The underground world of graffiti artists is coming out this weekend.
For years, so-called taggers have converged in New York, mostly under public radar, to advance what they say is an art form. Some say it's a crime.
The first public "Meeting of the Styles" at P.S. 15 in Paterson, N.J., aims to change the latter notion. Artists from around the world, rivals and crewmates alike, have been invited to decorate walls at the school.
A group called the Urban Art Foundation will be launched at the meeting. Fashioning itself as an ACLU for those charged with graffiti-related crimes, the group plans to raise legal funds, create a database of attorneys and even attempt to turn some of the city's high-profile graffiti spots into landmarks or protected areas.
"We want to decriminalize art and at the same time promote it for future generations," said Craig Dershowitz, co-founder of the group, which is in the process of becoming a nonprofit.
The city cracks down on graffiti aggressively, from subway trains and tunnels to bridges and buildings. There is a vandals unit in the police department with a database and "Worst of the Worst book" of the 100 or so graffiti vandals that they identify as the top menaces. The mayor has an anti-graffiti task force with representatives from various departments.
New York Police Department officials declined to comment on efforts to battle graffiti. According to statistics, graffiti-related arrests have grown from 2,962 in 2006 to 4,158 last year. This year there have been 2,685 arrests as of Aug. 22.
Graffiti proponents argue that the punishments for what they do is too severe. Though some agree that they break the law, they say that being sent to prison to serve time is too harsh a punishment.
Fred Kress, coordinator of C.A.G.E.—Citizens Against Graffiti Everywhere—disagreed. Mr. Kress oversees a group that formed in 2006 to clean-up graffiti in Queens and provide intelligence to authorities. Graffiti, he said, has been a huge blight and menace across Queens. "We're trying to take down graffiti on every level," Mr. Kress said. "We want to see them reformed or locked up and I would like them to pay restitution. These are vandals, certainly not artists. If it's so artful, why aren't they doing it on their own cars and homes?"
Those in the graffiti world, say New York's historic role in the graffiti subculture is a draw for artists and tourists across the world. Thousands of photos of ever-changing graffiti hotspots are posted on the Flickr website every day, for example.
And there are a handful of informal and formal graffiti and street art tours.
Many individuals who are charged with graffiti-related crimes eventually turn to legal street work after tiring of run-ins with the police. Indeed, most of the people forming the Urban Art Foundation no longer do graffiti, but have moved on to sanctioned or legal urban artwork.
Sueworks, 38, who lives in New Jersey, gave up plastering his tag after spending a couple of weeks in jail and ending up on probation. "I was a young kid, just trying to get my name out there, trying to get noticed," said Mr. Sueworks, whose tag is SUE (Styles Under Evolution).
Now, he has a small graphic design company and designs logos and album covers. "You can bring graffiti in a positive way and bring light to cities and have them preserve this art when it's kind of dying on the street and hidden more in galleries," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment