Gaye Lub contacted me in early October to let me know that she had been working on a public art project entitled “American History 2000-2012: A Visual History of Our 21st Century.” Looking at her website I was surprised and interested to see a series of dense panels, almost like the covers of the gossip magazines…
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Death, Mariachis and the Loop: John Jota Leaños’ “Imperial Silence,” Some Commentary
Skirting the line between playful and didactic, John Jota Leaños’ opera, “Imperial Silence: Una Ópera Muerta,” cajoles, threatens, offends, and woos the viewer using a medley of dance, singing, music, digital media, all drawing on elements from Día de los Muertos, in Mexican public culture, as well as live political issues in the Americas more…
Tats Cru Headquarters: Px12’s Public Participation
Today I went on a trip with my mother’s students to Tats Cru headquarters to meet with Bio, one of the crew’s members, and for the students to learn about graffiti. We arrived in the Hunt’s Point neighborhood, large boulevards striated with faded and not so faded markings, a series of bodegas, chain stores and people…
Atmospheric Non Futures: “Destino al lugar del siempre”
In Puebla this week there is a conference, hosted at Benemerito Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) on women, literature and art. By sheer coincidence a colleague, unlike myself, actually familiar with the city, is attending a different conference at BUAP this week. We, along with his Puebla family, arrived late after making our way through…
MOS 2011: Chicago- Interview with NERD
Interview with NERD at 36th and Albany Sept 18th, 2011 I met NERD in April at the Chicago Loves Hip Hop Conference sponsored by Words Beats Life and Columbia College. He, RAVEN and MONK/TOASTER were teaching a beginners graffiti class and I went both to meet more artists, since I was doing this project on…
León: Ciudad de Paradox
Today marked the (hopefully temporary) end in my four day crash-course in the graffiti scene in León. I had the opportunity to speak with Wes, Kif, Nikkis, Nose, Truko, Asme, Dermy, Kiddo, Dano, Jhard, Sic, Zanko, Nukleo, Waxny, Back, Juan, and hear Arnick, Jafer, and many others express their opinions about legal and illegal graffiti…
“Finding Home”
This is a repost of a guest post I wrote for the Pathos Workshop, check it out http://pathosworkshop.com/blog.php
Más que Frida
When I met with Patricia Quijano Ferrer in October, sitting in the café by a monument to (male) muralism, I described to her the chapters in my thesis. “I will start with the conflict at Rockefeller Center, and its formation of ‘Man Controller of the Universe’ in Mexico City today.” “Why ‘Man’”? She asked point…
Changing Walls, Evolving City: 5Pointz
5Pointz on Long Island City, New York, is a globally recognized center for graffiti art. The several story warehouse boasts works by talented graffiti artists from all over the world, and visible from the 7 train, and across from PS1 it also is a testament to the complicated negotiations and movements that graffiti makes between…
Meeting of Styles Mexico: FASE Interview
FASE reminds us of the importance of love and commitment in graffiti- that it is a kind of art that does not guarantee fame but instead is about the love of it. The following is the transcript of our interview, facilitated by SWER, partially in English and Spanish. C: What name do you write? F:…