Night Moves Apprehended, Sleep In Still at Large

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 27, 2006 4:22PM

A recent article about tagging in the Chicago Journal has us pondering the fine line between street art and graffiti.

Thanks to a piece in Time Out Chicago a while back, plenty of folks know about the “Preston” and “Night Moves” tags showing up in the Wicker Park/Bucktown/West Town areas of the city. But a month ago, we started seeing a series of rain clouds, often accompanied by the words “sleep in.” The Chicago Journal discusses a 14th District CAPS meeting where police discussed their efforts to catch the taggers. Apparently, the Night Moves duo has been apprehended though there’s been no word as to whether or not they were part of either the Like A Rock Gang or the Turn The Page Posse.

It’s one thing if Chicagoans are making their own street art. But apparently, this recent rash of tagging can be blamed on a scourge from Schaumburg.* According to beat officer Tom Stachula:

"[Wicker Park] is where the in-crowd is hanging out, so they like to come down from the suburbs," he said.

We’re torn here. Chicagoist lives in the city because we like walking down the street and seeing something new every day instead of the sanitized whiteness of a strip mall. We’re big fans of street art. And quirkiness. While the “Preston” and “Night Moves” tags qualified as the latter, it didn’t exactly enhance the eye candy of the neighborhood. When we started seeing the “sleep in” graffiti, we initially had the same thought, but then found ourselves enjoying the happy little rain clouds. Not to mention “sleep in” is a message we can all get behind. Yet we don’t want to see the day where our neighborhoods are a potential canvas for everyone who believes that spray-painting the name of Britney’s next kid or their favorite REO Speedwagon song on the building next door makes them cool.

* We’re speculating here. They could be from Naperville. Or Fall Out Boy fans from Wilmette.

Images via margaretlyons