Belen was tagged this week.

We don’t mean someone spray painted one building. A number of structures were hit — the former post office, a residence, Tabet Lumber & Concrete, the old Valencia County News-Bulletin building, Lowe’s grocery store and the First Community Bank building, to name the instances we noticed.

It was gang graffiti, the pathetic kind, where thugs scribble names on a building like dogs piss on fire hydrants to mark their territory.

Also this week another type of graffiti, if you will, popped up as it has before. Someone placed a hand-drawn panda bear named “Mr. E” on the side of the Trembly building on Main Street. Well, it’s a person in a panda costume.

Mr. E at the Trembly building in Belen.

Mr. E isn’t graffiti, by definition. It wasn’t spray painted on the building. The panda is painted on some sort of paper canvas and then pasted to the wall. (Saves time when trying not to get caught, we imagine.)

This isn’t the first time it’s been done. Someone pasted a face with the letters “AOK” on a brick utility building across from Wal-Mart, pasted a face or two on the side of the former Gil’s Bakery, and perhaps the same artists are responsible for the large “HOLYBLUR.” paint job on a farm structure in Los Chavez.

HOLYBLUR. in Los Chavez

Actually, guerilla art (also referred to as subversive art or street art) is a growing trend in the world, mostly in urban areas, with Bansky leading the way and others like the Graffiti Research Lab offering advice.

There are differences between this guerilla art — unauthorized, as it may be – and gang graffiti. It’s not necessary to explain the differences, really, because it’s all self-explanatory. Most important to note, though, is that guerilla art typically is temporary. It falls off the wall after weathering the elements for a while.

Whoever’s behind this local art — and we have our suspicions, though we haven’t caught up with them yet — should continue to do it, respecting private property, of course.

This page was published on August 12, 2009 at 11:15pm and is filed under Belen. You may copy and paste this page's link to email it.