Some people have such a visceral reaction to graffiti that they will go through great lengths to cover it, even if it means making the whole wall, door or gate look way worse than the newly scrawled tag or fill-in. In an effort to document and evaluate these eccentric acts of post-vandalism, ANIMAL is launching a new series called “Buffed Up.”
Who: SEV [pictured above]
Where: South Street Seaport
Grade: D
Why: Writer’s moniker is still visible. The whole purpose of buffing graffiti is to discourage writers by completely removing their name. That didn’t happen here.
Who: SEO
Where: Midtown West
Grade: D
Why: Is the person buffing the names or adding to them? Terrible job.
Who: VERS
Where: Bushwick
Grade: C
Why: The piece is still recognizable and the color of the buff doesn’t match the existing wall.
Who: DOGS
Where: Williamsburg
Grade: D
Why: Like the SEV, it’s still totally readable.
Who: SEKA
Where: Broadway Lafayette Station
Grade: C
Why: Tag is still visible.
Who: MENT
Where: Bed-Stuy
Grade: F
Why: WTF is this? The tag looks more weathered than buffed. Very lazy. The buff started from the bottom but didn’t get any higher than MENT’s E likely because of the wire sticking out of the wall.
Who: CERN
Where: Williamsburg
Grade: F
Why: You can still see everything behind the buff paint and in this case, those tags look better than this hatchet job.
