Alexis Walls - South Wall

Portland Street Art Alliance’s new graffiti production, The Alexis Walls has just expanded. The Alexis Walls will showcase some of the finest and well-respected Pacific Northwest artistic talent, and provide the public with a curated rotating public art gallery. On the second wall, PSAA brought together some of our favorite local rail-riding artists Guams, Humen, and Clamo (Clamnation).

Business and property owners constantly came by to chat with the artists about their work, loving what they saw and asking for them to paint their walls too. We got tons of honking horns and thumbs up over the 5 days it took the artists to paint this mural. Inspired by Greek vases, the artists took this general idea and added their own unique flare. 

The aim of The Alexis Walls is to show the larger community what is possible when artists are given the time, space, and means to produce quality work in this genre of art.

Special thanks to the owners of Alexis Foods; who provided PSAA open access to their walls and a donation to kick-off this project. We are looking forward to bringing more communities together, securing new walls, and helping to sow the seeds of creativity and acceptance in the Central Eastside.

Alexis Walls - North Wall

Introducing Portland Street Art Alliance’s new graffiti production, The Alexis Walls! After months of planning, we are thrilled to launch this unique and dynamic project. The Alexis Walls will showcase some of the finest and well-respected Pacific Northwest artistic talent, and provide the public with a curated rotating public art gallery. In this first round of murals, PSAA brought together local graffiti legends Kango, Joins, Giver, Spud, Rasko, Rite, Nekon, Ekose, Jade, and Eras.

Photo by @OddioPhoto

Photo by @OddioPhoto

After just a few weeks of painting, the project has already sparked excitement in the arts community and buy-in from the larger SE industrial business community. It’s not everyday the public gets to see such a display of graffiti-style art.

It is our aim to show the larger community what is possible when artists are given the time, space, and means to produce quality work in this genre of art.

Special thanks to the owners of Alexis Foods; who provided PSAA open access to their walls and a sizable donation to kick-off this project. We are looking forward to bringing more communities together, securing new walls, and helping to sow the seeds of creativity and acceptance in the Central Eastside.

Photo © @OddioPhoto

Photo © @OddioPhoto

Photo © Portland Street Art Alliance

Photo © Portland Street Art Alliance

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All photos © Portland Street Art Alliance @OddioPhoto

The History of Zero-Tolerance Graffiti Abatement Laws in Portland

Graffiti abatement “zero-tolerance” laws in the U.S. are primarily based on an outdated and unproven (perhaps even disproven) theory commonly referred to as “The Broken Window Theory.” This theory was first outlined in 1982 by two researchers, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. The premise was that a place which looked like it was not being taken care of, and had things like broken windows and trash in them sends messages to criminals that the space is not regulated or controlled. This appearance of neglect would then attract all sorts of violent and quality of life crimes, descending the area into chaos. Even though Wilson and Kelling only very briefly mentioned graffiti as one of these “symbols of disorder,” the lasting effects of their idea on the criminalization of graffiti culture and our urban landscapes, with the patch work of buff we often see, can still be felt today across the country.

More recent research calls into question the legitimacy of the Broken Window Theory because of the lack of evidence supporting its validity; there is not a direct correlation between violent crimes and so-called quality of life crimes, such as graffiti. This broken windows and zero-tolerance reasoning is a common tool in cities to make a mostly harmless misdemeanor (like graffiti) into a felony.

Zero-tolerance graffiti policing had its origins in New York City during the Giuliani administration and then eventually spread across the U.S. Zero-tolerance approach to graffiti abatement in Portland can be traced back to Hugh McDowell, the City of POrtland’s Office of Community & Civic Life Graffiti Program’s ‘Prevention Coordinator’ in 1998 (prior to Marcia Dennis taking the reins).

McDowell drafted a detailed “Anti-Graffiti Strategy” which outlined Portland’s new zero-tolerance approach to graffiti. The City even tried to implement a "graffiti free" zone in inner industrial SE Portland, but that intense effort of course failed. This attempt was infamously mocked by the classic Portland film The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (2001).

In the late 90s, Portland’s graffiti abatement efforts became more formalized and Graffiti Abatement and Removal moved from a sub-category under “Crime Prevention” in the department to a separate Service Level [program].

In 1998, the City of Portland also enacted the “Graffiti Nuisance Abatement Trust Fund” that helped gather city and business funding to support these increased graffiti abatement efforts. These funds went towards paying for the cost of graffiti removal, purchasing graffiti removal equipment and supplies, and for personnel to administer the new graffiti nuisance abatement ordinance.

The City of Portland’s new approach was outlined in this news article:

“Estimate the damage in 1998 at $2 million, much of it caused by 50 to 80 hard-core taggers. Fed up, city officials in August that year ratcheted up the city's response: They created a zero-tolerance zone in the Central Eastside Industrial Area, adopted a tougher anti-graffiti ordinance requiring swift cleanup, hired a full-time staff person to coordinate the city's $280,000 graffiti-abatement program and subtly put more pressure on police to nab the hard-to-catch criminals. Today, Mayor Vera Katz thinks it's working: Since 1997, the city's six-day-a-week graffiti cleanup crew has repainted more than 14,000 sites, and, in the past year alone, the city has investigated or prosecuted about 40 vandals. We aren't going to let up, Katz says. Oregon's 1997 repeat property-offender law means a minimum of 13 months in prison for the most serious vandals, and some states fight back even harder.”

In 2007, an increased effort to crackdown on graffiti resulted in the City of Portland adopting a new policy regulating "Graffiti Materials and Sales.” This policy is now commonplace in most large U.S. cities. Under this policy, if a store sells spray paint, aerosol tips/nozzles, paint pens, glass cutting, or etching tools they are required to verify the photo ID from purchasers and keep a log of specific information on products sold, including the name of the purchaser, their driver’s license or ID number, and address.

The store must also secure all graffiti materials to be inaccessible to purchasers without employee assistance (i.e., in a locked case, behind the checkout counter). Strangely, these types of laws act more as an annoying slight deterrent for two reasons. It is extremely unlikely and difficult (if not impossible) to prosecute someone, especially in a city, by connecting them to a graffiti crime with only spray paint purchasing evidence; graffiti artists need to be caught in the act or on camera. However, there are ways around these city ordinances. Today, companies like Montréal-based Bombing Science sell graffiti supplies worldwide online which only require a valid credit card.

The City of Portland also regulates graffiti in its landscape with the controversial “Graffiti Nuisance Property Code,” requiring all graffiti to be removed within 10 days after being reported. Essentially, any graffiti or street art reported to the City that does not have a city-issued mural permit or waiver, is required to be removed even if it was done with permission or the property owner. If a building is labeled as a “graffiti nuisance property” and the illicit art does not get buffed within 10 days, the property owner will receive a fine. On top of paying for the City’s buffing, the property owner could face a fine of $250 for each abatement instance. If the owner refuses to let the City on the property, the City Graffiti Abatement team may request a judge to issue a warrant to access the private property to remove the graffiti.

All it takes is one disgruntled or vigilante graffiti reporter for this cascade of events to happen. The City has no formal process for gauging the severity of the situation, the consensus of public opinion on the situation, or the possible community support for the art. For example, the ArtsBase controversy on Williams a few years ago.

Additionally, all of this graffiti removal and abatement is done in the name of “public safety and health; however, this “broken windows” mindset only represents one way of thinking about graffiti and how it operates in our cities. PSAA receives countless inquires from people wanting to see the best of Portland graffiti. Cities across the world use their vibrant graffiti culture as an asset in their tourist marketing efforts. Street art and graffiti events worldwide bring huge crowds.  Furthermore, it is often said by the community that harsh measures to regulate graffiti only result in a proliferation of vandalism-like tagging, and suppress more artistic ventures, and the indoctrination of youth into traditional graffiti culture (that is at least bound by codes and pillars of respect).

