Spew your Soul

popupstorybook — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:35:53 +0000

We went to Silverlake recently and came across a building covered in graffiti. I’m currently taking a class about hip hop culture, so I was especially intrigued.
The most dramatic graffiti was around the back of the building. I had climbed through a fence to get around back, and as I spent more time there I felt more and more like I was trespassing.
No, it wasn’t the ‘No Trespassing’ sign. It had more to do with my sense of what tagging and graffiti is for. Somewhere in my psyche it’s connected to an ominous social tension–to gang violence and territorial warfare. I didn’t care about whoever put the “No Trespassing” sign up–I didn’t want to get caught back there by whoever created the graffiti.
At the same time, I couldn’t help but appreciate what I was seeing. It was beautifully intense and dramatic. Whoever these people were–whatever purpose the graffiti served, whatever situation had caused them to leave their mark–these peopel were artists. I was reminded of something someone in a documentary had said about the first time they saw graffiti art on a subway car in New York: “It was like somebody let their spirit explode all over that train.
I have a tendency to put street artists like Banksy and Os Gemeos in a higher artistic category than that of people who tag buildings. But is that fair? The intent is certainly different, but shouldn’t that mean we judge it using different criteria? What makes one thing vandalism and another thing art?

Happy Mortal » street art

Spew your Soul