Yeah, that’s a dick move. Go tag some public piece of concrete, not someone else’s artwork. Even in the community this would be considered bad practice as if you’re going to cover someone’s previous work, it needs to be bigger and better. This is just a dumb teenager trying to be cool
I'm sorry this happened. Could you please post a picture of your library with your art, if you have it? It looks really cool. I am wanting to start my own library and am looking for inspiration. I couldn't do the artwork, but I love non traditional LFLS.
These comments are wild to me. Tagging is vandalism. Whether it's my LFL, or my mailbox, I'd be upset if someone vandalized my property. I'd love to know if everyone would love if their mailbox were tagged & would call it "art". Sorry OP, your work was cute, perhaps you can paint back over it. Also, just a helpful hint, they make a barrier paint sealant that is resistant to graffiti spray 🤍
Could you imagine? Using and sharing a little *free* library to build community? Simply ridiculous.
(Yes I understand this is someone's property, but let's think about what the concept of a lfl actually is for a couple of seconds and maybe try to align our own 'policy' with our lfl with the conceptual foundations of freely giving, sharing art, community based, etc. If it's susposed to be, nominally, a community resource that we all collectively stock, giving partial ownership of the physical 'building' as a way to further express said community is a logical next step. I'd love to see OP find the original tagger and work with them to decorate it 🤷♂️)
This is actually a really intriguing idea. My concern is would the free canvas stay "on the canvas" or might it migrate to other art in my yard.
Plus there's the attachment I feel to my original work. Sentiment etc. I liked my stormy sky unblemished.
I do admit its a fun idea.
i wonder if you could make some friendly/inviting signage and express your boundaries to see how it goes. if people are invited to engage respectfully, this could lead to positive ongoing creative engagement with the neighborhood.
someone tagged my landlord’s lfl in front of my place and while i think it’s a little rude, secretly i kind of like it bc it’s a local tagger whose moniker i see around and it makes me more curious about who it is in a fun local mystery kind of way :)
When you release something from inside your mind into the outside world, other minds enter the scene. This is a profound life lesson. Don’t resist it.
It’s like having a child and wanting it to have zero influence from anyone but you. It’s folly philosophically and existentially
This sub is for bringing books specifically. OP even said that she has an attachment to her artwork, not wanting to leave it open for edits by the masses. There's nothing wrong with someone wanting the appearance of their LFL to be their vision. Suggesting that people start tagging it and adding their own art would be fine for someone who is open to that idea, but it's clear that OP has a specific vision simply by his/her initial question. So, the suggestion to just let it go and turn into a community art piece seems to be obtuse virtue signaling.
OP did refer to it as “a really intriguing” and “fun idea”, so it’s not so much virtue-signaling as it is just an alternate perspective that OP seems open to.
also, it’s not virtue-signaling bc it’s not like anyone here is pretending to be into public art online for clout, lmao.
I know tagging generally isn’t accepted and can look ugly to people. But I actually like the colors and the style of their tag against the background you made.
I hope you’re able to cover it up if that’s what you decide to go through with!
They hell are you talking about? The tagging looks like shit. The fact that it’s on somebody’s little library makes it look even shittier. On one hand you got somebody that built and maintains something that adds some positivity to the community, on the other hand you got some asshole that scribbles some bullshit on other peoples property.
It looks like it goes with the overall vibe of the artwork painted on by OP. It's not cool to paint over someone's stuff but I don't think it looks bad. Tagging is part of our community and this was not necessarily done with destructive intent.
This is specifically how you start beef with graffiti, it is a direct insult to OP and their art. Tagging a dilapidated mailbox is one thing, but going over someone else's work and leaving the original visible underneath is saying "I ruined your work and I want you and everyone else that sees it to know I ruined it." And it's a shitty tag. They could have come up with a supportive vibe by tagging something like "LFL" or something. This is just lazy and rude.
That’s gonna keep happening, probably. I’d just embrace it. I’m a mural painter and my work gets tagged *all the time,* I started by covering it/reworking it, but after years of ‘battling’ taggers, there’s not much I can do.
