UPDATE: After publishing this post we received information that another Woodland Avenue business, Lil’ Pop Shop, located at 46th and Woodland, has also been recently tagged (see photo below). Here’s what Lil’ Pop Shop owner, Jeanne Chang, writes: “Our window on Woodland Ave was also tagged… Our cameras didn’t pick anything up, unfortunately, but it looks like the same color and writing.”
Even neophyte taggers know the ultimate rule: Don’t write over someone else’s work.
Apparently three amateurs either didn’t get that memo or didn’t care when they tagged a new YOMI mural commissioned and painted on the front of Philly Homebrew Outlet’s storefront near 47th and Woodland. The upside is that these geniuses were caught on video early Friday morning. So a little public shaming is in order.
In a YouTube video entitled “47th St Scum Vandals Taggers Caught On Camera,” two taggers are clearly seen from a couple of different angles defacing the mural.
Nikolay Milushev, the YOMI artist, weighed in on social media – with the hashtag #scribblerssuck – after he found out:
“To the tagger/s that vandalized my mural on 47 St. @phillyhomebrew. NOT COOL 👎. This piece was commissioned and paid for by the owners of @phillyhomebrew !! What you guys did was amateur, childish and disrespectful not only towards the mural but the business that this piece was designed for. @phillyhomebrew is combining the knowledge of brewing , bread and cheese making, bee keeping and many other wonderful things with the talents of local artists to bring color, knowledge and fun to your neighborhood. Please don’t do stupid, childish things like this to the people and local businesses that are trying to brighten up the world around you. For this is what gives street art and graffiti a bad name.”
Lil’ Pop Shop on Woodland Ave was also tagged.
October 11th, 2016 at 10:26 am
White kids suck. Someone must know them. Speak up.
October 11th, 2016 at 10:49 am
people who think white kids suck, or that it’s ok to write “white kids suck” on the internet, are racist jerks.
October 11th, 2016 at 10:59 am
These white kids suck, and I’m white.
October 11th, 2016 at 11:29 am
Those are also the three people who did the massive black spray paint on the church on Baltimore and the Bar(n) before it opened. They rode off on bicycles.
October 11th, 2016 at 11:42 am
This look like the exact same kids I saw using black spray paint on the Bar(n) and a nearby church in Dec. 2014. They ride off on bicycles then.
October 11th, 2016 at 11:47 am
I just wanted to say that these kids are the powerful voice of the oppressed, speaking truth to power with CFC-free propellants….
Hahahaha. Just joking. I’m sure someone will say that.
But seriously, hope the police find them.
October 11th, 2016 at 11:58 am
They’re adults, not kids. They know better.
October 11th, 2016 at 12:59 pm
Don’t care about them or their tag, but I do love the amount of pearl-clutching dismay they’re inspiring.
Also, did anyone fact-check the claim that “don’t write over someone else’s work” is the “ultimate rule”? That’s sort of like saying that “don’t say fuck you” is the ultimate rule…
October 11th, 2016 at 3:06 pm
1. The graffiti along the Northeast corridor is the graf holy land. So beautiful and sacred. Preserved pieces dating back to the early 80’s. Respect for real writers. Respect for murals!
2. Please return to Brooklyn (or suburb from whence you crawled out of). Your house shows are not ironic enough.
October 11th, 2016 at 4:53 pm
FWIW, tagged the Rec Center, West Philly Tool Library, Lil’ Pop Shop too.
October 11th, 2016 at 5:12 pm
In the graffiti world, murals that are legal get tagged all the time. Going over someone’s work that’s not a mural has consequences among other graffiti writers, but unless a muralist is also getting up on the street it’s not a big deal for a lot of graffiti writers. Not going over someone else isn’t the ultimate rule. A hollow or throw up goes over a tag, and a piece or burner goes over that. Whoever wrote this doesn’t know about graffiti.
October 11th, 2016 at 5:35 pm
Philadelphia has more respect for its murals than that. Graf or non graf murals like the mural arts project deserve more respect than that. There’s a lot of ugliness still in this city. Let’s keep the beauty separate. That’s all that’s real.
