In London a few weeks ago I looked round some commercial galleries. It was a type of gallery which I hadn't been in before; it was like a shop, hoping that every person walking through the door was a potential buyer. The art itself wasn't even very interesting, like something you'd expect to find in Frasier Crane's apartment. The exterior of the galleries looked like a shop window, but the staff weren't as stand offish as I expected, even when we asked how much each item cost, knowing that we wouldn't be able to afford. It was a side of art that I wasn't familiar with and hadn't had much experience with, but it is there.

This piece has stuck with me since going to Kendell Geer's show at the Baltic last year. It'd be interesting to see how this piece would work in the public realm. Obviously no council would give it the go ahead, but it would be interesting to see the reaction of the public. The public is made up of many different people and so it would be received in many different ways. some would be offended because they have been brought up to think that swearing is offensive, some would be offended, but not like it because they think it's trying to be controversial for the sake of being controversial and some would enjoy it and get something meaningful from it. A wide range of views from a wide range of people.

A way to do something like this without the hassle of getting permission and risk assessments is guerrilla projections or graffiti.

Berlin was excellent for this. Large scale graffiti art on the sides of buildings without any permission and seen by a huge audience, some will like it, some will hate - different people, different views. This is different to projections because it's permanent (more or less) and probably ticks off the local authorities a lot more, although Berlin seemed to be pretty relaxed about it.

It's interesting because many of these artists probably haven't had a traditional art education and wouldn't be able to get their art in a gallery, yet their work is seen by more people. The difference being people choose to go to galleries to look at art but graffiti is thrust upon everyone which changes the way it is received. Some of the ones in Berlin were very impressive though.

There's a video on YouTube by the same artist that did the one above but as a stop motion animation that moves all over Buenos Aires and Baden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4

Very impressive, but they didn't half make a mess...