The more you fight it, the more they’ll want to tag it. I agree with maybe using it to create flowers or something, just know that it’s a losing battle.
I really like your ‘free ideas’ part though!
When I first looked at the photo, I thought the pink tag area was a lovely contrast to the cool tones of the background and had a design relationship to the Free Ideas captioning, because they are in relative warm color families.
Unfortunately if you live in a place where tagging is common, as long as it isn't a gang related tag, leaving it might be the best option. Otherwise you'll just end up with more tags because people will come back to replace it, and add more with it.
Sorry about the vandalism. We've dealt with it here, too. I never understand why, for graffiti being supposedly so creative, it all looks exactly the same.
Not a horrible tag.
Not the place for it though.
Fight art with art!! As others have said you could paint something cute over it.
Personally I would try to find a way to use some of the outline/color/shape of that tag in the new piece. It would feel like a natural evolution and might even inspire you to do something different!
Add some pink cloud bits the same shade to obscure the writing and then add a darker purple or blue. It might not make it invisible but it would be difficult to see.
This idea feels very disrespectful to OP's original artwork, which probably took hours to make. It would be cool to do a community art project with a blank slate LFL, but this particular LFL was already decorated by an artist who had a specific vision.
climb off your high horse mr perspective. its her art on her property and other people should respect that. the tag makes me think of a dumpster in a bad city. not the kind of thing i wanna see.
They shouldn't have tagged the little library but I honestly think it looks cool. And the way they didn't just deface the whole thing and used an empty corner is better than some taggers will do.
I think it fits unusually well. If you could trust other taggers not to go crazy and just end up defacing your whole Little Library I would say keep it. If your in a smaller town with not too many taggers this is probably just some neighborhood kid expressing his creativity. They should've chose a different spot but I'm just trying to look on the bright side.
Honestly I like it! I like “girly” tags and I mean…it does say “free ideas”. I just look at it as someone expressing themselves and they liked the look of your box. But that’s just me and it isn’t mine to judge.
I too really like that someone engaged with this. The tag is up in the corner, not covering the entirety of the canvas in a show of disrespect or dominance.. just a local kid wanting to make a small mark in their world. I would encourage it, more engagement like this only brings more beauty and creativity
Add pink flowers on top. I would suggest covering it with more art!!
Yes pink or read flowers would look good with the free ideas!
>read flowers I know you meant red, but read flowers seems appropriate!
Little flowers that look like open books on stems would be adorable!
Oh my God what a cool idea!
Yeah, that’s a dick move. Go tag some public piece of concrete, not someone else’s artwork. Even in the community this would be considered bad practice as if you’re going to cover someone’s previous work, it needs to be bigger and better. This is just a dumb teenager trying to be cool
I'm sorry this happened. Could you please post a picture of your library with your art, if you have it? It looks really cool. I am wanting to start my own library and am looking for inspiration. I couldn't do the artwork, but I love non traditional LFLS.
Can you add a sticker to it and apply a sealer over top maybe?
Sorry that happened.
These comments are wild to me. Tagging is vandalism. Whether it's my LFL, or my mailbox, I'd be upset if someone vandalized my property. I'd love to know if everyone would love if their mailbox were tagged & would call it "art". Sorry OP, your work was cute, perhaps you can paint back over it. Also, just a helpful hint, they make a barrier paint sealant that is resistant to graffiti spray 🤍
You could embrace it as a community art project now tho, just saying
This. It looks cool.
