I am not a big fan of tags but that is all we really seem to get in Da Nang. The only exception to this is in places where it appears as though the building in question gave permission for the artists to do what they do, or even the government allows an art school to decorate an alleyway. These alleyways are impressive but since spray paint is actually quite difficult to get your hands on here specifically for the purpose of discouraging vandalism, most of the street art we see here and especially the ones that were allowed, tend to be done with brushes. While I appreciate brush work I always consider spray work to be more impressive, probably because it is what most people consider to be "true" street art.
I discovered these two on the side of the same building about a week ago and I am kind of impressed with it even though they aren't really that great. I think I give them more props than I should simply because most of the street "art" here in Da Nang is just plain awful.
Now in other environments this would be considered just your usual crap but compared to most of what we have available here in Da Nang, it is a lot better than others. I have no idea who Caroline is, but I am guessing she is someone's Mom, and that is just nice. Apparently Caroline died at the ripe young age of 53 and well, that's tragic.
I like this one because unlike a lot of other tags it doesn't use straight lines. I have seen tag-work being done in the past and spoke to the artists and they informed me that tags with straight lines are normally the work of someone who hasn't had enough practice and while they pretend that they prefer the straight line approach, it is almost always a situation of the artist not actually having the skill to handle arcs yet. I also enjoy the coloring to make this one "bling".
Both of these are on the side of a new business that has a vacant lot next to it. While I did not go into the business in question it appears to be a "head shop" or a place that pretends to sell tobacco but actually specializes in selling marijuana. I just assume this because they had a wide array of papers and pipes for sale and I just can't see this being a viable business for someone selling tobacco. This is true all around the world.
Both of these can be found in the My An area of Da Nang near the Catholic Church complex and the Fine Art school on the beach. I'm not going to be any more specific than that because I think part of the fun in finding street art is actually needing to look for it a bit!