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March 11, 2005
Chronicle articles on Graffiti
Herman, aka Booker, aka Reader, aka Readmore, at the PHSH.
Earlier this week, as I was waiting at the doctor's office for my annual checkup, I was somewhat surprised and amused to see the person sitting across from me reading a full colour spread on graffiti, blazoned, "Vandalism or Art?" on the front page of the Chron's Entertainment section. I ran out to purchase a copy immediately after my appointment.
The articles were interesting sure enough, coming in the wake of the city's latest buff efforts. The first in the series spoke to graffiti in San Francisco in general, did its standard interviews -- some with established writers (Cuba, Dzyer), -- some with the individuals who made up the San Francisco Anti-Graffiti task force: Sandy Cuadra, and a rather unfortunate fellow named Christopher Putz. Says Putz, with all the savvy of a hard-boiled investigative expert:
"This one is by the Snail," Putz said, pointing out a puffy, bubble- letter inscription on his screen and referring to the image of a snail that's cropped up in different parts of town. "I can't tell you how I know that. It's a secret."
I am not sure whether the irony was intentional.
The second piece in the 2-part series spoke largely about art in public space -- graffiti, outdoor sculptures, installations, and murals. It was essentially an exploration about whether graffiti can be considered art and touched on the battle over entitlement to public space.
Both articles are worthwhile reads, and apart from the first inflamatory paragraph in the 2nd piece, were mostly fair for the most part. It amused me to see that several of the pictures selected to enhance the story were very recognizable.
One in the first article used by the Chron (and aptly described as "waggish") was on the side of a liquor store on 18th and S. Van Ness for about 3 weeks. Danny managed to take a shot of it on one of our graffwalks. I was driving, unfortunately, and opted not to get a shot, thinking I'd nab it some other time since it was so close to Capoeira class. Unfortunately, it got buffed before I was able to take a picture. This week I saw some new graff on that wall that says something like, "24 hours later..."
Picture above (c) and taken by Danny Dawson.
Picture above (c)SF Chronicle
Another picture they used was of a laquered installation by Salt and Pez, with some KIDS/ DAC contributions (plus others I don't know), of various bits of stencils and other mounted art -- found in Clarion Alley. I have different shots of that wall (not much changes, thankfully) from the early and late parts of last year.
Picture above (c)SF Chronicle
I'll echo the main point of the articles -- whatever happens, graffiti is not going away anytime soon, thank goodness.
Posted by claudine at March 11, 2005 12:59 PM
Comments
I'm glad I snagged that shot when i did.
Do you still have a copy of that article lying around? I'll trade you these 4 AA batteries I have here for it...
Posted by: Danny at March 16, 2005 04:27 PM
you want the hard copy? lemme go and see if i still have it... i hope the batteries came in useful! ;-)
Posted by: claudine at March 16, 2005 05:26 PM