase some graffiti from a wall. Target the REAL problems, do not create a superficially "clean" city!

x ncm2003 0+

I don't care how many walls he wrote on. What will prison do to him? It ain't going to change things for the better. You get less than that for driving cars into people and leaving them in a bloody heap in the road.
Free Klutz