October 11th, 2016 at 6:01 pm
*reportedly* hit the bougie West Philly Tool Library also.. That’s taking it to The Man
October 11th, 2016 at 7:38 pm
Oh preciously little snowflakes – Great Cthulhu sees all, especially this close to Halloween.
October 11th, 2016 at 10:42 pm
Have these jerks been IDed?
October 12th, 2016 at 4:02 am
It’s interesting that we rarely if ever even get full descriptions of other criminals or vandals on this forum. I’ve been following this forum for ten plus years, and have lived in the neighborhood much longer. When there are robberies or rapes or worse, the forum will just say something like “Three male figures … ” even when their race, ages, and more complete descriptions are known and there are multiple witnesses or videos. Why is this? We live in an era of organized touchiness.
October 12th, 2016 at 9:25 am
If you have a problem with it, go to another forum. You can start your own if you wish.
There is video in this story. If you’re not blind, it’s easy to see exactly who the perps are. Or you can walk outside and yell at the clouds.
October 12th, 2016 at 9:36 am
Taggin’ up progress in the dead of night isn’t hipster or ironic. It’s not Dada. It’s not creative expression. It’s not civil d. nor is it tactfully defiant. It’s populist trite. It’s weak. It’s Nerf ball (no offense to the good people at Nerf). It’s impotent. Real art destroys negativity. Not vicey versey.
October 12th, 2016 at 11:00 am
Simon says, write “NO” for kicks on people’s property. Then walk to South Philly. Gotcha! Simon didn’t say walk to South Philly. You lose!
October 12th, 2016 at 12:27 pm
lol whoever said the mural arts project deserves respect might not know it’s history in relation to the graffiti world. the mural arts project was started by the city to reduce graffiti and get kids off the street and into the galleries and onto legal walls. if someone wants to take advantage of that to get some cash from them on the side ok. but they aren’t well respected or deserving of respect, their explicit original goal was to take the wild essence out of graffiti. if you’re upset a mural got tagged say that, but saying it’s “not cool” or isn’t “””real””” street art really shows where youre coming from.
October 12th, 2016 at 12:48 pm
I’m not sure what your point is. Are you stating that the mural arts project is or is not deserving of respect?
Are you stating that the two people who scribbled on a multiple properties are or are not deserving of respect?
I think by know, most people in the city are aware of the origins of the mural arts project.
Are you trying to make the point that the scribblers are part of the graffiti world and are thus deserving of respect or should be somehow vindicated?
Are you saying that the editor shouldn’t dis the scribblers by calling them “not cool”?
Kindly elaborate.
October 12th, 2016 at 7:11 pm
It wasnt so long ago that tagging wouldnt even be news in this section of the city. Honestly, I miss those days.
October 13th, 2016 at 12:17 am
These losers are too pathetic too waste much time is, the hilarious part is that they probably think they’re creative, cutting-edge “life artists” or something equally stupid.
October 13th, 2016 at 12:19 am
These losers are too pathetic to waste much time on, the hilarious part is that they probably think they’re creative, cutting-edge “life artists” or something equally stupid.
October 13th, 2016 at 10:14 am
Words so nice, you gotta say ’em twice!
*Also, since when was spray painting ‘NO’ on numerous storefront windows considered tagging!? Am I that not with it.
**Also, I didn’t see this piece picked up on the news, unless you consider this ‘the news’.
I miss those bygone days when vandalism was just old hot in this section of the city….
October 13th, 2016 at 10:16 pm
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Watch-Group-vandalizes-graffiti-artists-mural-in-West-Philadelphia.html
http://www.phillyvoice.com/philly-street-artist-blasts-scribblers-videotaped-defacing-beer-monster-mural/
http://6abc.com/news/mural-vandals-caught-on-camera-in-sw-philly/1552705/
October 14th, 2016 at 9:57 am
You go, bro. Surf that net good!
October 19th, 2016 at 4:47 pm
Sad state of affairs when varmint trash thinks it’s ok to deface private property. I hope someone catches these three and castrates them.
October 19th, 2016 at 5:45 pm
Hear hear Strongforu!