Monday, April 4, 2011
The t-shirts and skateboards on the images are taken from tags in the area, so I singled out Soar and zero originally. I added Spark after he/she tagged over one of the pieces . I simple gesture at an attempt of respect. The next day I returned and Spark had tagged alongside the image. In applying Spark's name I kept true as possible to his letter style.I liked that style of lettering. It was very familiar growing up in Logan Heights, it had a clarity and power to it.
In memory of Vanessa
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Art should do more than stand as a signifier.
It should do more than satisfy
art should stop being
an object
artists should stop being
a hole in the ground will communicate that.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
pre-existing spray can work that I am redesigning, and filling in.
My actions, the making are designed to explore "deep" into the spaces we occupy. The digging is meant to expose that which is hidden. The geo-historical secrets are revealed in the stratification of the soil. A repositioning of the self in relation to the surface beckons me to reexamine thoughts of heirarchy, privacy, seclusion, a deeper contact with the soil, immersion into the abyss, the delicate balance between inhalation and suffocation.
I always expect some damage, but this is different. The reaction is the same as to the "beast" sculpture. It was more of an attack as evidenced by the photograph above. The concrete was pulled down and thrown into the northside trench. The message is clear, and my response is crystal. You tear down, I rebuild. You fill, I dig deeper. You approach my work with hatred and intolerance, I will present you with patience and perseverance.
This is my work. One aspect, the digging, has blossomed into active theater. I am communicating over the space, about the space. It has become so contagious, that those now visiting the site are "tagging" into the surface of the site.
In some respect this is a very historical dialogue. One side clings to possessing the space while the other side does not comprehend property rights. Which side I am on, I don't know.
Monday, February 21, 2011
There is an unsettling conflict between old and new that this project produces, which is more action than the act of. It is always about language, but to use language to identify itself? To document, the act of securing evidence, seem contrary. To talk about the talking, feels uncomfortably redundant, if not, nonsensical. The project runs the risk of becoming chatty.
Disruption. I sway between guilt and jubilation. I have entered this area that has been claimed and remained relatively "untouched" and have made my mark upon it. It is graffiti. To those that stumble across it , it must be inexplicable. It defies convention. It grates the rules of the graffiti writer/artist. The mark is deliberate, but with no apparent end than to mark. This goes against all the rules of engagement. As a tagger/graf writer it is about the mark, but the mark is a self-proclamation, quickly scrawled in secercy. This is a defiant act. It proclaims, "I am here and I am here for the duration!" It is beyond a challenge; it is a declaration.
It is as if nature itself has risen with pickax in hand against an insult and declared war.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
open space. The steps will be functional steps enabling park visitors to traverse this slope. Below, the concrete pillar, which must have been a support beam is a densely inscribed piece. In some respects it can be considered a Rosetta Stone. It is densely written upon. The concentration of colors and lines make for an almost incomprehensible web. I entered the fray by generalizing the existing marks and signatures. This was met with immediate reaction as the blocked areas of blue, yellow and white were encrusted overnight with markers. Tomorrow I will add more colors and shape. Perhaps I will obliterate everything and start over fresh with a completely different piece and wait to see how that is received. 












These are examples of a redesign/redistribution of materials in an urban open space. The space is used by area residents and their dogs, the homeless, alcoholics, the discontent, late night drug users, and a "lover's lane" or ficky-ficky spot of sorts, tagging social networks and possibly neighborhood gang members and one obsessive reorganizer, me. This area is a true multi-use area that is segregated by specific use. Dog trails, cyclists urban hikers, hideouts speckle the space.
A 30'x150' concrete slab dominates as the compass rose of the project. I see this as the hub of everything I imagine. All radiate from here and in effect returns to. This is my Rome. Someone I greatly admire remarked that this was my Walden Pond. I will have to revisit Thoreau. But who knows.There may be an element of the romantic naturalist attempting to inhale only what's is good and clean and saintly, but I wouldn't give that too much weight.
This is what inhabits the surface now. Street art. Pure. Undiluted. Crass. A conglomerate of low end self promotion, adolescent sexual ramblings and nonsensical blurts, that when you're as high as a monkey evrything is as funny as Hot Cheetos for breakfast.
This is what inhabits the surface now. Street art. Pure. Undiluted. Crass. A conglomerate of low end self promotion, adolescent sexual ramblings and nonsensical blurts, that when you're as high as a monkey evrything is as funny as Hot Cheetos for breakfast.
These are examples of a redesign/redistribution of materials in an urban open space. The space is used by area residents and their dogs, the homeless, alcoholics, the discontent, late night drug users, and a "lover's lane" or ficky-ficky spot of sorts, tagging social networks and possibly neighborhood gang members and one obsessive reorganizer, me. This area is a true multi-use area that is segregated by specific use. Dog trails, cyclists urban hikers, hideouts speckle the space.
This is my pulpit, classroom, studio, battlefield, laboratory.
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