WHATYOUWRITE.COM

June 25 - July 29, 2006

A group exhibition of legendary graffiti artists and graffiti documentarians DUROCIA, JAMESTOP, HENRY CHALFANT, MARTHA COOPER, LADY K FEVER, ERNIE PANICCIOLI, JAMEL SHABAZZ, PETER SUTHERLAND, and SLANG TYRUE.
The opening reception will be held Sunday June 25 from 3-7pm and will feature DJ Dhundee of Sugarcuts Inc. spinning classic 80s records in homage to the graffiti genre. There will also be live performances by Keswa and a b-boy circle hosted by WESTROK. The exhibition will be on view through July 29.

a group exhibition of legendary graffiti artists and graffiti documentarians, SLANG TYRUE, ERNIE PANNICIOLI, PETER SUTHERLAND, and JAMESTOP. The opening reception will be held Sunday June 25 from 3-7pm and will feature DJ Dundee spinning classic 80‚s records in homage of the graffiti genre. There will also be live performances by Keswa and a b-boy circle hosted by WESTROK. The exhibition will be on view through July 29. Propaganda examines contemporary political and social issues through the lens of contemporary graffiti artists and graffiti documentarians. Graffiti has existed since the days of ancient civilization and many will attest to its prehistoric origins. The evolution of the art form can be traced back to cave painting, believed to be the work of elders and shaman. Propaganda presents graffiti‚s progression and social pertinence, exhibiting exciting imagery that challenges the imagery of the status quo.

Gallery hours are Saturday noon to 6:00 p.m. and by appointment 718-638-8416.

Located on the Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery is easily accessible by public transportation. It is a short walk from the G train to Classon Avenue or the C train to Clinton/Washington Station.

Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery
334 Grand Avenue, Clinton Hill Brooklyn

For more information please visit us at www.rushphilanthropic.org

The Brooklyn Museum presents Graffiti, an exhibition of twenty large-scale works from such influential artists as Michael Tracy (”Tracy 168“), Melvin Samuels, Jr. (”NOC 167“), Sandra Fabara (”Lady Pink“), Chris Ellis (”Daze“), and John Matos (”Crash“). Graffiti explores how a genre that began as a form of subversive public communication has become legitimate — moving away from the street and into private collections and galleries.

Graffiti is organized by Charlotta Kotik, Curator and Chair, Department of Contemporary Art.

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn NY 11238-6052

A group show that screams “What-up LA!”

Original paintings, photography, and clothing depicting the great city we live in and the artists that call her home.

Downtown Address:
110 Winston St. (at Main St., between 4th & 5th)
Downtown Los Angeles, CA 90013

Including works by:
Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca, Chris Haston, Asylm, Ruet, Logan Hicks, Man One, Saber, Zes, Revok, Eriberto Oriol, Patrick Martinez, Vyal, Spurn, Erick Rodriguez, Codak, Gregg Stone, Werc, Mear, Chaz, Oscar Magallanes, Draftsmen, Edgar Hoill, Estevan Oriol, Sacred194, and a few others…

On the 4 turntables: 38CAL Dj’s - Handprints, Dstrukt, and Ethos

Reprazent in style with L.A. gear from Idealist Cloth, Joker Brand, Streetwise, Uncany, Streetfiles, and others…

Also as part of the L.A. Reprazent! exhibit there will be two book signings and live performance dates:

July 15th, 5 - 8pm
Freight Train Graffiti book signing by Roger Gastman and featured artists to be announced. As well as a live in-store performance by Poetik Prophets.

July 22nd, 5 - 8pm
I Am Alive in Los Angeles book signing by Mike the Poet with a live painting by Mear One.

Old-timers remember the golden age of the art movement that actually moved.
By Dimitri Ehrlich & Gregor Ehrlich

TRACY 168, who began writing graffiti in the late sixties and invented wild style in the mid-seventies, painted this train in two minutes in 1974. Afterward, he added ink and whiteout to the photo.
(Photo: Courtesy of Martinez Gallery)

Graffiti today is such an accepted part of youth culture that it’s hard to imagine what New Yorkers experienced in the early seventies, as they watched their city become steadily tattooed with hieroglyphics. Some saw it as vandalism and a symbol of urban decay. But for the writers who risked life, limb, and arrest, and the teenagers, filmmakers, and, eventually, curators who admired them, graffiti was an art form. Galleries and museums caught up to this view in the early eighties, when graffiti was briefly part of the era’s art boom. Now it’s finally ripe for retrospection: On June 30, the Brooklyn Museum features works by many of the artists interviewed here, while from June 29 at the Brecht Forum, the Martinez Gallery mounts a smaller show of movement veterans.

Modern graffiti actually began in Philadelphia in the early sixties, when Cornbread and Cool Earl scrawled their names all over the city. By the late sixties, it was flourishing in Washington Heights, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. The New York Times took notice in July 1971, with a small profile of a graffiti artist named TAKI 183. But Julio 204 was using a Magic Marker and spray paint on city walls as early as 1968, and in 1971, writers like JOE 182 began “bombing”—marking as many surfaces as possible.

By the mid-seventies, many subway cars were so completely covered in top-to-bottom paintings (known as “masterpieces”) that it was impossible to see out the window. For writers, this was a golden age, when the most prolific could become known as “kings” by going “all-city”—writing their names in all five boroughs. Mayor Lindsay declared the first war on graffiti in 1972, beginning a long, slow battle that seemed to culminate in May 1989, when the last graffitied train was finally removed from service.

Yet today, graffiti etched with acid can be seen on subway windows, and it’s alive and well on buildings around the city. And thanks in part to the Internet, which teems with graffiti Websites, it is a worldwide phenomenon in every language. What follows is the story of the people who invented graffiti, and those who watched them do it. Names of writers are rendered in the style in which they appeared on the city’s walls and subways (all caps usually indicates an artist from the seventies).

Dash and DOC BURNIN PARIS…

a lil action shot

WEST WANE…

More bombing

JAYA HIMS SIGN in Paris

KET

SIGN OTB