We ask, whose public safety and health are these draconian graffiti removal efforts supporting? Surely not the people who actually live in these neighborhoods, who either choose to live there for their “gritty urban DIY feel,” and/or have much bigger safety and health concerns to grabble with (toxins in the earth and air, actual violent crime, rising cost of living, etc.). Cities across the country, including Portland, should reevaluate their priorities and focus on things that the vast majority of their populations are actually concerned about, and not spend precious tax dollars fighting an imaginary war on graffiti that will certainly never be won. No city in the history of human civilization has ever been “graffiti free,” nor will there ever be.

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The Black Hat Project

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The Last Bus Club & InvoicePDX have recently launched The Black Hat project, with the goal of opening an innovative artistic hub in Portland. Together they strive to raise awareness and to build a foundation of artists and makers of all kind while documenting the artistic progression that’s happening in Portland. The Black Hat will serve as a local innovative artistic space; providing contemporary gallery space, artist studio space, resources, and art supplies. The project founders say that they will be offering the lowest gallery commissions in town (galleries often take a 50% cut of the selling price to pay for operations).

Chase Muromoto of Invoice Pdx & and Forest Kell of the Last Bus Club began collaborating in 2015 when they did the One Stop Shop, a pop-up parking lot art event using a painted van and pallets to create a temporary art space. They have also hosted other gallery art shows including Writer's Anonymous (2015), Inside Out at Compound Gallery (2016), and the PBR Art Design Contest Show (2016).

InvoicePDX has also published two volumes of Invoice Magazine, which features original and submitted photos of Pacific Northwest graffiti art, along with exclusive interviews with artists like GATS, GIVER, and EKOSE along with long-time graffiti photographers, like Oddio. InvoicePDX says that the magazine “provides a discrete outlet for the graffiti/art community.”

In April 2017, Invoice PDX & Last Bus Club launched The Black Hat project, and hosted a benefit show that welcomed the community by providing a free art show for all ages. Food was served by Braddah Bowls, and drink sponsors included Pabst Blue Ribbon PDX and Guayaki Yerba Mate. The event also offered live screen-printing by Tour Print, local company created by a team of designers, brand experts, merchandisers, and artists. The Black Hat project launch party also featured a special appearance from local street dance group Soul Trigger and Supreme Beings.

To promote this project, Invoice PDX & Last Bus Club collaborated with local cinematographer and creative director Jon Christoperson (@JCCinematography), who has also recently made wonderful promotional commercials for local sticker artist RxSkulls and Portland-based female street artists like @wokeface @eillegal_rose @hellokitska and @placeboeffectpdx.

#theblackhat #pdx #streetart @invoicepdx @lastbusclubclothing

A post shared by Jon Christopherson (@jccinematography) on

Josh McQuary, also known as McMonster (#tinymike), was also involved in hosting the launch party.  McMonster’s art shows a perspective of a surreal world taking images from nature, science fiction, and female anatomy. McQuary recently won the #PBRart Art Can contest and will have his art appear on a millions of PBR beer cans nationwide staring in July 2017.

New Mexico artist VELA provided event attendees with live art painting, showing his process while creating a Hawaiian-inspired piece. VELA has also been featured in Invoice Magazine, displaying his surreal take on Mexican and Native American graffiti culture. His intricate usage of color, imagery, and geometric symbols creates a unity of nature and spirit through aerosol. Many other local artists displayed work and came out to support the project, including Galenism, Voxx Romana, NABRU, TheEarwig22, and many more.

All funds collected from the The Black Hat project event go towards a space where artist and supporters can call home and continue to support artistic progression in Portland. If you missed the event, you can still contribute by donating to the project’s crowdsourcing fundraising campaign.

Special thanks to Lourdes Jimenez for covering the show and contributing to this article. 

SE Asia Street & Graffiti Art

The palest ink is better than the best memory. - Chinese proverb

Southeast Asian cultures have a long history of highly ornate and intricate craftsmanship and arts. From the glittering and colorful temples of Hong Kong and Bangkok, to the intricately carved ruins of the city of Angkor Wat, it is easy to see the long history and value artistic expression holds; it is intricately woven into everyday life, past and present. The following is a brief report back from a 3-week trip to SE Asia, documenting the street art and graffiti art found in Hong Kong China, Siem Reap Cambodia, Phuket, Phi Phi, and Bangkok Thailand.

Hong Kong

Few other cities in the world compare to Hong Kong on its sheer size, beauty, and economic vibrancy. Classified as a “mega city,” Hong Kong currently has a population of over 7 million. It is a vertical and dense city, constrained by a natural urban growth boundary, surrounded by the sea and mountains. Its public transportation is world-class, whizzing you around from place to place, with wait times mostly less than 2 minutes.

In 1997, sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the China, ending over one and a half centuries of British rule. Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China with a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign affairs and defense.  In 2014, a student-led series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution rocked the streets of Hong Kong and produced an impressive array of street art and graffiti campaigns. The protests began after the People's Congress issued a decision regarding proposed reforms to the Hong Kong electoral system. The decision was widely seen to be highly restrictive, and equivalent to the Chinese Communist Party's pre-screening of the candidates for the leader of Hong Kong.

Searching online, in social media, and on the city streets of many of the central city neighborhoods, it is quickly apparent that the street art and graffiti art is mainly concentrated in one neighborhood, Sheung Wan.  Sheung Wan is known for its famous Hollywood Road, the second road to be built and the first to be completed when the colony of Hong Kong was founded. Hollywood is lined with exquisite Asian antique dealers, galleries, and flea markets, this area also showcases a variety of public expression on its alleyway walls.  

HKWalls

The group HKwalls organized many of Hong Kong’s prominent murals throughout the city. Founded in 2014, HK Wall is a non-profit organization that aims to create opportunities for local and international artists to showcase their talent through street art and culture. HKwalls hold an annual street art festival during Hong Kong’s art month in March, as well as year-round programming that focuses on artist career building and arts awareness. The festival partners include Vans and Montana and have featured big-name street artists like Vhils, Peeta, Above, and Okuda.

The 2016 festival focused on the Kowloon neighborhood or Sham Shui Po and included 40 artists from 17 different countries, painting 40 murals. An impressive 42 workshops were also provided in March by HKwalls and House of Vans.  

There is also a strong stencil scene with several artists seemingly at work. Unlike other cities, there doesn’t seem to be as much tagging occurring, and surprisingly little obvious evidence of buff. Perhaps this is due to the more conservative culture, or the fact that one neighborhood is concentrating the art, so people know that painting there will likely produce more lasting pieces.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap is Cambodia’s second largest city with a population a little over 200 thousand. It is the gateway “resort town” for visitors seeking to explore the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world, with the site measuring over 400 acres. It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, and gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century. Siem Reap is an emerging economy based mainly on tourism and has a large number of NGOs and other not-for profits organizations. Torn apart by war, famine, and still plagued with the horrific situation of landmines, Cambodia is a diamond in the rough, a city home to some of the kindness and strongest people.

Siem Reap did not have what you would traditional call street art or murals, but it did have a moderate amount of random graffiti, some of which was done by visitors. The worldwide graffiti culture has seemingly not reached Siem Reap yet. With no evidence of buffing, the existing graffiti appeared in alleyways off main streets, easily spotted by the prominent mode of transportation, a Tuk Tuk or motorbike.

Surprisingly at least two bars embraced a graffiti art theme, one of which even had a full half-pipe on the roof, proudly proclaiming “Cambodia” in bold wildstyle graffiti lettering. This bar is certainly a hotspot for both locals and visitors alike with 50-cent beers, live music, skateboarding, and pool tables.

Phuket, Thailand

The islands of Phuket and Phi Phi are home to some of the most pristine and exotic natural landscapes on the planet. Phuket is the hub, often just a stopping off place for island hopping, but if you stay a few days and visit the older parts of town, it is clear that it is home to a vibrant creative scene. The beautiful old Sino-Portuguese architecture in Phuket’s Old Town is burst with exquisite island colors. Phuket has several art galleries, local craft fairs, including a weekend Indy Market featuring local artisan goods, resale clothes, a variety of food and beer vendors, and live music, a cultural hot spot for island youth and tourists.

