Graffiti and street art are a big deal to us at YCDB. This social
and artistic movement is one of strongest and most significant of
the last thirty years and exemplifies many aspects that are
lacking in other areas of culture in our world. To the
uninitiated or those who have been burdened with others' negative
opinions, I can understand the lack of enthusiasm or understanding
for a beautiful tag on a busy street corner. Transforming the
mental conception of graff from the scribble-doodle of a vandal to
a technically talented piece of art functioning on multiple levels
will take a bit of elucidation, but that’s our pleasure, and job.
Hopefully with a little schoolin’ (and loads of eye candy) we can
bring a bit more pleasure to you’re daily commute and
walkingabouts.
One of the most annoying statements that any graff writer
or appreciator can hear (next to “you’re under arrest”) is one
that praises the piece or production (the large, complex,
multicolored, often legal paintings) as clearly artistically
meaningful and poignant while slandering throw-ups and tags (1-2
color quickly done 2- or 3-d letters and one line signatures,
respectively) as sheer vandalism. It is an ignorant assumption to
make that vandalism and art are not mutually exclusive. Being
much more beneficial to treat ignorance as a solvable dilemma than
a trait worthy of ridicule let me explain why this is a source of
chagrin.
The first being it is simply an example of lack of
critical understanding of the art form. If one could be somehow
withheld from ever seeing a painting and was shown nearly any of
the masters from the 20th century, from Matisse to Warhol, as
their first painting I wouldn’t imagine their would be a
overwhelming presence of appreciation. Appreciation is something
that must be cultivated and much of it is lost with out an
understanding of the historical, both artistic and otherwise,
context. These “simple” tags and throws, when successfully
executed, are the product of countless hours of commited
repetitive practice. The talented writer has mastered many
techniques with an arsenal of tools ranging from different types
of tips on a can, to various types of markers, to continuously
innovative tools such as homemade markers filled with scouring
agents or sharp etching devices. The ability to express a
distinct style in such a minimal amount of marks is a talent
enviable by artists in any field. The presence of subtle,
recognizable distinctions denoting regional and temporal origins
of the artist are another interesting, scrutinizable aspect that
graf shares with nearly every other art form.
An even more blatant aspect of under appreciation lies in
its very nature of being illegal. It is inherently an extremely
earnest form of expression. Earnestness, a quality that many
proclaim extinct from the face of the planet (at least from the
art planet), thrives in graf. It is illegal, anonymous, with
hardly no chance of financial compensation. Writers paint for
many different reasons, but regardless of which it is clear that
they care about what they are doing. This makes them incredibly
unique. While many postmodern artists have been painting a world
where man is lost without distinct values, the graf writer has
literally been painting the world with what he or she values. Pop
artists mocked the role of money and commercialism in art and the
relationship between the bourgeoisie and the avant-garde while
remaining in in that commercial relationship with the bourgeoisie.
At the same time the graf writer severed that relationship and
directly attacked it with its work.
This brings us to a place where we can explore the
qualities that graf and street art inherently have on higher
metaphorical levels. Regardless of intention every illegal of
graffiti or street art is a political statement. It is a
statement against any authority’s right to limit the individual’s
expression. It is also a statement against the concept of private
property. And perhaps the word statement is too narrow and light
in these cases, for this form of art is a wordless action against
that with what it disagrees. Writing the word “FART” on the side
of a Target can be more effectual than writing “Fuck All
Repression Tonight” as making a statement through metaphor is what
distinguishes art from pure propaganda or advertisement. Although
street art and advertisements share many similarities, in the end,
advertisements, no matter how “artistically” created or
successfully intrusive, are created to sell a product while graf
does not have an explicit motivation other than as a work of art.
It is a work of art that makes a statement, as opposed to
commercial advertisement where the more it attempts to be
artistic, the more exploitative it is in nature and the further it
delves into the realm of kitsch.
People’s harsh response to graf due to its anti-private
property nature is an interesting phenomenon in itself. It
highlights (word) our society’s close attachment of private
property to its identity. People who view street as destructive
by association often view it as violent, violence and distruciton
often being concepts connected with one and other. There is
something quite odd that one would associate painting on a wall
with violence. One cannot commit an act of violence against an
object not associated with identity. I’ve never heard anyone
commiting a violent act against a rock or a lake. I have only
heard of someone committing violence against a person, an animal
or plant (something to which people attribute identity), or an
object conceived of as a necessary function of our identity (such
as field of crops or a house). The idea of people conceiving
private property as a necessary function of life is an area worth
more examination, though not here. Graffiti’s ability to point
out the “you are what you own” aspect of our society only makes it
more valuable and able to be appreciated on its own as an art
form.
One more interesting avenue that street art and graf
explore is the complex relationship betwen the individual’s need
to make ones mark with the individual’s understanding of the
extremely temporary nature of this art form. While there is your
occasional 20,000 year-old cave painting, most graffiti is quickly
destroyed. It is usually not placed in any museum to be passed
down to posterity. This is part of the reason why YCDB would like
to help document as much of it as we can.
We feel that most street artist are doing good just by
getting up; however, that’s not to say that every work is equal or
that any work can’t do better. Do the fact that the pictures are
submitted by the photographer and not necessarily the artist, the
sheer volume of pictures we have, and the fact that a picture of
graffiti is in many ways like a picture of sculpture--it can still
be enjoyed but one doesn’t feel the entire effect--we will not be
criticizing these works on a singular basis. That doesn’t mean
that you can’t though. Feel free to post what you think. With
all that in mind (or not) enjoy the galleries.
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