After reading Dan Phillips’ op/ed piece on the destruction of street art and graffiti on the Lower East Side of New York, I had a flashback to the spring of 2005. At that time, I was knee deep in research for my masters thesis, which focused mainly on graffiti art and how it could be used in a positive way to teach art to innercity children. After spending several early mornings on Ludlow Street and many other small alleyways that make up this unique and historical part of New York City, I found masterpiece after masterpiece of urban art that had its pulse on the current events of the world, the city and the neighborhoods it inhabited.
Graffiti art started out as a rebellion against authority and gave birth to the entire hip-hop movement. One pioneer of graffiti art, Lady Pink, who I interviewed in 2005, said that she began in high school, tagging her name around various burroughs of New York City. She remembered meeting the likes of Keith Haring and Jean-Michael Basquiat on her nightly escapades. Those nightly rounds of “decorating” trains and walls led to an exciting painting career that has taken her all over the world. She also participates in many local mural painting events, empowering inner-city kids to learn the craft of painting large-scale art pieces.
Graffiti art exploded in and around New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many thought of this movement as the defacement and destruction of private and public property, but when Andy Warhol took notice of this growing controversial artistic expression, he embraced it. He offered many of these street artists gallery shows, asking them to transpose their graffiti onto canvas, thus validating street art as a major force within the art world.
When I saw a segment on a local news channel last week detailing the outrageous destruction of various murals, graffiti and street art throughout the Lower East Side and Brooklyn, I was stunned. A few days later, I read an article in The New York Times that outlined the vandalism in a more concrete fashion. The destruction of this art has yet to be reported formally to the police because in many circles, graffiti art is still considered illegal. After all these years, after hundreds of gallery shows in both the United States and Europe, why can’t authorities see the beauty and expression in these pieces? The work speaks for itself and espouses the feelings and emotions of the artists who still risk life and limb to expose the world to their engaging and often controversial visions. Who is the “Splasher” and why can’t he be stopped? We, as a culture, really need to look further into this matter and discover the roots of our fears-our fears about ourselves and those that inhabit our world. Self expression and freedom of speech need to be protected and in this day and age every fight, whether it be small or large, is a victory for those who dare to question authority.
René Giminiani-Caputo, M.A. is an assistant dean of New College.