Phuket is not that big, so you can pretty easy wander around and find a lot of great street art fairly easily. General roads to transverse are Phang Nga, Thalang, and Ranong. A great guide and map can be found on this blog.

 

F.A.T. Phuket Mural Project

The city also has an urban arts initiative called F.A.T. Phuket (Food Art Old Town), that has organized 12 large-scale mural paintings, based on local food, culture and customs. Started in mid-2016, this initiative was between a well-known property developer and a local artist. Local artists and some of Thailand’s most famous street artists quite literally canvassed the streets and murals started popping up all over the place. To see murals of this size and quality in a town the size of Phuket is a delightful surprise. Rising above its busting markets and perfectly playing with its textured walls, bold street art has certainly made its mark on this city.

While tourists’ flock to these sites to take photos, not everyone on the island appreciates the new style of art appearing on the walls. Some of So Phuket’s murals in the historic Old Town District have stirred up controversy amongst more traditional locals. Newspaper articles covered the situation, even conducting a public opinion polls to find out what people felt about and wanted to see happen with the new art. One mural by famed Bangkok artist AlexFace was eventually buffed based the public survey.

Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

On the small island of Phi Phi off the coast of Phuket, the central part of the island is notorious for its backpacking and party scene. Here you will find an impressive sticker art display on many of the poles and pathways. There are no cars or motorbikes on the island, making it very pedestrian friendly and localized. Although there are not any large-scale murals here, graffiti can be found in the alleyways (like at tattoo shops) and along popular tourist hiking pathways.

Bangkok, Thailand

The sprawling metropolis of Bangkok is home to over 6 million people, with the official city limits covering over 600 square miles. Bangkok is an extreme example of a “primate city,” because its huge population significantly dwarfs Thailand's other urban centers. Stretching along the Chao Phraya River, this was a central port city, between the ancient eastern and western worlds. Bangkok’s urban development has allowed for many of the older buildings and sections of town to remain. Expanding over such distances, locals and tourists mainly rely on cars, taxis and tuk tuks to get around, as Bangkok’s public transit system is still in its infancy.  Bangkok is famous for its food, with an amazing array of street vendors and restaurants serving up some of the most tantalizing and complex flavors; all with 5-star quality for ½-star price.

Bangkok had an impressive array of high-quality mural work, along with local street art and a very active graffiti scene. Walking over 50 miles in 3 days, finding street art in Bangkok proved to be a bit more than in some cities. Impressive pockets of graffiti art can often be found along the cities many canals. While graffiti art is spread throughout the city, the Saen Saep Canal, Charoen Krung Road, Bang Rak, and Klong San were particular hot spots in 2017.

Folk Art in the Trok San Chao Rong Kueak Alleyway

In the quiet residential enclave of Talad Noi, Trok San Chao Rong Kueak alleyway is known for its historic folk art. In the meandering alleys and passageways, you will find interesting examples of local art, amongst these well used communal public spaces.

Bangkok Art & Culture Centre

The Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC) is a contemporary arts facility in mid-town. BACC aims to create a meeting place for artists, to provide cultural programs for the community, giving importance to cultural continuity from past to contemporary. It aims to open new grounds for cultural dialogue, networking, and create new cultural resources from both the public and the private sectors. To do this they provide programs for art, music, theatre, film, design, and cultural/educational. What is particularly unique about BACC, is that the facility also houses multiple museums, local pop-up stores (think Tender Loving Empire), artist studios, spray-paint distributors, coffee shops, restaurants, art bookstores and public libraries. BACC provides an amazing hub for artists and the larger community. 

BUKRUK Urban Art Festival

Founded in 2013, the BUKRUK Urban Art Festival has organized many of the larger scale murals on Bangkok’s walls, hosting art by international artists such as Nychos, Aryz, and ROA. The first edition gathered successfully 30 artists from Thailand and Europe, bringing artists from over 10 countries together to paint. This 10-day project features murals, art exhibits, artist talks, animations, music festivals, , mapping projections and workshops. Interestingly each year focus on partnerships with particular parts of the world. For example, in 2013 the festival focuses on Thai-Europe. In 2016, it boarded to Asia-Europe connections.

Chalermla Public Park

A notable place to view street art is in the Chalermla Public Park. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has revamped this overgrown, rubble-filed abandoned space over the course of 2 months in 2015. The walls surrounding the park host impressive large murals, local and regional art along with graffiti. Complete with guerilla gardening style plantings, this park with its edginess was an impressive example of adaptive reuse that neighborhood and local kids obviously loved. A city spokesperson said that “People mostly come to use the park in the mornings and evenings, jogging or having picnics. Small children run around.” When asked how they feel about graffiti they said, “We have no problem with that graffiti. I actually kind of like it. It makes the park more colorful and cheerful. Graffiti artists can come to paint here freely. The only thing that I ask is that they don’t damage my grass! It’s hard to grow and maintain.”

While cities in places like the United States would likely never fully embrace a rough park like this as an official city park, it does offer an excellent example of DIY style tactical urbanism and the intrinsic power of allowing for art to create vibrant cultural spaces that everyone with an open-mind and common-sense can safely enjoy.

Winter Light Festival 2017

As winter continues to keep the city in hibernation mode, Portland’s 2nd annual Winter Light Festival commences—presented by Portland General Electric and hosted by Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).This public art festival provides a unique experience that lures the community from winter’s dim to an innovating aura of coming Spring. Showcasing contemporary light based art installations and performances of over 60 artists; they combine light and technology to create educational and interactive artwork.

The wet weather didn’t stop families and friends from gathering together to experience a public display of inspirational community-based projects. The purpose of this event was to bring the community “out of the dark” that comes after the holidays and create and glowing stepping stone to what is to come.

Being held a the East end of the Tilikum Bridge and along the Eastbank Espalanade, you are instantly being greeted by the PXL Matrix done by Josh Kottler on the Hampton Opera Center. It seems as if one light connects and leads you to another, taking you further down a path full of light and wonder to the Radiance Dome held at the bridge lot. This installation done by Light At Play is based on a “5 frequency geodesic dome that contains 190 illuminated panels and 120 vertex lights which together form a highly customizable, light-driven 3-D surface”. Glowing hula hop performers captivate the audience and fill the dome with radiance from the inside out.

For those that wanted to leave a mark, Graffiti Lanterns invited the audience to interact by scratching off the layered black opaque paint, exposing a hidden light source beneath. From people’s names, to designs and illustrations, these lanterns bare markings of those who have come and gone, sharing and making the experience together.

The illumination of light doesn’t only come from the installations but it is seen the faces of the people. Children look up and marvel with curiosity as they tug on their parent’s hand to look onward and move from one creation to another. The Light Chimes installation, an artistic collaboration between Andrew Haddock and design studio, Sticky CO., “reacts to movement giving off various sounds and beams of colored light, providing a melodic and visual synesthetic experience”, give each individual stepping under it a sense of self-awareness.

Moving on forward towards the Esplanade, over 50 Glow Bunnies cover the grassland—made from once piece of corrugated plastic, Olivier Bouwman uses wireless controlled LED light bulbs that are programed to shift colors and patterns all throughout the event. If we weren’t excited for the pastel season already this definitely captured everyone’s attention. Flamboyant Productions offer up space performers on stilts and curious bugs on wheels—adding more substance to the idea of innovation.

As you continue to follow the path that his been lit by the ideas of others, the installations not only encouraged interaction with the exhibit but other festival attendees. From the Pixel Throw-up, Glowing Buckets, to the Parallax, the 2017 Winter Light Festival brought some warmth to what has been a very cold season.

The community showed their support to the artists, as well as the event itself, by lighting themselves up in Christmas lights, glowing umbrellas, and creative light themed outfits that showed true Portland Spirit. The concept of this event is as innovating as the art in it—lighting the way from dark to light, cold to warm, and leaving each individual with a touch of glow they can carry back to their homes and on to the new season ahead. 

