"Fuck the Buff": TA Wall Update

On the 20th and 21st of October I made a couple of quick runs to the TA Wall and Factory to see if there was any recent activity. It seems that the buffing is still in full effect. The upper wall area looks to have been maintained regularly having only a few hollow throw ups and tags. Towards the far west end a lone fill in by MEAT and a hollow done by LEGAL were the only hits that were up on the wall. The supports along the way are also equally as bare with only a few tags and throw ups. The above image is a pan shot of the buffed upper wall. Not the best pan shot put together but it does show you the extent of the buffing on the upper wall.

Alveno and Kode rocked a couple of burners on the support across from the junction box platform as well. Other than MEAT, ROCO and FIEFER bombed the area -FIEFER having tagged up most of the supports running from the west end down the service path leading to the lower wall. Repeatedly he wrote the message "Repeignez bande d'encules!" ("Paint over these fuckers' buff!) on almost every support column along the way.

I made my way to the lower wall area and found that it had also been recently buffed. It seemed, however, that the local writing community was not going to give this wall up as easily, evidenced by a good amount of tags, throw ups, and some pieces that had gone up recently. And they were not happy about it either. Numerous grievances scrawled in spray paint and marker on the wall and surrounding supports: "fuck buffing", "fuck the buff", "Beau pillage de fonds publics" ("Nice waste of public funds"), and another wrote "You suck, let this grey city have color on our walls, let us have art". "Fuck the buff" though seemed the most popular choice by many of the writers as it was pretty much up on the area from end to end. Clearly local writers were unimpressed and had decided to voice their discontent of the recent buffing of the TA Wall.

Although the upper wall has been maintained pretty regularly for the last while, the lower wall will not be silenced so easily. The importance of this spot to the local graffiti community has definitely been voiced to the city and MTQ. The TA Wall is an historical referent for local writers, years of painting have been put into this spot, it is a pillar when it comes to unofficial spots for painting. The comments and recent activity at the wall displays the outrage of writers to the buffing of this area and their resolve to fight for it. Keep posted, I'll be checking this spot as regularly as I can and keeping my ear to the rail for anything in the headlines.

I'll post my factory pics from the 21st soon.

CBR October 2009

Cybertron By the River (CBR) is one of the oldest bombing spots in Montreal. Its a dirty, muddy, and messy area soaked in tags, throw ups, and the occasional piece that has for the longest time been a place where writers can go just to throw up a few hits, hang out, blow off some steam, and practice some styles. Nothing stays up long at CBR as many toys tend to scribble all over the place but you'll probably at best get a shelf life of a week or two depending on the traffic that flows through.

What I like the most about this place is that every time you stop by to check it out it's different, changed, even if slightly. Someone is always getting up here. CBR is easily over a few hundred feet long and runs a little further down beyond the main wall as the ceiling height vanishes under a highway on-ramp. And it's completely covered end to end, top to bottom.

I've got many flicks of this place over the years, but here are a few recent shots I got while hanging with some members from MY (MontrealogY) Crew this past weekend. I got more flicks in the vault that'll be posted soon enough. Enjoy these for now.