Graffiti: What The Experts Are Saying

Source: Flickr Commons

“We take from graffiti that we want to put art in the street, but we want to make people think. Street artists liberate the idea that work needs to be in a gallery…With these art forms the street speaks.”

- Graffiti artist “The Viking” in TimeOut Chicago

“The goal is to get it off walls and get it out of sight. We don’t want it to serve as inspiration or an invitation for other taggers to do the same thing.”

- Paula Barrington, executive director of the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, in the Chicago Sun-Times

“With the gangs you’re out there protecting your neighborhood and retaliating against other crews. But the graffiti guys were out there to do their artistic talent, to do pieces. Graffiti crews would retaliate just by drawing. They wouldn’t fight hand in hand; they would fight by doing better painting.”

- Graffiti artist “Lemonhead Lewy” in the Windy Citizen

“In many ways, graffiti saves people’s lives. It saves you from whatever you could have done. I could be doing 50 years in prison for something, but painting gave me an opportunity to be an artist. It gave me something in my life that was positive.”

- Graffiti artist “Tsel” in the Windy Citizen

“I get it – the Art Institute is the center of Chicago’s art community, right? But I don’t think defacing the Modern Wing’s wall was what anyone had in mind, and now the wall will never be the same. Plus, it’s a shame someone was actually bold enough to do this to a much-loved institution that is usually more than willing to serve as an inspiring, creative center for Chicagoans and visitors alike. I don’t care how much you don’t like the steep admission price – tagging the museum just isn’t being a good sport.”

- Ginny Berg in Chicago Now

“When you put a gallery show together it’s only going to attract a certain crowd. If I paint a billboard that you can see from I-94, Amtrak and Damen, it’s going to hit a lot more people than just some college hipsters or some 40-year-old art collectors.”

- Graffiti artist “Snacki” in The New York Times

“On the side of graf[fiti] kids that have no understanding of art history, just to be honest with you, they have to understand the museum, as an institution, and if they’re even interested in working within it. They need to know the language of the museum, and work within [the museum's] constructs . . . an artist interested in showing in the museum and dealing with the museum, but who wants to hang on to a piece of graffiti culture, [has] to know both. If someone doesn’t understand the museum or its art, you can’t just dismiss it and be like, ‘That’s so wack, I don’t understand that.’ That’s like not learning a language even though you want to communicate with someone. You have to understand both languages.”

- Artist Mario Ybarra, Jr., in ArtSlant Chicago

Flickr gallery of Chicago graffiti |NBC5 gallery of graffiti tagging |

Photo essay on graffiti by TIME | Photos of “permission wall” in Pilsen

———————————————————————————————————–