ARTICLE BY LOURDES JIMENEZ

Photos © Anton Legoo

Art as Resistence

 In Janurary 2017, PSAA director Tiffany Conklin took part in a panel presentation at Portland State University that focused on the Intersections of Activism and Effective Nonviolent Action Tactics. This event was hosted by the Peace Action Exhibition & PSU Students United for Nonviolence. The panel sought to explore the intersections of art, protest, and law in making positive change and how people can get involved in creating meaningful and sustainable change. Other panelists included Gregory McKelvey, one of the leaders of Portland Resistance, and Steve Kanter, a Lewis & Clark law professor and former president of the Oregon ACLU. The following is a recap of PSAA's presenation. 

The human urge to make art is rooted in our desire to develop and share lasting narratives that reflect, inform, and construct our identities and societies. The making of art is an important and vital part of human evolution. It has served as one of our main modes of communication and culture building. Therefore, art can be used as a “conceptual frame” through which observations and interpretations about society can be explored, and new ideas put forth.

Resistance art often aims to influence attitudes. It interrupts and exposes injustices, mocks and disarms perceived evils, and pushes for collective action against powerful social, political, and corporate structures. Throughout history, it has been a tool for the disenfranchised and disillusioned. In most revolutions, some sort of artistic and creative messaging has helped the movements mobilize and sustain themselves. Social movements require a lot of communication between many of different types of people. In order to reach everyone, these “public consciousness wars” are often fought symbolically and literally in the media, on city streets, and through art and literature.

When analyzing resistance art, one similarity is very clear, it relies heavily on the use of symbols; place holders for larger ideas and shared narratives. However, creating powerful symbols is not easy. Speaking for and representing something significant enough to be meaningful to a community, requires an engagement with deeply embedded symbols in that community, as well as dependency on already agreed upon visual cues. 

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Join, or Die is one of the oldest commonly used symbols of resistance. Originally drawn by Benjamin Franklin in 1754, the cartoon depicts the early American colonies as a snake divided into 8 segments; a representation of colonial unity. Franklin’s ability to develop and disseminate powerful messages like this helped reinforce his influence as an effective communicator.

The Resistance Fist dates back to ancient Assyria, where depictions of the goddess Ishtar served as a symbol of resistance in the face of violence. In modern times, the Industrial Workers of the World first used the fist as a logo in 1917. The symbol is now highly recognizable and adopted by oppressed groups around the world, as a symbol of solidarity, strength, and resistance.

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The Anarchy Symbol is also well-known. The "A" stands for "anarchy," and the "O" stands for "order;" together standing for "Anarchy is the Mother of Order.” The first recorded use of this symbol was by the Federal Council of Spain of the International Workers Association in 1868. 

The Guy Fawkes Mask is another old symbol of resistance, dating back to 1605. This is not just a symbol, it also serves an important logistical purpose. Remaining anonymous can help one evade authorities and continue revolutionary activities. In certain situations, having your identity exposed can put you, your friends, and family at risk. However, this symbols is highly co-opted. It was the top-selling item on Amazon in 2011 and Time Warner owns the rights to the image, so they profit from every sale. 

 

Like resistance art, propaganda art is also a mode of artistic communication, aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. Since propaganda is often used by political regimes to manipulate people’s emotions by displaying facts selectively and presenting utopian (sometimes false) views of the society, it’s often viewed negatively. For better or worse, over time, propaganda art has had a profound influence on public consciousness. The techniques used by propaganda art are not inherently bad; as it can also be used in a positive way, to relay things like health recommendations, PSAs, and encouraging people to vote. 

Take for example, the evolution of the We Can Do It poster created by Westinghouse Electric in 1943. Initially, it was used to boost the morale of female employees so they would be more productive. Later in the 1980s, the poster was rediscovered and used to promote feminism. It is often mistaken for Rosie the Riveter, also created in 1943, but by Norman Rockwell. Again, Rosie was a “call to arms” for women to become strong capable females to support the war. Examples of this imagary can be found being used all around the world and continue to be used and adapted today. 

We can also see examples of resistance art in political cartoons and satire art. Many of these cartoons depict harsh commentaries and critiques, encouraging people to question the politics of the time. For example, the Pyramid of Capitalism has been a powerfully illustrative critique of capitalism. Painted in 1911, it depicts a system of social stratification and economic inequality. It is a powerful reminder that if the workers of the world withdraw their support, the system would literally topple over. 

We could also look at many different types of examples of resistance being made in the fine arts. For example, the post-apocalyptic worlds by Scott Listfield, or the satirical portraits of world leaders and dictators by Scott Scheidly (photos above). It is important to remember that galleries and museums have more limited access than public space, so while it can be powerful, this art may only reach more privileged urban audiences.

Photography can also be used for activism. For example, in 2017, an Oregon community college student created her #SignedByTrump project for a photography class using Donald Trump quotes painted on mostly nude female bodies. These photos went viral right before the 2017 presidental election. Or the photography of Portland-based Yay PDX, a local activist documenting protests and our city’s houseless population.

Light Installation, Portland Oregon

Light Installation, Portland Oregon

One of the most influential places where art can make a profound impact  is when it’s placed in public space. Whether its scribbled, scribed, pasted, placed, painted, or acted out; our city’s public spaces have always been a hub for expression and communication. They are, after all, the original arena for free expression and democracy. Graffiti and other types of urban interventions are a way to freely, automatously, and democratically communicate with each other, regardless of social or financial standing. You can reach a lot of different types of people, they just need to be passing by. You don’t need to have enough money to pay for a billboard or TV ad to get a message across. 

Public art provides a space for representation; a way to expand reach and amplify voices. If the embedded message is particularly relevant and powerful, people will take photos of it, it will end up on the internet and in social media, where its reach is almost infinite and it will live on forever, even if it’s removed from public space. Another important thing to realize is that during revolutions, governments not only increase their surveillance of public and online spaces. They will often shut down social media and limit internet access (like they did in Egypt and Greece recently). In these instances, we’ve seen graffiti used as a way to continue to communicate dissenting ideas, agitations, and instructions. Recently, social movements like Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution, Standing Rock, the Egyptian Revolution, and the Black Lives Matter Movement have all employed art to further their cause and spread their messages. 

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In certain cities, entire organizations have formed around the focus of making and promoting resistance art. Perhaps one of the best examples is the Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca. ASARO teaches art workshops for young people from Oaxaca’s impoverished districts and encourages them to translate their histories, perspectives, and social grievances into creative visual exchanges with others. They make stencils, woodcuts, wheatpastes, flyers, and public installations. They teach classes at their studio, hold meetings, maintain blogs & active social networks. By disrupting urban spaces with contradictory messages of conflict, they help to reveal inconsistences between the state’s manufactured image and the actual experiences of the people. The art they support helps summarize the critical force that comes from the periphery, to resist authoritarian political structures and capitalist economic priorities. These pieces invite viewers to stand up with the artists and participate in transforming their social realities together. 

By disrupting urban spaces with contradictory messages of conflict, ASARO helps to reveal inconsistences between the state’s manufactured image and the actual experiences of the people. The art they support helps summarize the critical force that comes from the periphery, to resist authoritarian political structures and capitalist economic priorities. These pieces invite viewers to stand up with the artists and participate in transforming their social realities together. 

Resistance art has had a profound influence on public consciousness throughout human civilization. It plays an indispensable role in the formation of public discourses, representation, and our struggles towards democracy. The best art challenges us to think differently, provokes our emotions, and encourages healthy debate with others. In uncertain times, when economic, social, and political systems fail to support society, art and graffiti serve a vital function of communicating grassroots ideas, sympathies, and demands. 

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Taylor Electric History

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Since 2006, the remains of the Taylor Electric building have been a unique Portland landmark. A sanctuary for artists, rebels, and outcasts. Over these nine years, this burnt out industrial skeleton at SE 2nd and Clay had been continuously and illegally reinvented by the public into a gallery for urban art and exploring. Taylor Electric was full of possibilities, a homemade refuge, and a cultural space of our own making.

