Graffomat
It's not that I don't get the cool factor. I really do. I guess I'm just not cool enough to see how one of these in my neighborhood could really be anything but bad news.
I'm pretty sure that I would prefer to have "Lucas the theater major" selling weed out of his apartment next door than a graffiti supply vending machine on the corner next to the neighborhood Red Box.
I do have an appreciation for urban art—don't get me wrong—but there is a distinction to be made between graffiti as an art and tagging.
Occasionally you will see iPhone snapshots on my site or Facebook page of a burner1 I find particularly impressive. I enjoy musing over the images artfully sprayed in back alleys, or on surfaces designated for a mural where the energetic, colorful, freehand style is warranted and requested—and often commissioned. I become curious of the artists' backgrounds, their histories, the messages they wish to convey.
My concern, however, is that a graffiti vending machine will do less to promote ass-kicking murals and more to provide easy access to spray paint resulting in a hell of a lot more tagging by local toys2. These machines can't discriminate between artists and douchebags. When it comes to determining who best to sell spraypaint to, ACE really is the place.
There was once an unwritten code of ethics with graffiti and, perhaps more specifically, tagging. It was understood that you never tag private property. Ever. Not any longer. I see tags on private walls, fences, garages, landcape boulders. I've even seen sharpie tags on cacti (saguaros, no less). Never cars, interestingly enough. I guess the marking of territory is somewhat ineffective when applying it to something mobile.
Once every few months I have to go out and put a coat of paint on small areas of the fence and wall around our house. I do so without complaint—generally. When I notice the tag, I go straight to the garage and fetch leftover paint that matches whatever surface they have defiled with their aesthetically offensive scribblings. It takes me just a few minutes and I proceed with my day. When the tags are just left, they're quite the eyesore.
Perhaps my contention lies less with the taggers and more with some of my lazy-ass neighbors that can't keep a quart of paint in the shed to cover up these markings when they do appear. Because, if you get rid of a tag immediately one generally notices that it takes many weeks and even months for a new tag to appear. However, wait weeks or months to cover one, and they quickly pile up on top of one another during that time. A single tag draws the attention of other taggers and can become prolific, breeding countless counter tags. Troublemakers fighting over territory (ie. your neighborhood).
If I see one of these Graffomats pop up in my neighborhood, I'll be purchasing as many colors as about twenty-five bucks will buy me. I will then proceed to tag the holy mother out of the machine until the contents are completely concealed in a thick coat of illegible characters, swoops and swirls covering the glass.
Surely they won't mind. I'm just expressing my creativity.
1 A burner is a particularly intricate piece of graffiti art that generally takes considerable time to complete utilizing a broad palette of colors.
2 Toy is a derogatory term for an individual who only tags or is just a lousy graffiti artist.