But is it art?

I could have taken thousands of photos of Melbourne street art/grafitti. I could even have got a t-shirt that states I (heart) Melbourne Grafitti. And a book of the same.

But no. Showing uncharacteristic restraint, and choosing not to prompt a divorce as I halted mid-stride to take yet another photo of some sticker or scrawling on the side of a building that looked kinda cool, I only captured a couple of examples.

I'm not sure why it's so prolific there. Wellington was becoming that way for a bit, but stencil art seems to be no longer the avenue of artistic expression du jour. Places where it was really strong, like Peter McLeavey's doorway, now resemble tagged out Auckland railway sidings more than Melbourne alleyways. The slyly humorous stecil has gone and in it's place is the urgency of a crude, indecipherable and illegitimate aerosol autograph.

Shame really.