The aesthetics of Taylor Electric were addictive for many, not only artists and tourists, but academics, journalists, photographers, and videographers. As geographer Bradley Garrett wrote “these spaces are appreciated for their aesthetic qualities, for their possibilities for temporarily escaping the rush of the surrounding urban environment and their ability to hint at what the future might look like, when all people have disappeared, a visceral reminder of our own mortality.”

In the months leading up to its demise, the art in Taylor Electric flourished as the fences went down and security was reduced. More so than ever people of all types, young and old, high heels and rubber boots, descended on this public place to experience an post-apocalyptic scene bursting with color.

Rumors of demolition and development plans had been circulating for years. With Portland’s economy and population is booming this change was inevitable. As power and urban space collide, developers moved their attention to this centrally located urban property. It was a profitable time to rebuild. This time instead of an electrical supply company, this site would be occupied by an office building and café. Part of the existing south-facing retaining wall of the 1936 building will be preserved and incorporated into the new structure.

In early May 2015, a large fence was erected, surrounding the entire building and closing an adjacent street. On Monday May 10th the demolition of Taylor Electric began. Spreading quickly through social media, artists shared images of the first walls to fall. Some onlookers talked with workers, gathering details of the plans. Local media outlets, like the Willamette Week covered the story, focusing on the cultural importance and impact of this space.

While a sense of loss pervaded, there was also a sense of unity and reflection that arose, as many people began to introspectively think about what was being lost, but also what had been built over the years in this space.

A local group of artists created this video:

Taylor Electric was showcase of local, regional, national and international graffiti art. When people visited Portland and wanted to see graffiti, Taylor Electric was the obvious and easiest destination.

While it has been difficult to see Portland’s only truly public and easily accessible graffiti space crumble before our eyes, graffiti is about temporarily occupying and re-imagining the spaces of the city. This spark that creates culturally rich places like Taylor Electric, lives within us. We use these urban voids as conduits and staging grounds for our creative energies. Taylor Electric was a particularly conductive environment for such electricity, but there are always new frontiers. That’s part of the beauty of graffiti; it’s always searching out the unexplored and raw. Strangely, it’s ephemeral and nomadic nature contributes to its resiliency and allure. Because it won’t be there forever.

All images © 2015 Anton Legoo

LAST DANCE WITH TAYLOR ELECTRIC

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution – Emma Goldman 1931”

Last night, from a ruined crack of the urban landscape, culture erupted with fiery explosions of color, light, and movement. Crowds gathered inside and outside the space to watch this mysterious event. Playing amongst these ruins, using rubble as the raw material for innovation, the Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre Northwest’stook over Taylor Electric, using it as a stage for Ragnarok, a Norse mythological tale of destruction and rebirth. The dance performance featured artists from Portland State University, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

This event is the first and perhaps the last opportunity for the public to officially experience this space, before it is lost forever. Demolition plans have been set.

Since the ruins of Taylor Electric were left to stand outside the political economy of urban development for years, it has functioned as richly occupied public space.While it was not legally public, it also was not subjected to the exclusionary controls of commercialization that increasingly afflict our cities. Taylor Electric offered a ‘shelter from the storm’ for a diverse community of outcasts, illustrating why debates over urban economic and cultural gentrification often evolve into debates over social well-being, social order, and social justice.

Many officials and developers envision streets purged of marginalized populations, cleared of human trash. These uncomfortable reminders of decay and neglect counter a narrative of a city made safe for endless effortless consumption and full of programmed urban activities. Officials often present redevelopment as economic salvation, or as social and cultural stimulation – restoring their version of a ‘quality of life.’

However, for many people in the city, spaces like this are essential for quality of life. We choose to live in the city for the unexpected and the grit. In this way, we view the demolition of Taylor Electric as the destruction of our public and cultural sphere. In many modern sanitized cities, space for unanticipated interaction and chaotic urban pleasures are rapidly diminishing. 

Over the past few weeks, as the fences have been slowly removed, the amount and variety of urban explorers descending upon the space has dramatically increased. People of all types come to take photos, reminisce, and talk with each other about what the place is and its future. Experiencing the dance performance shed light on how easy it would have been to use a space like this for community events. Imagine if grass were planted in the factory floor, turning the space into a unique pocket park surrounded by the burnt-out skeleton walls. Live bands could play music, people could have picnics, street artists could paint murals, and mobile food carts could provide food and beverages. As many from the street art community have argued for years, if permitted, this would have provided a perfect free wall space, something the city does not have and desperately needs. Portland has a ‘zero-tolerance’ graffiti policy requiring that all un-permitted public expression be promptly removed or the property owner will be fined. Countless northwest cities (Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, San Francisco, etc.) have free walls that are open to public expression. Free walls are a community asset because they provide a designated safe place for people to practice and refine their artistic skills and a place where urban flâneurs and tourists can go to see this style of art.

Our vision of the City of Portland is a place where gutter punks, graffiti writers, and the houseless community will no longer be driven from public space. They’ll be embraced as members of the community. In such a city, residents would no longer be taught to fear marginal spaces like Taylor Electric, they would be embraced for creativity and cultural innovation, where the inherent uncertainty of the unpredictable provides raw material and conditions that incubate new ways of being and thinking. The allure of this vision is undoubtedly fleeting. We must not forget this spark lives within us, not necessarily in the spaces we create and occupy. We use these urban voids as conduits and staging grounds for creative energy. From the ruins of the past, time and time again, we rebuild.

Special thanks to Hart Noecker and Anton Legoo for contributing to this article.

Some material adapted from Jeff Ferrell’s 2001 book, “Tearing down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy” 

All images © 2014 Anton Legoo

TAYLOR ELECTRIC FREE SPACE

Seven years ago, a massive fire engulfed the wooden frame Taylor Electric Supply Warehouse on SE 2nd & Clay in the Central Eastside Industrial District of Portland. The building housed electrical equipment, flammable materials and chemicals. It was one of Portland‘s largest industrial fires ever. It burnt into the night, causing power outages and oil spills in the Willamette River. The next day, the smoldering building collapsed. All that remained was a charred skeleton and an ash-covered floor.

Today, the building‘s shell stands mostly unchanged, but with one important difference. It serves as a public art gallery, a mecca for Portland’s street art and photography community. Here, emerging and veteran artists showcase their art to the public; free, direct, and uncensored. On most days, visitors discover a range of graffiti here including, tags, stencils, installations, and huge masterpieces. As with many official and unofficial ‘free walls,’ the graffiti in Taylor Electric is generally found to be more aesthetic pleasing. The artists have time to create more detailed work.

During the day, the building comes alive in other ways. On the edge of Produce Row, a flurry of manufacturing and shipping activity surrounds it. Professional photographers, film crews, wedding parties, and urban explorers descend upon the building to photograph its walls. It is even used to market locally-made mustard.

Even though graffiti is often stereotyped negatively as promoting blight and urban decay, a thriving street art scene is also a sign of a vibrant, innovative, and creative city. Under-use and decay of built environments is not caused by the presence of graffiti; it is instead a by-product of an area that’s already in disrepair. Artists are drawn to these spaces because of their gritty aesthetics and the anonymity they provide.

Cities like Berlin, London, Melbourne, Basel, and Miami have realized that fostering creative activities in public (both planned and unplanned) can be beneficial to the city, financially and culturally. In many cities around the world, graffiti removal is mostly targeted to the central downtown core. The extent of graffiti abatement outside the city is left to individual neighborhoods to decide and manage. Some neighborhoods are mostly free of graffiti, and other areas the walls burst with color. This is not the case in the City Portland, where a blanket zero-tolerance policy covers the entire city. It is illegal to paint graffiti (or a mural) on an outside wall, even if you have permission from a property owner. If graffiti is not covered up in 10 days, property owners run the risk of being issued substantial fines from the city. Additionally, Portland does not host any official free walls, like other northwest cities, like Tacoma and Olympia do. What often results in Portland is an abundance of quick tags (which most people dislike) all over the city, instead of more elaborate pieces painted on designated walls or districts.

