Warning: PG-13 Outdoor Art Gallery

Some of the graffiti under Collins Road on the Cedar River trail.

I was a bit wild and crazy today—rode my bike in oppressive afternoon heat, as I describe on my other blog.

During the ride, I stopped twice to take a few graffiti photos. There’s a fair amount visible from several points in the Cedar River Trail through Cedar Rapids—most notably in the underpass under Collins Road, which I think of as the “other” CR Art Gallery.

The mark of the "magician?"

Someone likes law enforcement?

At that informal art gallery, the more accessible the spot with graffiti is, the more likely it is to be simple text, and often the most ribald of text—instructions to dial a phone number for “a good time,” for instance, or a desire to have sexual intercourse with others or for them to have sexual intercourse with you expressed in an old Anglo-Saxon four-letter word. As you can see, sometimes four letters is too many to manage. Is the person who wants to “fuc cops” fond of law enforcement officers because he/she wants to copulate with them? Or does he/she just wish others to show support for law enforcement through the exchange of sexual favors? Or did the sneaky artists realize the only way to get her graffiti into my blog was to leave out a letter?

It’s odd to me how an old term for sex implies dislike, when most terms for sex are more of the come-hither variety.

Anyway, I’m getting away from outdoor art. Two of the photos are of steam lines near the Quaker Oats plant, but most come from the Collins Road Underpass Art Museum. I realize graffiti can depreciate a place and make it look “cheap,” and I’m glad graffiti isn’t all that common in Cedar Rapids, nonetheless, some of these kids have some talent.

"Tink." Does it mean something or just a nom de pint? Common mark under Collins Road.

And who is “tink?”

Theological edit to a graffiti message.

Spray paint comes in vibrant, vivid colors.

Some marks on a steam line near Quaker Oats.

Hmmm. Not sure what a "Bexy Birch" is. I'll have to ask the MMU CJ faculty, apparently.

Railroad tracks attract graffiti like trailer parks draw tornadoes.