Out for a bike ride this past Monday afternoon, I had an odd surprise whilst going up a little side street not too terribly far from home that I'd never taken before. From a distance I could see a big splash of graffiti painted on a wall, and thought, uh-oh, might be a photo there. But it was only after I'd gotten right up to it, and after looking at it for a while, and then pushing some ivy and shrubbery out of the way to see the hidden letters, that finally it dawned on me that :
a) it was in English, which is odd, given that this is in France, and
b) it was not one of the usual rather hateful messages of many works of graffiti, it was not glorifying gang killings or drugs or sex or other adolescently stultifying subject matter, but was brightly proclaiming : I Love My Parents !
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Now go figure, who is going to take the time and make the effort to spray paint a big mural message on a wall saying "I Love My Parents" ? ? ? What is your take on this ? ? ? What might have motivated someone to do this ? ? ? Is it like the young sports stars who get on TV and wave at the camera saying, "Hi Mom !" ? Well, Mom & Dad, in case you happen to see this, this post is for you !
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43 comments:
Maybe this child just found out who his parents were... and long lost now found and the child sees that they are amazing, that somthing amazing lives inside him or her... I love my parents very much, I love my father very much, strange but I feel he gave birth to me, that my father somehow gave me magic before I entered this world.
It was a Christmas present to the parents. Notice the "happy xmas" on the left side? The artist created this beautiful gift for his/her parents and proudly brought them here to present it to them.
I hope the little tyke didn't get paint on his glasses or his shorts before he ran home with the little red balloon billowing in his cute little fist...! ;-)
How amazing !
And I love the way you finish the story. I would do the same :-)
So ther's hope, hurrah, not only bad feelings around:)
You've done it AGAIN!!!
its amazing how you get to all these stuff.
I LOVE MY PARENTS is exactly the opposite what most graffiti artists wouldve said. the closest to that will be the tattoo some guys get..
"i love mum"
Well done Owen!!
:D
It was sprayed on the walls of the home for, utterly useless hooligans:-D
I'll bet the fella who did that got reprimanded and forced to write a thousand lines of "I must write obscenity", bless him..
Also liked the fact he sprayed happy x-mas aswell, just to be reaalllly daring! He'll be a danger that lad!
Excellent example of the ironic bent of an anti-graffito artist. Very rare. A priceless find, Mr.Toad.
(Check your daughter's room for paint cans while you're at it.)
Hallmark, eat your heart out :) (humm - I just realized that 'eat your heart out' is a very peculiar idiom)
That is bizarre and would be a great creative writing prompt. Are the said parents dead? Is it all a little bit Freudian? Maybe someone's just happy to be out of the British school system? ;)
I too would suspect clever irony. Either that or a French person with a very limited English vocabulary trying to show off.
Hi Owen ! Un peu de temps pour te pondre un commentaire !
A mon avis, il manque un morceau à ton graph...! I love my ... parents ! Alors, j'ai pensé à "futurs", "f.....g", pleins de choses que tes branches nous cachent décemment !... Non, mais c'est pas ça !... Déformation professionnelle ! ! !
J'ai bien aimé l'autre message où on voyait de belles jambes de jeunes filles ! je parle de la qualité de la photo ! Les couleurs étaient splendides !
Sinon, tu vas râler, mais c'est pas grave...! C'est parce que je t'aime bien !...
Tout ton côté droit ressemble à un listing, un checklist qui fait un peu rébarbatif !... Si si ! ! !
Tu dois dire, "mais qu'est-ce qu'il m'emmerde ce con...!" mais pourtant, it's true ! Un trou ! Du vide ! plus de photos de blogs sur le côté droit ! C'est dommage pour moi ! Alors, sinon, profites-en pour agrandir tes photos centrales !...
Bon, j'arrête, tu vas me maudire !... Boff ! Après tout, ce sont tes textes qui apportent du relief à tes images...! mais tout de même !
A plus Owenquisefaitrare !...;)=
Great, thanks for the unusual, as always.
I think this kid is sort of practising saying "I want to thank my Mom and Dad ", when she wins the "Oscar!"
That's a really cool find Owen! Indeed I've never seen that kind of graffiti before! Lucky kid.
Sounds like a little sarcastic American brat who graffiti'd his own parents' wall. "Oh, yeah, I love ya!" Probably hadn't become acclimated to France yet. OR, maybe he got a new car from them!
Very unusual find, Owen.
Sorry Owen ! J'ai rien dis sur les photos !... J'ai pas encore pris ma tisane... Par contre, j'ai dû en renverser hier soir sur mon clavier, mon ordi ! ! ! Blogger me joue parfois des tours !...<8:|
Bizarre, bizarre ! ! !