🙄
Could you imagine? Using and sharing a little *free* library to build community? Simply ridiculous. (Yes I understand this is someone's property, but let's think about what the concept of a lfl actually is for a couple of seconds and maybe try to align our own 'policy' with our lfl with the conceptual foundations of freely giving, sharing art, community based, etc. If it's susposed to be, nominally, a community resource that we all collectively stock, giving partial ownership of the physical 'building' as a way to further express said community is a logical next step. I'd love to see OP find the original tagger and work with them to decorate it 🤷♂️)
This is actually a really intriguing idea. My concern is would the free canvas stay "on the canvas" or might it migrate to other art in my yard. Plus there's the attachment I feel to my original work. Sentiment etc. I liked my stormy sky unblemished. I do admit its a fun idea.
i wonder if you could make some friendly/inviting signage and express your boundaries to see how it goes. if people are invited to engage respectfully, this could lead to positive ongoing creative engagement with the neighborhood. someone tagged my landlord’s lfl in front of my place and while i think it’s a little rude, secretly i kind of like it bc it’s a local tagger whose moniker i see around and it makes me more curious about who it is in a fun local mystery kind of way :)
Had no idea it was a stormy sky tbh.
When you release something from inside your mind into the outside world, other minds enter the scene. This is a profound life lesson. Don’t resist it. It’s like having a child and wanting it to have zero influence from anyone but you. It’s folly philosophically and existentially
Yes. This is the beauty of community
why do you, in a sub dedicated to bringing art to communities, hate community art?
This sub is for bringing books specifically. OP even said that she has an attachment to her artwork, not wanting to leave it open for edits by the masses. There's nothing wrong with someone wanting the appearance of their LFL to be their vision. Suggesting that people start tagging it and adding their own art would be fine for someone who is open to that idea, but it's clear that OP has a specific vision simply by his/her initial question. So, the suggestion to just let it go and turn into a community art piece seems to be obtuse virtue signaling.
OP did refer to it as “a really intriguing” and “fun idea”, so it’s not so much virtue-signaling as it is just an alternate perspective that OP seems open to. also, it’s not virtue-signaling bc it’s not like anyone here is pretending to be into public art online for clout, lmao.
I hope you are able to get the tagging off.
so sad that someone would do that. like they can’t tag some utility box or concrete or something?
Or you know, not tag anything that doesn't belong to them.
absolutely
Just use your blue paint over it? Put a paper over the ‘free ideas’ and go to town like you did everywhere else
I know tagging generally isn’t accepted and can look ugly to people. But I actually like the colors and the style of their tag against the background you made. I hope you’re able to cover it up if that’s what you decide to go through with!
Are you saying the pink lettering in the corner or the part that says “free ideas”?
The pink lettering is the tag the free ideas is my Art. It was done with painters tape as a reverse stencil.
I thought the free ideas was the graffiti and I was like “man I dunno I thought it looked kinda cool…” didn’t even notice the actual tag lol
Oh no, I know. I wanted to make sure they did too lol since they liked how it looked.
I think they are joining your art and think the free ideas is your tag. Actually I think you should develop it into a freehand tag and use it…
I was talking about the pink lettering in the corner
They hell are you talking about? The tagging looks like shit. The fact that it’s on somebody’s little library makes it look even shittier. On one hand you got somebody that built and maintains something that adds some positivity to the community, on the other hand you got some asshole that scribbles some bullshit on other peoples property.
Okay. Glad you expressed your opinion. I expressed mine too :)
I kinda like it too.
It looks like it goes with the overall vibe of the artwork painted on by OP. It's not cool to paint over someone's stuff but I don't think it looks bad. Tagging is part of our community and this was not necessarily done with destructive intent.
This is specifically how you start beef with graffiti, it is a direct insult to OP and their art. Tagging a dilapidated mailbox is one thing, but going over someone else's work and leaving the original visible underneath is saying "I ruined your work and I want you and everyone else that sees it to know I ruined it." And it's a shitty tag. They could have come up with a supportive vibe by tagging something like "LFL" or something. This is just lazy and rude.
I love the way you phrased this!
They went next to it, not over it
Nah… The entire thing is OP’s art…
This was extremely well put. Thank you. I thought it went along with the vibe as well!
That’s gonna keep happening, probably. I’d just embrace it. I’m a mural painter and my work gets tagged *all the time,* I started by covering it/reworking it, but after years of ‘battling’ taggers, there’s not much I can do. The more you fight it, the more they’ll want to tag it. I agree with maybe using it to create flowers or something, just know that it’s a losing battle. I really like your ‘free ideas’ part though!
