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Originally posted by BoogieWoogie@Feb 9 2005, 12:12 PM

we had to cancel fat saturday... a show in march is comming up, but securing the venue to be "graffiti-friendly" will be one of our many issues...

 

yo ovens, i coulda swore i saw you playing in the rain yesterday off the hardy, haha. funny stuff.

i was...who are you??????

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if you need help going to sleep Clogged Capps 3 will be showing at Rice U. entrance No. 8. for $6 at 8pm

be warned 75% of this movie is nothing but talking and NO FLAMING PEINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or any of the cool shit that happened

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Originally posted by docs@Feb 8 2005, 04:43 PM

yo color

high on fire tomorrow at fat cats

...sage francis next month

 

 

OH SHIT! sage francis in houston?

that cat's fucken DOPE.

 

GOT DIRECTIONS? PRICE? ANY OTHER INFO?

 

 

 

if ya got kazaa or morpheous look up

makeshift patriot by sage

pure dopeness

 

.....allrigth lemmee jump off his dick for a minute.

:shook: hes allright tho.... :burn:

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Graffiti artists, officials paint different pictures

By ALLAN TURNER

Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Agile and daring, they're outlaw Michelangelos looking for an artistic heaven. Graffiti is their art; spray paint their brush; and the most visible, outrageously high buildings, water towers and signs their Sistine Chapel.

 

The graffiti artists' work, ranging from crude, looping letters to elaborate, stylized images, sprawls across hundreds of walls. Despite two recent arrests and outcries over the defacement of public property, the artists say Houston is on the cusp of a graffiti Renaissance -- one that increasingly will bring their talent not only to the city's walls, but also to its art galleries and ad agencies.

 

"So many kids are coming out now," said one graffiti writer. "It's just unstoppable. Trying to stop spray paint as an art form is like closing your fist on a handful of sand."

 

But one man's art is another's eyesore, and the prospect of hordes of artist-vandals descending on the city's infrastructure hardly pleases police, who launched a program this year to scrub spray-painted scrawls from targeted buildings. Even art advocates expressed ambivalence.

 

Sara Kellner, executive director of Diverse Works, a Warehouse District art space that has commissioned and exhibited graffiti paintings, noted with dismay that her gallery occasionally has been defaced inside and out by illegal graffiti writers.

 

Highlighting graffiti's art-vandalism paradox was the arrest last month of two area men who allegedly caused $80,000 in damage to 52 highway signs. State Transportation Department spokesman Norm Wigington said portions of many of the signs must be replaced because the spray paint irreversibly damaged their reflective surfaces. Just stopping traffic to allow workers to reach a damaged sign will cost the agency $3,700, he said.

 

Assistant District Attorney Catherine Evans called the incident "egregious" and said her office may seek to increase the men's charges to third-degree felonies, offenses that could bring 10 years in prison upon conviction. The suspects, Adam Berry, 23, of Dayton, and Keith Hayes, 21, of Magnolia, are to appear in court Wednesday for a pretrial proceeding.

 

Houston's anti-graffiti coordinator, police officer Armando Tello, said cleanup and prosecution efforts are paying off.

 

"In my opinion, the situation has gotten better," he said. "We have made numerous arrests, and I think that acts as a deterrent."

 

Tello's operation, linked to the Mayor's Anti-Gang Task Force, provides free paint and uses probationers performing community service to expunge graffiti. It also encourages citizens to dial 911 when they spot the illegal artists in action.

 

But graffiti leaders scoffed at such efforts, noting that authorities don't understand the intricacies of graffiti culture, which, they said, reflects high-minded artistic sensibility; raw, youthful rebelliousness; and a lust to attract attention, legally or not.

 

"People shouldn't be complaining," said Houston graffiti "godfather" Gonzo247, a 31-year-old artist who has painted graffiti for almost 20 years. "In less than 10 years, it's going to be out of control. They're trying to stop a freight train with a Volkswagen. It isn't going to happen."

 

An owlish man who quotes Norman Mailer on the relationship between status and property, Gonzo247 -- he declined to identify himself further -- is a founder of Aerosol Warfare, a group of 12 artists seeking to make graffiti both legitimate and lucrative. Group members, all former street artists, now keep their art strictly legal.

 

"I'm not going to tell you what you should do or not do," Gonzo247 said. "I'm not anyone's dad. But we're trying to show by example, to show that we're making money, traveling to do shows. ... We're creative individuals using this medium to express ourselves."

 

Aerosol Warfare members have exhibited their work at a variety of Houston galleries and are preparing art for several advertising campaigns.

 

"We're letting those who are 15 years old or younger know that instead of picking up a can and destroying property, they should take account of the outcome. They can parlay this into jobs in advertising and graphic design," said Christian Azul, 25, another Aerosol Warfare member.

 

The Aerosol Warfare members lamented what they consider widespread misconceptions about their art form.

 

"The funny part is that the Anti-Gang Task Force thinks we're all lower-income minorities," Gonzo247 said. "It doesn't matter if you're rich, poor, black, male or female."

 

Despite its unsettling impact on some viewers, 90 percent of graffiti has no connection with gangs, Gonzo247 said.

 

"Gangs are the red-headed stepchildren of graffiti," Azul added. "Graffiti is the easiest way for them to communicate, to say things to other gangs. They're out there destroying property and spreading negativity."

 

Victor Gonzalez of the Anti-Gang Task Force agreed: "Gangs are a lot more violent. There are drive-by shootings and fistfights -- deliberate violent activity. Taggers may have an occasional fight, but they tend to settle issues on the wall, outdoing each other, hitting more spots."

 

Even within the graffiti community there are sharp divisions between skill and ambition. At the bottom are taggers, hit-and-run artists who limit their work to crude lettering and one color. Above tagging are "bombs" and "throwups," culminating in "pieces" or "masterpieces" that feature a full range of colors and take hours to complete.

 

In his early years as an artist, much of Gonzo247's work was applied to other people's property.

 

"I never thought about other people's property," he said. "I didn't own any property. When you're a kid, you don't own anything. People own you."

 

Today, Gonzo247 concentrates his artistic energy on legal projects.

 

Still, for other graffiti artists, the appeal of illegal adventure remains strong.

 

"Time and time again we hear others say it's like an addiction, an anti-drug," Azul said. "It's what gets them off. It's the only way they sleep at night. There's a whole mission aspect. It's not a spur of the moment thing. They plan everything they do."

 

Artists nabbed defacing public or private property generally face misdemeanor criminal mischief charges. But in some cases, like that of the alleged highway sign vandals, the charges can become more serious if property damage is high.

 

The only way to lure many teen graffiti artists from vandalism, Gonzo247 suggested, is to "give them something better."

 

The Aerosol Warfare artists suggested that young artists be allowed to legally cover warehouse walls with graffiti. The Anti-Gang Task Force has joined the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and other groups in providing mural projects for young artists. But, Gonzo274 and Azul admitted, such risk-free canvases might have limited appeal.

 

"There's a rush to almost getting caught," Azul said.

 

There's a rush, too, from narrowly avoiding death. Some of the most visible graffiti works -- and in graffiti, visibility is everything -- are atop high buildings.

 

Tello said, "Those high places, the taggers call them heaven."

 

:haha: i dunno man im bored and my cam is broken

so i cant flik shit.

fukkit

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