Features

Veer off the beaten (and paved) track just a bit, and you will discover graffiti trolls have been busy along Cordonices Creek -- especially where it crosses beneath Walnut Street. If you look closely, you'll find the massive artwork that completely covers the underside of the steel-and-concrete bridgework (pictured above) contains a memorial: "Rest in Peace." Here's is another look at the underbridge artwork that flows above the creek.

There is more off-the-street art to be seen on the bridge structure west of the Berkeley Arts Center building. A tagger known as OHIOE has left an elevated signature high in the metal cleft of the bridgework…

And on a nearby sidewalk.

Earlier in the year, the walls on both sides of the Walnut Street bridgeway were covered with monster tags but several months ago, the tags were obliterated — painted over with a uniform sheet of FedEx brown. But graffiti is resilient and the taggers recently returned to restore their marks.

Follow the creek north, and a short walk will bring you to another burst of graffiti signage that dominates a wall supporting a metal pedestrian staircase that leads upwards to Oxford Street.

Colorful swirls of graffiti complement the ivy and flowers covering the concrete walls and metal stairs. (Hard to believe there's a tagger – or band of taggers – that goes by the name "Nerds.") But look closely at the section of wall on the far right, which features the outline of an unfinished tag.

Return a few weeks later, and you may find new art has altered the wall. In this case, a new tag has been added by TMR.

Next week: Live Oak Park Art, Part 2.