Portland’s zero-tolerance policy has been playing out on the walls of Taylor Electric for years now. The entire building has been ‘buffed’ (painted-out) every few months to remove the graffiti even though it was an un-salvageable building with no residential neighbors. The premise behind this continued effort was that it would “reduce social deterioration within the City and promote public safety and health.” The assumption is that consistently covered up graffiti will deter more from occurring. Research done by Portland State University graduate students in 2004 and 2012 (Gorsek & Conklin, respectively), suggests that, in fact, buffing does not to deter graffiti from reoccurring. If anything, the solid paint provides a fresh canvas to work on and incentive to get bigger and better.

The potential for re-development of the Taylor Electric site, and the surrounding area, cannot be denied. It sits just minutes from downtown Portland, offers panoramic city views of the city, and easy access to the Willamette River, East Bank Esplanade, and Hawthorne Bridge. Down the road, you find Distillery Row, the heart of Portland’s craft distilling movement, several of Portland’s famous food cart pods, the Museum of Science and Industry, and most recently, the new Eastside Streetcar line.

A different type of gentrification is occurring in the Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID). It is zoned industrial, not residential. Some of the businesses in this district have operated here for decades. There is even a non-profit, volunteerorganization, responsible for representing businesses and property owners in the Central Eastside Industrial District. This group fights to protect the rights of property owners and businesses in the district and keep CEID as an ‘industrial sanctuary,’ and major employment zone for the city.

Just recently it was announced that the Taylor Electric Building had been sold. It is now slated to be re-developed into office space. New building plans can be found here. This re-development was inevitable. Portland’s and urban growth boundary makes it a very dense city. Most vacant land in and around the urban core is developed. This land-use planning protects our cherished natural surroundings, fosters walkable, bikeable, cohesive, and vibrant neighborhoods.

However, this density also makes finding hidden under-used spaces that allow for alternative uses very hard to find. Undeveloped landscapes serve as a reminder that there is value in not having all urban space in continuous official use. These spaces in-between are voids that allow for unscripted activities. In Portland, out of under-used parking lots, culinary meeting grounds arise. In a trash covered ditch under a bridge, one of the most famous skateboarding spots in the world, Burnside Skatepark, was built by hand and without permission.

Although many people might at first think these spaces as uninviting, boring and even dangerous, other people see great potential in these derelict wastelands. These spaces offer respite from the city‘s watchful eyes. They are places in a state of uncertainty, caught between uses, and open to endless possibilities.

ALL PHOTOS © PSAA

Saving Banksy Film Screening

PSAA recently co-hosted a free screening with do503 of the Saving Banksy documentary, directed by Colin M. Day (2017). do503 is an event website and app, part of an international network of sites that list and ranks daily events happening in cities. Do503 periodically hosts their own events which support local non-profits, like Portland Street Art Alliance, helping to raise money to support the causes.

At the Saving Banksy event, proceeds from a special cocktail menu and an original art raffle were donated to PSAA. We also tabled at the event, with art for sale by local street artists, informational brochures, and free stickers.

Finally, PSAA arranged for two local street artists to speak about their involvement in the documentary. Mad One, who helped distribute the film across the United States, and Jesse Hazelip who was featured in the film putting some fresh new art in the streets of California. The event was well attended, with Century Bar reaching capacity. The following is a film review, written by PSAA contributor Lourdes Jimenez (@lou_jim).

Saving Banksy follows the life of a specific piece of street art made in San Francisco by famous nom de guerre street artist, Banksy. The film focuses on the profiteering and co-option that is occurring within the street art world.

Banksy is of course famous for his elusiveness, clever stencil imagery, social commentary, cabalistic messages, and extremely site-specific work.  His fame has reached such fervor that there is now a new phrase associated with this sweeping phenomenon, “The Banksy Effect.”

The immense power of this anonymous figure has arguably created one of largest markets for contemporary art in generations. As Wooster Collective explains, “Like Andy Warhol before him, Banksy has almost single handedly redefined what art is to a lot of people who probably never felt they appreciated art before.  By being an iconoclast, and in the process becoming a mythic hero for a lot of people, Banksy has become an incredible icon in our society.” With worldwide distributions, sold-out events, and extremely high auction prices, anything that is associated with Banksy goes viral.

Cash for your Banksy Installation in Portland, OR by Mad One.

Cash for your Banksy Installation in Portland, OR by Mad One.

Banksy’s art seems to transcend the typically argument of graffiti being “art” or “vandalism,” with admirers cutting across the spectrum of society. People who would usually classify anything done without permission as graffiti vandalism, seem to view Banksy pieces as something else, as art, with value. As legendary street artist Blek le Rat says in the film, “It’s not Art unless you can sell it for lots of money.” For these reasons Banksy’s art both paradoxically stays in the streets and is removed quickly. Many Banksy pieces are preserved behind protective glass, and cut out of walls to sell in auction houses.  

When Banky’s film, Exit Through the Gift Shop premiered in San Francisco in 2010, they skipped the interview and press events, and instead gifted the city with a handful of illegal graffiti in the Mission, Chinatown, North Beach, and South of Market. As the days went by, many of these pieces were written over and added to by others, however, at least one piece in the Haight-Ashbury District managed to remain untouched. Placed at the top corner of an old Victorian bed & breakfast, a rat styling a Che Guevara beret and clinging to a Magic marker. The mischievous rat drew a long line from one side of the building to the next, ending with text, “This Is Where I Draw the Line.”  

Brian Greif, an art collector and former general manager of KRON-TV, was able to strike a deal with the bed & breakfast owner to buy the top corner of their building’s siding and remove 10 redwood siding planks on which the rat was painted. Grief raised $10,000 to help cover some of the costs in its removal and preservation through a Kickstarter campaign. All in all, it cost Greif about $40,000 to remove the Bansky piece safety from the building and preserve it.  

Greif promised to never the sell artwork, even though other Banksy creations have sold for millions and he has been offered thousands to sell it. Unlike most art collectors and gallery salesmen, Greif’s mission with the Haight Street Rat, was to preserve the art and maintain its rightful place in the public’s eye, where it can be safely displayed for the public to view and appreciate. He wanted to donate the piece to a museum, but no museum will accept his offer due to the lack of authentication of the piece, and permission from the living artist, Banksy.

Most of the time when Banksy’s art is removed from the streets, it is sold to elite clientele. For example, Stephen Keszler a private art dealer with a gallery in South Hampton, NY, is known for removing Banksy artwork from public spaces and selling them for immense personal gain, all without the artist’s consent.

Saving Banksy raises important questions about artistic intent, the value and impact of street art, the commodification of it, and public ownership of graffiti art. Is graffiti art worth saving for future generations to learn from and enjoy? Does removing it from its original context (the street), completely diminishing its importance and changing its meaning?

Anti-Trump & Hate Graffiti

Photo: @artistpegasus

Photo: @artistpegasus

The 2016 U.S. presidential election has spurred a considerable about of tension across the world. People are waking up, becoming more politically active, expressing their opinions. From scrawlings and slogans, to informational wheatpastes and large-scale murals, a flood of politically-charged graffiti has hit the streets. Here, we highlight just a few iconic examples of resistance art making waves online, and a few piece of graffiti that have been documented on the streets of Portland recently. City municipalities across the U.S are reporting considerable spikes of graffiti, but usually the "hate graffiti" such as swastikas are dominating the news. As expected, in times of political and social strife, people from all walks of life are using public spaces as message boards, a way to spread and amplify messages.   

In February 2017, street artist Pegasus portrayed Trump in a wheatpaste as Hitler captioned with, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” An aphorisms originated by American philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952). A powerful message paseed down over generations, drawing upon historical narratives of the hostile dictatorships and sharply applying it to the current political situation in the U.S. A few days after the piece went up, Pegasus informed the Huffington Post that he had received death threats due to this image. His response towards the intimidation was, “I will never give into fear mongering, nor will I ever be censored—I am American and I believe in freedom of speech and artistic freedom of expression.”

