Art
- The conscious production or arrangement of sounds,
colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner
that affects the sense of beauty
I
am not a graffiti artist, but I find myself inspired by many
aspects of graffiti art. Some seek fame, others beautify their
gray surroundings, everyone has their own motives. The law
will have you believe that all graffiti artists are gang members.
Gang
- three or more individuals engaged in an illegal activity.
Some
gangs may write graffs, but in each and every signature, weather
written on a legal document or on a wall, lies a personal
relationship with ones identity and a way to express that
innate impulse to be unique, to be recognized. I see in graffiti
artists' efforts a discipline of art in its purest form. If
graffiti artists painted on canvasses, they'd be regarded
as artists. What could be a more unadulterated form of art
than creating imagery for self gratification, not profit?
Why
do I spend endless hours hunting, recording, assembling and
posting graffs? Its a simple devotion to preserving, often
short-lived, displays of public art. Many graffs live for
just a few days before they are painted over. Even those that
endure are often only seen in passing, as they hang suspended
on the cold surface of the urban sprawl. Bare concrete, lifeless
brick and mortar, asphalt paved and chainlinked environments
drown every inch of civilization with an oppressive blanket
of dullness. Very few things in life bring us the simple pleasure
of beauty like art does. I aim to help legitimize graffiti
as an artform
As
an artist, the inventive style and bold use of color of each
design appeals to me most. The clever use of existing structural
colorings, writing on immediate surroundings, displaying the
form of each declaration in obscure distortions of shape and
imagination, to state a universal call, to record your current
state of being... All of this demonstrates to me a raw form
of primal artistry that has driven the soul of humans since
we could write.
--
Joseph, 5150 Bombrz
