Part 1 of Miami Herald’s Graffiti feature:

The death of Enrique Vincente Olivera, a graffiti ‘writer’ who fell to his death from a sign overhanging the Palmetto, is a cautionary tale unheeded. The subculture still thrives.

South Florida’s graffiti spray painters are an agile community of adrenaline junkies, addicted to the rush of leaving their mark.

To local police, public-works departments and private-property owners, they are a menace whose self-indulgent scribblings result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in cleanup costs.

For years, they slipped through the shadows by night, faceless and unseen. Then, on Feb. 20, a 28-year-old man known as MERK lost his footing while attempting to tag a traffic sign overhanging the Palmetto Expressway near Bird Road.

MERK, whose real name was Enrique Vincente Olivera, plunged 24 feet to the pavement, where he died as early-morning motorists whizzed by.

His death cast a spotlight on a thriving subculture. In their world, spray-paint vandals are ”writers,” and marking property is known as ”bombing.” Cemeteries, churches and personal vehicles are off-limits. Status is earned by performing dangerous acts while demonstrating artistic ability.

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NEWMAN – City leaders are hoping to raise public awareness of gangs and graffiti, and are enlisting the support of the community in a campaign to stamp out graffiti as quickly as it appears.

The city will host a town hall meeting Wednesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in the West Side Theater to present gang awareness information with an emphasis on gang graffiti to kick off its graffiti abatement program.

“The main focus of the night will be the graffiti,” Police Chief Adam McGill said. And while gang ties to graffiti are a concern, he noted, “not all graffiti is gang graffiti. We need to remember that and talk about that as well.”

Ultimately, McGill said, the city’s goal is to keep Newman as attractive as possible by removing graffiti as quickly as it appears.

Private property owners are responsible for promptly removing any graffiti which appears on walls or fences, which is where the city’s planned abatement program comes into play.

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By DAILY MAIL REPORTER:

At first glance, it looks as if some natural disaster has shaken away the walls of these buildings to reveal architecture hidden for thousands of years.

And at second and third glance, it looks like that too.

But these spectacular images are not the unexpected result of an earthquake.

The incredibly lifelike scenes are actually huge works of art, painted on the side of perfectly intact buildings. Even that woman peering into the ruin above is not real.

The paintings, which have fooled many, were created by John Pugh, who specialises in trompe l’oeil – or ‘trick of the eye’ – art.

He uses his skills to delude the viewer into seeing 3D scenes painted on flat surfaces.

The Californian-born artist said: ‘It seems almost universal that people take delight in being visually tricked.’

His works can been seen all over the world, including in the artist’s home state. The ‘earthquake’ work shown here is located on Main Street in the town of Los Gatos and was created following a genuine earthquake in 1989.

The temple-like interior apparently exposed features jaguar gods, regarded as the creators of earthquakes by the Mayans.

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A 70-year-old Chestertown man was arrested for allegedly making graffiti on an overpass on Route 9L.

Police said Kenneth C. Hopper was using spray paint to write “rowlow” onto the Warren County Bike Trail overpass just before 3 p.m. Saturday. Hopper, who Warren County Sheriffs officials said is a medical doctor, had parked his car on the shoulder of Route 9L, near American Legion drive and was spray painting on the wall as the patrol approached him. Hopper said that he did not know what the word means but found it “intriguing.”

The man was arrested and charged with making graffiti and possessing graffiti instruments, both misdemeanors. Hopper was released with an appearance ticket and will be arraigned on April 23 at Lake George Town Court.

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