Graffiti hunting on the red line

I find myself on the red line once every few weeks, usually commuting from DC to a meeting in Silver Spring, and despite all of the drama surrounding red line delays, I always look forward to the trip. Instead of burying my head in a book, I'm always treated to an ever-changing art show along the tracks. I don't go so far as to press my nose against the window, but I always get a little hyped spying all the different tags. If you haven't figured it out, the red line is known as one of the major graffiti corridors in DC.



Recently, there has been a lot of discussion over illegal versus commissioned graffiti. The red line is certainly near the center of this debate, and the folks behind The Red Line D.C. Project are driving the dialogue. You guys know I struggle with my own opinion on commissioning "graffiti".


Despite the fact that I sit on the fence about whether "approved" graffiti takes something away from the people, you can't deny that these murals are beautiful. You also can't deny that talented artists deserve a platform from which to be seen. I decided to go graffiti hunting today and capture some the things I saw last week on the line. Before we even really began the trek, we came across these murals commissioned by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and painted by Chor Boogie, Decoy, Joshua Mays, Pose 2, and Quest Skinner.

Despite falling for the colors and stories told by the murals, we continued on, following the line and searching for ways in. There were a couple of entry points we stumbled upon, and we were lucky enough to meet a nice city worker who actually let us park on city property to duck around a corner and shoot a few pictures. Thanks to him, we discovered the section below. Some of us get tired of living in a beige world, and it's these splashes of color that make things exciting.



What do you think? Are you able to appreciate random, colorful tags? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I urge you to join the conversation over at the Red Line D.C. Project.