#34 Sneaky!

Understated and mostly unnoticed

Above: Dreye on the side of the 101N, 2011

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All images copyright Steve Grody

The forms of modern graffiti range from tags through large multi-crew productions. There is also a continuum from commissioned to permission to unsanctioned. Furthermore, there is a continuum from “Ever’body passing by gonna notice this!” to a lot of sneaky hit-ups that are generally not noticed or ignored by the passerby unless they are graffiti writers—spots where a writer might think, “Hmm, that’s a nice little minor spot, what would it take to get up there?” This is a range of spots that are all pretty sneaky.

Above: Powdr (AKA Polvo and Arbe) LTS KOG, Mission Junction, 2023, not seen from the street and out of the way

Overlapping issues in this post would include public space, non-vandalistic/illegal, indigenous L.A. letterforms, risk taking, holding onto a spot, climbing involved, personal style, commitment.

Above: Z67R of MTA/RK and Buge of BAMC on a small freeway adjacent wall, Elysian Valley, 2017. RK is for “Ruthless Killers” and while that might sound like a violent gang, the “killing” means “killing it,” as in doing something of high degree, like a comedian that “killed” the audience.

Above: some writers really hang on to a spot, so a few months after the above shot, Buge (who also writes Buges and Buger) and Z67R came back again

Above: Perps, Agod and Brega, 101N, 2013, just past the 4-Level exchange, but still a significant drop off that narrow ledge if not careful

Above: Same spot, 2017, this time with Drake, Z67R and Buger

There are a number of the same writers in this post, and that’s simply because over the last months as I have been going through my archive to find photos to illustrate issues, these just happened to be the ones I came across, giving me the “sneaky” theme idea, but there are many writers that do hidden-in-plain-sight graffiti

Above: And one of those Usual Suspects that has been very active, Powdr/Polvo from the last few years on overpass supports

Above: Klean LTS, Pico Gardens, 2021, and what I like about this is that he shows that just because it’s a curb, it can still be a simple piece rather than just a tag

Above: Klean, in that same industrial area as above, decorating a barrier with a very narrow but full-on piece

Above: Dreye and Yikes LTS KOG under the 5N/110S in Elysian Village, 2005, a classic sneaky spot

Above: and continuing to the right of the above shot, Arbe and Fishe

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