Image: @TABBYthis

Image: @TABBYthis

TABBY, a street artist from Austria, has created an entire series of anti-Trump pieces. TABBY’s, “Don’t Feed The Trolls” depicts a clan of Trump trolls with golden toupees flying off to the side. When asked about the piece TABBY stated, “Trump is everything that’s right and wrong with America and the world—He’s the American dream of being super wealthy and saying what you want, while being totally out of touch with reality.”

Photo: @TABBYthis

Photo: @TABBYthis

Another common theme is Trump embracing himself, or Vladimir Putin. Harkening back on Banksy’s famous “Kissing Coppers” and the Berlin Wall mural of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German President Erich Honecker locking lips, artists today are utilizing this iconic and provocative imagery. 

Art by: @designerBONANU

Art by: @designerBONANU

Pieces like these symbolize a challenge to gay stereotypes (by depicting strong authoritative male figures in ways not typically not seen in mainstream media), comment on legal controversies (like gay marriage), and with TABBY's piece, sharply criticizing Trump's narcissistic tendencies. 

In a similar vein, projection light activists have displayed the image of pregnant Trump being cradled by Putin, promoting the message of 'love through hate.'  

Photo: @LoveThroughHate

Photo: @LoveThroughHate

One of the more iconic and lasting pieces we have seen during the 2016 election cycle was the “Dump Trump” mural painted by American punster Hansky on Orchard St in NYC in August 2015. Here, Trump is depicted as an emoji-like pile of shit.

Hanksy and his pose even took a cross-country #DumpAcrossAmerica trip protesting Trump. His team went as far as getting into a rally and got Trumps attention. When Trump realized there was a disturbance and saw the protest signs, he remaking “What is that? A potato?”

Hanksy also offered the public free downloadable versions of his work, allowing the image to be replicated and used for protests all around the world. When interviewed by ArtNetNews about the piece Hanksy stated, “I painted that silly Trump mural in NYC late last summer a few weeks after the wigged one announce his presidential run. The mural was a joke and so was Trump. Unfortunately, the punch line never came and it’s scary as hell.” The mural was later buffed, and in response Hanksy said, “It was a shit mural anyway, however, if anyone has a nice giant wall, preferably in direct view of 725 5th Ave [Trump Tower], I’d be happy to paint it again.”

Photo: @dek__2dx (Via Juxtapoz)

Photo: @dek__2dx (Via Juxtapoz)

Street artists aren’t just sticking to walls, Miami graffiti artists, TESOE, SHINE, and CRIS, took over a billboard and painted over an American flag with a “DEPORT TRUMP” message. Little has been said about this piece, but its message is clear and taking a stand on Trump’s anti-immigration political actions.

Photo: Via Vice

Photo: Via Vice

INDECLINE, an American anarchist art collective made up of several artists and supporters from different states. INDECLINE first spray-painted Trump with a red ball gag covering his mouth and the words “¡RAPE TRUMP!” at the Tijuana Mexico/United States border with specific instructions on how to travel to the White House from there. This was INDECLINE’s response to Trump’s inflammatory statement: “[Mexico is] sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” 

When the anonymous creative director of INDECLINE was interviewed by VICE about the piece he explained, “We don’t honestly expect anyone to crawl over the border and follow the instructions and find Trump and rape him, but we want to raise awareness about the horrible shit he said. Controversy works better than something subtle.”

Photo: James Bareham (Via The Verge)

Photo: James Bareham (Via The Verge)

In August 2016, five identical statues of a completely nude and unflattering depiction of Trump appeared overnight on street corners in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle, and New York City. This unique street intervention was also done by INDECLINE and was titled "The Emperor Has No Balls." INDECLINE told the Washington Post, "like it or not, Trump is a larger-than-life figure in world culture at the moment. Looking back in history, that’s how those figures were memorialized and idolized in their time - with statues." These installations captured viral attention across the world in just a few hours after they were erected in the street corners across the U.S. When asked by MMC The Monitor about the meaning of the lude installations, the collective responded, “Donald Trump, our modern day emperor of fascism and bigotry is never installed in the most powerful political and military position, the man goes out of his way to ridicule everybody, he deserves it.”

Photo Arlene Mejorado

Photo Arlene Mejorado

Approaching the current political situations from a different angle, L.A.’s Shepard Fairey, (well-known for the iconic OBEY logo and the “HOPE” poster during Obama's candidacy), launched his “We the People” project. This series of posters consisted of Muslims, Native American, Latinos, and African Americans along with the first words of the U.S. Constitution, “We the People Defend Dignity,” “We the People Protect Each Other,” and “We the People are Greater Than Fear.” Fairey wanted to focus on the essence of what “We the People” represents to the public. Unlike his previous “Hope” posters, Fairey choose to challenge the president-elect by depicting powerful images from the “communities that the conservative white right wing can’t bring themselves to treat equally.” With the help of a very successful Kickstarter campaign, leading up to the Inauguration Day Women's March, Fairey and his team purchased full-page color ads in the Washington Post to be distributed to 600,000 people across the U.S., distributed the images at Metro stops, via moving vans, and at drop spots in Washington D.C. 

Randomly encountering these striking and provocative images while we go about our daily lives resonates in ways common media and news cannot. Reminding us of the dire situation at hand - the clear and present threats to democracy, liberty, and justice for all. Throughout history, graffiti has always been a tool for the disenfranchised and disillusioned. These street campaigns give voice to the communities that feel threatened, all while shining a harsh light on deeply rooted prejudices and privileges.

Arguably, some of the best art and graffiti makes us feel uneasy, challenges us to think differently, ask questions, provokes our emotions, and pushes ourselves beyond our daily routines. In the best-case scenario, resistance graffiti makes us feel like we are not alone, perhaps giving us the courage to stand up for ourselves and even better, launch into real action. Graffiti has, and will always be a powerful voice from beneath; a cry, scream, and demand.

The seeds of uncertainty have certainly been sown over the past few months. We are in uncharted waters. Use this manure as a fertilizer - to grow, sprout, and spread seeds of resistance.

More images of Anti-Trump graffiti...

PORTLAND

Photo: Chris Christian

Photo: Chris Christian

Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

UNITED STATES

WORLDWIDE

SPECIAL THANKS TO LOURDES JIMENEZ FOR CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ARTICLE

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Pirate Town

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ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK:
THE HISTORY OF PIRATE TOWN

Everything is ephemeral. Sometimes it takes loosing cherished pieces of our city to realize what is important and how change is the only constant, especially in a city. As Portland’s wild-west development bonanza booms, many of us are hard at work documenting and fighting to save these important pieces of the urban landscape.

Our urban growth boundary helps preserve our hinterlands and create a dense city, but it also ensures that vacant space is temporary and abandonment is short-lived. As in other cities, Portland is growing at an unprecedented rate due to the millennial desire for a more sustainable urban life. With this influx, comes change and with this change there are important considerations and sacrifices. What impact does the loss of free, hidden, and accessible spaces have on the city and its arts culture?

Indeterminate “spaces in-between” are voids in the city, undesirable to most people and sought after by some. These abandoned, contaminated, and sometimes dangerous spaces are where DIY activities flourish. Whether it be for graffiti art, skate/BMX parks, urbex, or guerilla gardens, these “cracks” in the urban fabric provide respite from norms and regulations of modern urban space. These spaces are open to possibilities for intervention and ripe for activation; places where the seeds of innovation and authenticity can be sown.

As we contest and cope with our changing city, it is important to document and remember an important piece of Portland’s DIY and graffiti history that is quickly fading into distant memory.

It was known by many names: Popsicle Land, Creosote Factory, SuperFun Site, officially named Triangle Park, and most infamously Pirate Town. This 35-acre superfund site is situated on the Portland Harbor at the base of Waud Bluff and in the University Park area of North Portland. With an industrial history dating back to at least 1900, this site has been home to nearly 50 different industrial operations.

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Most recently, this was the site of the former Riedel North Portland Yard, which dredged rivers, constructed boats, and cleaned-up hazardous railroad spills. Riedel closed in 1986, but the effects of its operations (and the site’s prior operations) will be present for centuries to come; as soil and groundwater tests show high levels of toxic contaminates, mainly arsenic.

