Joe Connolly also known as the Graffiti Guerrilla is of Irish decent and is a well known community activist. He began his work to restore the community to its original state around 1993. His inspiration ignited when he moved to the Fairfax District of Los Angeles and saw how graffiti was taking over his new community. He quickly realized he did not want his wife and two children to live in that kind of environment. So Joe began to volunteer and paint over the graffiti within a twenty mile radius of the Fairfax District. He was as persistent as the bombers to his “art” for the community. Eventually he left his decade long job as a successful carpet sales man to dedicate himself entirely to paint over the graffiti in his city. Later this also included local highways thanks to his collaboration with Cal trans. In order to stay afloat financially Joe began to print self-made pamphlets of his goal for the community and personally passed them around to local businesses. He was also recognized by the city and Cal trans. Joe is in several city committees and is well known in the community.
I am on the fence when it comes to Joe Connolly and his artwork. I realize he is trying to keep his city clean and take control of the situation. I agree that if we remove all graffiti from the city it would look much cleaner. However I also know the importance of self expression and the burst of color graffiti adds to a city. I would not like to walk around a dull city full of gray, beige, and white buildings. It gives the city a bit of life and personality to have some graffiti. Yet I would not like to live in a city full of graffiti either. So maybe it is good that there are people like Joe and bombers to reach some kind of equilibrium. One thing I found very hypocritical about Joe was his mural to the bombers because it is as equally distracting as graffiti.
