So far, my dragonology blogs have been about dragons from ancient myths and legends. This time I want to talk about some modern dragons.
Graffiti artists, like all artists, can paint whatever they want. In my search for dragons around my hometown (Melbourne), I have noticed that dragons often pop up as a subject for graffiti. It pleases me that these creatures from ancient tales have made their way into popular culture.
I don’t want to get into an argument about the legalities of graffiti, but I do make a distinction between art that requires talent and ingenuity and unskilled tagging which anyone can achieve in 10 seconds. All the images I have posted here are either commissioned works or are in designated graffiti laneways.
The thing about graffiti is it is ephemeral. It could be painted over or cleaned off at any moment. Sadly some of my favourite dragons have disappeared. I guess that’s part of the ethos of graffiti and it’s what makes these dragons so special.
Below is a gallery of some of the dragons I’ve found around Melbourne over the last couple of years. Drew Funk is the most prolific dragon graffitist, so he has the most images. If there’s a date, that’s when I took the photo. If there’s no date, that means the graffiti was still there at the time of this post.
Check out my Pinterest Dragons board for more pictures.
When I was in Berlin a few years ago I photographed a lot of the graffiti on the the Berlin Wall. I was talking to an American academic who was doing the same thing and she informed me that there is a distinction between graffiti and street art. I think the beautiful drawings of dragons you have photographed would come under the category of street art.
Some of the artists refer to themselves as graffiti artists. I think street art refers to all types of public art, and graffiti is a sub genre using spray paint.