The art of vandalism

I pity the young woman who was recently arrested for vandalising painting (cancelled that for the sake of all the so-called artistic people) public roads but I pity those who are making a fuss out of this matter even more.

Many netizens aka people who hide behind their computer screens to support her in the virtual world have been speaking out in support of Samantha Lo. These people claim that their heroine should be granted leniency and charged with a less serious offence.

This group of hypocritical overnight fans explained that Miss Lo's artwork, which includes using a stencil to paint roads and pasting useless stickers on traffic lights, brought a smile to their faces. Take note, it's only one smile and they did not elaborate how long it lasted.

I tried very hard to understand the text in the stickers and the three legendary words "My Grandfather Road" found on roads by staring at them for more than five minutes. Fortunately, my facial expression was still the same as before or else I would really look like an idiot, smiling at random Singlish phrases.

Maybe we should get a hundred Diablo 3 players (since they are probably busy fighting in dungeons and can't be bothered about any news or current affairs) to stare at the stickers and see how many of them actually smile within ten seconds.

I bet no more than seven will flex the muscles near both ends of their mouths. Out of the seven, five of them are likely to be entertaining you and can't wait to get back and continue killing monsters.

The art or vandalism topic aside, there is one very crucial thing which everybody seems to have missed out on. It is the language. I am sure that all of us are sure that the correct phrase is "My Grandfather's Road" with that apostrophe and "s" but everyone is sure that they neglected it because they were more focused on whether they can smile at it.

It is clear that drawing, painting (and whatever artistic verbs artistic people can come up with) on Singapore roads is illegal even if you are writing a poem that praises bootlicks the government. Using stencils is a fashion but not an exception.

So, if loansharks were to use stencils to paint "O$P$" on HDB corridors, should they be given a lighter sentence because it looks neater than spray paint? Or to make it more convenient, they can just use stickers instead?

Art is meant to improve society and better a community but I just don't know how the words "Press Until Shiok" have a positive impact. It is not as if you are playing with your smartphone to escape from awkward situations.

Heck, it might even result in spoiling a traffic light, disorganizing road traffic and endangering drivers and pedestrians. This would be even more catastrophic if the sticker was pasted at Rochor Road.

Maybe the authorities should declare a new public holiday called Art Appreciation Day where self-proclaimed art enthusiasts can apply for a permit to legitimately carry out any form of artwork they want at a designated public spot for the day.

However, they are required to clean up the mess that they have created the very next day at the expense of their own resources. Only then will they be able to empathize with the effort and time required to erase such valueless artwork that only exists to deface public property.