graff INSIDE sf city hall...

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez, who has thumbed his nose at the establishment before, let a graffiti artist spray paint his City Hall office walls with the bright orange message: "SMASH THE STATE."

There is irony. There is art appreciation. There are raised eyebrows.

Gonzalez, who has hosted monthly art installations in his office by unknown and known artists for the last four years, offered up this graffiti for one of his last exhibits before he exits City Hall on Jan. 8. Gonzalez did not seek re-election.

The timing and placement of the artwork are interesting, seeing how City Hall is a registered historical landmark, and you need approval just to hang a bulletin board -- and seeing how Mayor Gavin Newsom, Gonzalez's rival in the mayor's race last year, has been issuing strict edicts about the city's and public's responsibility to clean up graffiti vandalism.

The artist's message in traffic-cone orange that appears behind Gonzalez's desk was painted by Barry McGee, an internationally known San Francisco artist whose work first appeared anonymously in the 1980s on outdoor walls and tunnels.

more @ link

thats the coolest thing i have seen in quite some time.

Im into twist's new hand styles.......oh and the message, oh and the board of supervisors president Gonzales

from what i see in that picture, thats garbage. dont get me wrong, i think barry mcgee is fucking amazing and i love his art, but if thats all that there is to the installation, than that is garbage. that is garbage even if one is going for minimalism. i expect half of 12oz to jock this just because its twist. if this was done by some no namer then you can believe wed all be laughing about how lame the mayor is.

^Going to have to agree, Why not have twist just do a full on instilation instead?

mayve he wanted that shit to look ugly...

taken from the link:

"Gonzalez's private office is part of a public building, and anyone can enter to see the artwork, and he invites them to come. However, the Board of Supervisors president wouldn't allow a Chronicle photographer to take a photo of his walls, citing his concern the newspaper would sensationalize the graffiti angle and not give proper respect to the artist."

wow, its refreshing to see someone with power actually have half a brain.

i doubt Twist had the intention of making it look 'dope'... it's the message involved that's more important than the visual appeal. and no, i wouldn't be laughing at it if it were done by a no-name artist, because the message would still be there, and i actually think the look of it is very fitting.

come on! its art with a message. of course it was made to look like a sloppy tag. that should be pretty easy to understand if you have ever seen twist handstle. duh

personally i think its a sick handstyle , especially those drips!

i like the hand style cause its raw.

it appeals to me.

a regular writers handstyle would not provide as good an effect in my opinion for the instilation. especially since its in city hall. city hall does not deserve the beauty of a regular Twist script in my opinion.

Originally posted by ctrl+alt+del@Dec 10 2004, 02:40 PM

from what i see in that picture, thats garbage. dont get me wrong, i think barry mcgee is fucking amazing and i love his art, but if thats all that there is to the installation, than that is garbage. that is garbage even if one is going for minimalism. i expect half of 12oz to jock this just because its twist. if this was done by some no namer then you can believe wed all be laughing about how lame the mayor is.

Quoted post

i think you missed the point.

if he had done a "graff" installation, i doubt it would've been accessible to nearly as many people. believe it or not, not EVERYTHING any writer has ever done has to be directed at our very small subculture of people.

twist actually did do some of the stuff he's known for..it just wasn't posted or flicked

"McGee, whose City Hall wall work was unveiled last Friday, included some of his trademark cartoonish faces of sad sack characters, including a man with bulging eyes. A second element includes painted blocks of wood, arranged in a way that is reminiscent of parquet.

When Gonzalez unveiled McGee's work, some attendees of the show added their own messages to the wall: "Wacky-doo-wacky-doo wacky-doo"; "Write on that wall!"; "Matt, may peace and love follow you in all your endeavors.""

if you read the rest of the article...

so this was done legally and consider an art exibit? thats pretty wack.

Very cool, Chicago will never let anyone do that here...

now thats how political gangstas get down!

That would never happen here.

Crazy shiet.

mcgee and gonz deserve an applause. the plain handstyle helps viewers from all sorts of different demographics to observe the message.

i suggest all viewers of the thread read the article in the link. its pretty easy to digest

More pictures of the opening here.

peace.

jesus rollerblading christ, if someone says the word 'handstyle' one more time i'm going to headbutt my monitor. that is not a 'handstyle'. it is not even graffiti. it's a college kid anarchist™ slogan that reeks so heavily of irony that it obviously went way over most of your heads. maybe i shouldn't be suprised...

carry on.

im sure thats not the first, only or even longest running graff in city hall. there was to be well placed tags or scribes. why arent those writers getting there "hand styles" in the paper?

people are completely missing/ignoring the message and focusing too much on the messenger.

Too bad neither the artist nor the city-council member mean it.

Cool shit.

Too hip for the room...

yeah i think people are missing the point. its not like twist doesnt have skills, we already know that so he isnt trying to impress anyone with his radtastic graff tagging abilities.

its blunt and to the fucking point. and in city hall. cool

Originally posted by GamblersGrin@Dec 17 2004, 08:36 AM

people are completely missing/ignoring the message and focusing too much on the messenger.

Quoted post

ha