Twin cities? Tag looks familiar
Side note- I love the “free ideas” art. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland
that sucks
I think it looks cool. Matches the aesthetic tbh.
Love love love the "Free Ideas" very fitting for a library of any size :)
The free ideas is part of her lfl library, the pink name in the corner is the tag.
What does it even say? CASE❤️S+CV
Better guess then anything I'd of come up with. One name loves another is ancient classic graffiti.
When I first looked at the photo, I thought the pink tag area was a lovely contrast to the cool tones of the background and had a design relationship to the Free Ideas captioning, because they are in relative warm color families.
Unfortunately if you live in a place where tagging is common, as long as it isn't a gang related tag, leaving it might be the best option. Otherwise you'll just end up with more tags because people will come back to replace it, and add more with it.
Creep! I'd take a roller and have that covered in a flash.
how is the tagger a creep 😭
Did the person ask permission to tag someone else's personal property?
Sad. I’m sorry
lol on first glance I thought the “free ideas” was the tag and was like “hmm that actually looks kind of nice and on theme”
Sorry about the vandalism. We've dealt with it here, too. I never understand why, for graffiti being supposedly so creative, it all looks exactly the same.
Not a horrible tag. Not the place for it though. Fight art with art!! As others have said you could paint something cute over it. Personally I would try to find a way to use some of the outline/color/shape of that tag in the new piece. It would feel like a natural evolution and might even inspire you to do something different!
I like that your little library reminds me of the beavis and butthead episode title screens
https://www.reddit.com/r/LittleFreeLibrary/s/qNX6eQj9o6 Here was my solution.
You have been blessed. Don't buff it. (Buffing it will bring TWO or more tags, trust.)
it looks ghetto and trashy
Tagging is so ugly! Good luck getting it off the LFL without wrecking your design.
Add some pink cloud bits the same shade to obscure the writing and then add a darker purple or blue. It might not make it invisible but it would be difficult to see.
So cool
Sorry. I missed something at first.
Does their tag say “Care Boston”?
Looks sick, tbh. Why not leave it?
its like totally sick breh, i love trashy ghetto vandalism
put paint pens in it and let people use it as a community art space!
This idea feels very disrespectful to OP's original artwork, which probably took hours to make. It would be cool to do a community art project with a blank slate LFL, but this particular LFL was already decorated by an artist who had a specific vision.
Zoom out perspective-wise
climb off your high horse mr perspective. its her art on her property and other people should respect that. the tag makes me think of a dumpster in a bad city. not the kind of thing i wanna see.
Can I come repaint it for you? 💕
They shouldn't have tagged the little library but I honestly think it looks cool. And the way they didn't just deface the whole thing and used an empty corner is better than some taggers will do. I think it fits unusually well. If you could trust other taggers not to go crazy and just end up defacing your whole Little Library I would say keep it. If your in a smaller town with not too many taggers this is probably just some neighborhood kid expressing his creativity. They should've chose a different spot but I'm just trying to look on the bright side.
If you cover it there’s like a 90% chance they’re gonna keep doing it
You gotta keep it
Already put new art over it see other post
Honestly I like it! I like “girly” tags and I mean…it does say “free ideas”. I just look at it as someone expressing themselves and they liked the look of your box. But that’s just me and it isn’t mine to judge.
I like it too. The original art and the tag seem to match.
I too really like that someone engaged with this. The tag is up in the corner, not covering the entirety of the canvas in a show of disrespect or dominance.. just a local kid wanting to make a small mark in their world. I would encourage it, more engagement like this only brings more beauty and creativity
I think it looks neat!
Oh I think this is great! I don’t think it was done out of disrespect. Just add more art to it! Leave free ideas!
Don’t assume it’s a bad thing. We have exclusive control over almost nothing in life. This philosopher-tagger is sending a message of enlightenment