How random! I hope my kids feel like that at least ONCE in their lives. Or perhaps, the "artiste" had put something yukky and his/her parents crept out at night and changed it but left his/her signature. yes. Thats what happened. I like that idea.
It's nice to see something pleasant in grafitti. I hope the kid is proclaiming his admiration to the world ... but maybe he/she is just hoping to butter up mom and dad so they'll buy him/her a car for the upcoming 16th birthday??
Said parents brought the artist to France and this is the thank you note! I love it.
Good morning Owen, still am amazed about the 'force' which takes you to all these places, being able to take a picture, sharing with the world. Thank you. By the way, you might like to click upon the 'out' within the latest entry of mine.
Wow..I have never seen this type of graffiti before. How DO you find the most intriguing shots???
Hope your week is going well. :)
Very cool. As a parent, I'd have mixed feelings about it. Flattered pride versus "you defaced the wall!" Parenting is a tough gig. ;)
I think the woman in the pink kneehigh socks is responsible for this horrendous crime. Someone should call the Gendarme and haul that person right off to the hoosegow where they will not endanger any more defenseless concrete walls! Your photo may be the break in the case that the detectives are looking for! Good work Mr. Owen! Best wishes from Mr. and Mrs. Slug, "wallhuggers"
A cool and rare find! The one who did this has a really extraordinary way to express and declare his love to his parents. I hope it doesn't stop on the wall. :)
"My Parents" is, perhaps, the nickname of a murderous French street gang?
I go for the "Happy Christmas" option,
GG
Oh My Goodness !!! 27 luminous comments from all you wonderfully brilliant, percolating, inspiring, joyously mad people... I can't tell you how big my grin is while reading all your radiant words here... !!!
I'll be back as soon as I can, but I work for a shipping company, and right now we've got four vessels broken down at four different ports around Europe, I cannot even begin to describe to you the headaches that causes for little old me at work, customers all over the map yelling for their freight !!! Arrrrgggghhhhhh !!! So I will be back here and at your places just as soon as I can get this humongous mess mopped up... but jeez, watch out, if you keep showering these incredibly funny and fabulous comments in here, I'm gonna start saying things I don't normally say, like... I love you all !!! Yer too much !!!
And yes, I tend to agree, I think this could be the work of a very dangerous gang of bandits who have taken it into their twisted minds to try to start spreading seeds of happiness in the world... Wouldn't that be a nice change from the usual fare being bandied about in the press ???
It's a conspiracy I tells ya!
:)
GOOD LUCK sorting that shipping mess out!!! Angry customers...oi!
I bet it was a teenager out on his very first holiday abroad, probably with school, and suddenly got homesick.
No mum to prepare his meals; no dad to lend him money.
Such things are just o necesary for teenagers.
That IS unusual, but what a really wonderful find!
Owen, stay away from the Indian Ocean and the coast of Somalia and pirates! Be careful! Safe return!
gros bisoux Owen...
see you soon... prend soin de toi...
jt'attend pour le café...:)..fais vite...
Interesting. WOW! Be safe!!
Good one. I think it's a gift, too. What an interesting shot!
I love it - and I prefer to think it is someone who wants to share with the world what GREAT parents he/she has.
It has a joyful look, so probably not from a gang. But then I know nothing about gangs.
Owen, thanks so much for the wonderful comment you left on my blog. I was smiling ear to ear as I read it. It definately made my day. You are very kind and generous to leave such a comment.
Hi Faye, you are more than welcome, and I mean it... hope you had a sec to see the shopping cart... I just can't get over your photos !!!
I really like the I Love My Parents proclamation in graffiti. I would like your permission to use this photo on my blog with a link to your post.
Techno... sure, no problem... this message should be spread... graffiti does not always have to be an ugly message... ;-D
Thanks for asking !
Beyond the reason and meaning, which is beyond me (!), I love the art of this graffiti. I love the colors in the bold, cartoonesque letters, the shiny diamonds sparkling behind them.
Very wonderful shot, Owen.
this picture is so cool, i think maybe the artist was trying to say something to the world, maybe it wasn't personal at all. i don't have these judgments at all, but sometimes people assume graffiti artists would be like bad kids with bad home lives and all that. to me this says, i'm a normal person and a keen artist
Hi NeverBB, thanks for dropping in here... yeah, that's what surprised me about this, the positive message as opposed to the frequent negativity one feels about alot of graffiti. And it was in a discrete place also, where not many people would see it, versus the usual in your face attitude of much public graffiti which is blatantly placed on surfaces that belong to someone else, a big F U at the world in general... This was a refreshing change from all that...
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Hi Lydia, your comment had escaped me, glad you liked it, this was graffiti with a twist, and well executed to boot...
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