Crash
The mural is based on the news article from the paper Õhtuleht “A bus crashed into three people”, Siim Randla
8 January 1998.
AA crew: Anton, Vim, BST, DIN:, Chort
1998
One of the few preserved early graffiti paintings in Tallinn, in the area of exuberant street art in Kadriorg/City centre. The community of letter and wall painting formed rather spontaneously from “hanging” in the corridor during breaks in Kopli High Art School. I messed with compositions already in the calligraphy lesson, while Vim, who studied one year behind me, knew the topic thanks to the art courses of the art school of Kevade Street. As the coolest “shovel colours” of the time, Motip Colorworks sprays, were enormously expensive – 40 EEK (food money for four days), we worked with the design for several months, matched the “logo” part with the background and shared our colours. One morning we heard the news that a bus had crashed into three people near Hotel Olympia. This was a theme that required fast recording on a wall.
Each one got the task to find some lacking colour shade. Fortunately, I had white latex and a roll at home that had remained from painting of ceilings. We used this as a primer, because otherwise Colorworks would have been very dull and wall painting would have required much (expensive) spray colour.
The style of the painting is comic-style letters with lush serifs, with chrome effect in the fill. This was our effort to contrast with the style of bubbles and pentagons. However, from among graffiti paintings in Tallinn of the time, our work highlighted most the background picture. Such technique of murals, which are rather completed as legal commissioned works, increases the time spent on painting, but provides an advantage of visibility from any other “mishmash” and English words.
Approximately a decade ago, a fence was constructed around the yard, where the painting is located. Like hundreds of other yards in Kadriorg, also the yard of Narva Road 32 could be passed in 1990s, thus it was a free area for walking and staying.
On the other hand, the lockable fence installed later has maybe protected this piece of history from random vandalism.
The spring, when we painted that wall, can be considered the breakthrough moment of our crew. In the next morning we were at the top of Tallinn graffiti community. It was also pleasing to travel from the city centre towards Lasnamäe on a bus or tram, and to see and listen, how some gang of young people pointed towards the yard and said that Crash was a really tough piece.
(In Tallinn, near Hotel Olympia, yesterday morning a bus crashed into three people, who were crossing the street. One of them died instantly and two were taken to hospital with injuries.
According to the press officer of Tallinn Police, the accident took place before eleven AM at Liivalaia Street near Hotel Olympia, on a pedestrian crossing. “People started to cross the street with green light, when suddenly a bus came with high speed,” he mediated the words of eyewitnesses to Sõnumileht. The victims crashed by an older Scania bus, the driver of which, Peep (31) was sober, were Kalev (59), Kalli (31, resident of Rapla) and Aleksei (47).
Kalev, who was killed in the accident, lied near the front wheel of the bus. “The bus practically rolled over him, and the scene was awful,” the press officer of the police described to BNS. Kalli, whose legs were rolled over by the bus, managed to drag herself out from under the vehicle at a rear wheel, while Aleksei was lying down on the pedestrian crossing, the press officer said.)
