The Return of SUSPISH! to Stark Street

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We have, out here in 122nd Land, the occasional recurring cartoon character in the form of graffiti.

Today, one came back. He's SUSPISH, and he's on the back of a building on the south side of Stark just east of 122nd that's exposed to the big north parking lot that still surrounds the former Fabric Depot:

I don't know who his friend is, but it looks like he's been in a scrape or two.

SUSPISH has formerly surfaced along Stark at 146th by the Franz Bakery Thrift store, either in a former anglerfish or perhaps it's a cousin, in April of 2021. We also sustained a very small invasion by friendly aliens back in April (coincidentally) of 2016). 

I do wonder if they are all done by the same local Banksy? 

Heavy Boxcar Typographic Graffiti

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I can't entirely suss the meeting behind this graffiti, seen on a boxcar on the mainline alongside Columbia Blvd earlier today, but I do enjoy the visual texture of it all, the lovely rainbow color.

There's some other stuff going on over there to the right that I wish I could hove gotten in the shot, but I was shooting this from the driver's seat of Olivia on the road and there was scarce traffic but that's not really that smart a thing to do and everything was in motion anyway, and I was thrilled that I got this.

The heaviness of the strokes made me think I was looking at Hebrew, just briefly.

Some good damn art going on with graffiti, I must say.

Steel Bridge With Railway Line

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Another of the Steel Bridge, but this time from a slightly more distanct POV.

Just back of the Oregon Convention Center, NE Lloyd Blvd curves northward to meet Interstate Avenue and Oregon Street at the east end of the Steel Bridge. By aiming the camera lens through the bars that prevent people from throwing stuff and climbing down, we get a view that includes a bit of the railway line for a foreground effect that's kind of iron-punk.

I enjoy the graffiti here. The graffiti in these areas always has the artistic touch to it, not some sloppy hit'n'run tag, but some real detail and thought.

Suspishus Fishus, SE Stark at 146th

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There's a Franz Bread thrift store we regularly shop at at 146th and SE Stark, and there is a building immediately west of that across a parking lot where quite a few retired and on-the-way-to-the-wrecking-lot big trucks get stored, and the building on that lot is a yellow building that used to have a hotel and motel furniture clearance store. It has not been that store, being vacant now, for several years but the building still wears its signs and colors and occasionally the random street artist will leave their mark, but occasionally the inspired guerrilla wall-flare insurgent with some talent and wit will stop by ... and leave their suspishions on the wall, for all to see.

 If there's a way to angle for the attention of my camera, this isn't a bad one. 

[Out122ndWay] Artistic Graffiti, Midland Park

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Midland Park is a little park adjacent to the Midland Library. If you go past on 122nd, you miss it; it's access is at the far end of the parking lot. You're much more likely to drive past it if you use SE Morrison between 122nd and 117th, but that's a neighborhood street.

It's a disquieting picture sometimes down Morrison. RVs and trucks of the houseless and homeless park there. But that's life these days. And, like life, next to the bitter, there's the sweet. There's a very lovely graffiti there, sprayed some time ago on a cinder block wall abutting a shed on a neighboring property.

See? quite masterfully done. A lot of lovely punchy color, a real gift to the eye. A bit of salsa in the panorama.

Closeups like this would make for good backs of album covers. Frustrated designer that I am, I occasionally take pictures thinking would this look good on an album? It's not a bad design motive, really. Some of the most memorable pictures have been album covers.

And this? This is Midland Park:

[Out122ndWay] 122nd Avenue Graffiti Blogging

2853.Anyone can freeway-blog. It takes real courage to do this sort of thing:

You can see it there in the distance: a white design, limned in red, over the southbound lanes of NE 122nd Avenue, at the railroad overpass. If you know how narrow the road gets there, even without traffic, you'd need a gut-check before climbing up there. 

Some 20 feet over that patch of hard asphalt, between Fremont Street and the I-84 egress/access, a plaintive question is asked:

WE MUST SERIOUSLY QUESTION A SOCIETY THAT DOES NOT VALUE THIER CHILDRENS EDUCATORS.

The idea of graffiti to get people to ask themselves questions like this leaves me torn. I don't care for the  defacing of anything with graffiti, however, this one has definite style going for it, an almost Banksy-esque approach. Clearly stencilling was used here, no doubt to aid in composition as well as the getting-in-getting-out speed.

The biggest question for me, I guess, is why here? Certainly 122nd is busy-busy, and thousands of cars go that way each day. However, it's in such a tough spot to see … you wouldn't think so, but but the time you're up under it, close enough to see, it's flashed by, and even if you could crane your neck to look as you go under you're taking your eyes off some very precarious road. Big trucks use this stretch. They has to.

So, we'll give them points for going outside the box and style, at least.

And maybe seriously question a society that does not value their educators. Some of us have been doing that for a while, now.