Graffiti Overload

Okay, I promise I will never complain about Santa Barbara's lack of graffiti ever again.  I wanted gritty.  I got gritty.  After one week in Berlin, I experienced graffiti overload--every neighborhood, every vacant lot, fence, wall and pillar were splashed with art.  After visiting the Tacheles Art Gallery, as wonderful as it was,  all I wanted to do for the rest of the day was stare up at a clear blue sky and breathe fresh air.

The Tacheles is a five-story building on Oranienburgerstrasse.  Every square inch is covered in paint or plastered with a poster.  It was oddly beautiful and at times, erotic and downright crass.  The building has seen its share of colorful pasts.  It was once a department store, a showroom for an electric company and an office for the SS.  It was to be demolished in 1990, but a group of artists rallied together to occupy the place and actually won historic landmark status for it.  Amazing!  It has provided housing and work space for artists ever since, although its future still remains uncertain.  There were many exhibits going on while I toured it last month.  I bought this bracelet from one of the artists there.  Love the way he took an everyday object and transformed it into a unique piece of jewelry.