This abandoned complex consisted of a dock and three cement buildings. The site provided both a canvas for the most prolific graffiti in Portland at the time and space for creation of DIY skateboarding and BMX structures. Skaters and BMX riders revamped Pirate Town, turning the spaces into parks reminiscent of the early Burnside Bridge days. For years, Pirate Town was a cherished space for all sorts of adventure; a place to end midnight bicycle rides, hold massive parties, host an epic chariot wars, army training ground, and a horror movie theater.

Photo: The Skateboard Archives, skateandannoy.com

Photo: The Skateboard Archives, skateandannoy.com

A 2009 Portland Mercury article by Sarah Mirk documented the public sentiment when demolition plans were announced: “It’s one of those places where there’s no rules. I’m perpetually frustrated by how society stomps out the places where people can create new things,” Zander Speaks told reporters. Similarly, Zachary van Buuren said that it was “one of the few places that graffiti artists could go to do their art and it’s completely alright. It’s a giant industrial canvas, sad to see it go.” Gabe Tiller who rode around town on a coffin bike, explained that “these urban decay areas are gorgeous and every city needs them, it was inevitable I guess. Fun while it lasted, and there are other great spots out there waiting to be found!”

Photo: Jeremy Running

Photo: Jeremy Running

American Institute of Architects even hosting a photography show displaying the work of Bruce Forster, commemorating the graffiti that covered almost every inch of the structure.

Photo: Chris Nukala, theskateboardarchives.com

Photo: Chris Nukala, theskateboardarchives.com

Reminiscing about the Pirate Town 10 years later, native Portlander and professional BMX rider Caleb Ruecker explained to PSAA that for many years it was a favorite spot for him and his friends, for not only biking but fishing off the decaying old docks. For a long time it was a chill spot, mainly just used by the bikers, skaters, and graffiti artists, and sometimes visited by photographers and explorers. Then around 2003 nearby University of Portland students started going down there more, even driving their cars down the access road (unlike most who took the back way in along the tracks). This brought a lot of attention to the site and then there were fences and guards.

Photo: Sam Policar

Photo: Bruce Foster

Photo: Bruce Foster

In December of 2008, the University bought the site for $6 million and swiftly demolished it; releasing a statement saying that it was a liability. Back then, UofP representatives explained that the site would allow them to “expand without going into the neighborhood.” They saw this as an “opportunity to take blighted and contaminated industrial land and restore it under the stewardship of the University of Portland as a public asset.” Rumors circulated that it was going to be developed it into a baseball, sports field, or storage area. Today, over 7 years after its demolition, some environmental restoration has happened, but the site still sits completely vacant, being almost completely reclaimed by nature.

Interestingly, the University’s comment about how they intended to restore the site into a “public asset” raises the question about who this development is for, and how the divergent values placed on spaces. These abandoned spaces are actually often being well-used, just not in traditional, scripted, or city-sanctioned ways. While technically being private property, many times these types of sites are left to rot, especially turning into semi-public spaces.

Photo: Chris Nukala, theskateboardarchives.com

Photo: Chris Nukala, theskateboardarchives.com

These spaces are then reclaimed by certain subcultures and turned into unique “community asset.” However, the general ethos does recognize the value in these unique DIY spaces in cities, they just assume that they are blighted, debauchery-ridden cesspools that need to be removed. True in some cases yes, but in others they are just removed for the sake of removing them, paved or grassed over, or left to sit for another few decades until market demand rises to the point of profit.

Photo: Brandon Seifert

Photo: Brandon Seifert

Photo: Aaron Rabideau

Photo: Aaron Rabideau

As urban planners strive to design authenticity in our cities with placemaking and tactical urbanism-inspired plans, we ignore and disregard the fact that original and authentic place-making is done by the communities like these, in places like Pirate Town and more recently in Taylor Electric. Toxic wastelands flourish into meccas for activity, adventure, and raw beauty. Enter at your own risk.

Special thanks for Caleb Ruecker for providing invaluable insights and inspiration for finally writing this article. Be sure to follow his demolition and abandoned documentation adventures @calebrueckersphotos.

Photo: Aaron Rabideau

Photo: Aaron Rabideau

Photo: Bruce Foster

Photo: Bruce Foster

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Michael Endicott

Photo: Brandon Seifert

Photo: Brandon Seifert

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Forest For The Trees

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FOREST FOR THE TREES MURAL PROJECT

Forest for the Trees (FFTT) is a non-profit public mural project that promotes public visual expression; collaboration; and community engagement with contemporary art and the creative process. For a few weeks in late August, the streets of Portland and its communities, were activated by a surge of art. FFTT is organized by artist Gage Hamilton, curator Matt Wagner of Hellion Gallery, and event producer Tia Vanich. It is also made possible by community volunteers who help with various project logistics, like transportation. In 2015, this team organized an impressive group of 30 artists from all around the world to paint 20 murals in the City of Portland. Participating FFTT artists donate their time, and in return FFTT secures the walls, all required city permits, and pays for all the materials, equipment, travel costs, and logging the artists may need during the project. Funding for the project comes mostly from public crowd-sourcing campaigns & Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) grants, along with discounts and donations from local businesses. 

The 2015 3rd annual FFTT once again propelled Portland’s creative energies forward, bringing together local and visiting artists from around the world to transform walls with their unique visions and diverse talents. Portland Street Art Alliance (PSAA) partnered with the FFTT team again and hosted a free public bicycle tour, visiting in-progress murals located in SE Portland.  This 3-hour tour was lead by PSAA and FFTT directors, along with a team of volunteer route experts, intersection corkers, and documenters. It was great to see such a wonderful turn out, even on a blustery morning, with about 40 people showing up for the ride. Traveling refreshments were generously provided by Guayaki Yerba Mate’s bike cart.

At each stop, tour guides provided commentary on each mural and the artists behind the work. Also discussed were topics like: the two processes for creating murals in Portland (via city permit or RACC), artistic copyright law (VARA rights), the global street art scene, and rise of street art festivals, and the constant battles over the use and control of urban public spaces.

The tour began at Pod 28 (the food carts at Ankeny & 28th) where Minneapolis-based artist Alex Petersen spoke to attendees. Alex described his piece, an x-ray shadow of a creature, as being symbolic of the primal connections among all life on Earth.

Riding down the Ankeny Bike Boulevard, the next tour stop was Josh Keyes’ mural, on the side of There Be Monsters. An well-known local gallery artist, Josh was trained as a fine artist at Yale University of Art and his subject matter often depicts wild animals set in post-apocalyptic urban landscapes – commentary on humanity’s impact on the natural world and nature’s resilience. In this mural, a rhino has literally broken through the wall, in trompe l’oeil style, stampeding down street signs in its path.

Josh explained to the crowd that this was his first mural and his largest painting to-date. He employed an old sign painter technique – using perforated tissue paper and a bag of loose chalk to outline his piece before painting.

Just down the street, the next tour stop was at ADX, where local artists-designers Blaine Fontana and David Rice were at their wall along the back of the warehouse. ADX, a creative workshop, is now a true hub for street art in Portland, being almost completely covered in murals from the past 3 years of FFTT. Their piece included several anthropomorphic beings and a cherished local icon – a totem of Belmont Goats. For years, the Belmont Goat herd grazed in a nearby field before new development pushed them out to the Lents neighborhood earlier this year.

Heading to inner industrial SE, the tour’s next stop was at Peruvian artist Jade Rivera’s massive mural at Union/Pine – a depiction of his wife, laying down with a small bird and skull. This striking piece has a translucent glowing quality. Surprisingly, it only took Jade only a few days to complete.

Just above Jade’s mural, Kazakhstani illustrator Ola Volo and local designer Zach Yarrington collaborated on their Nothing Good Comes Easy mural that involved bold typography and folk-inspired wolves, tangled up in a relationship.

Next up was Dutch painter Joram Roukes’ mural, a distorted double-exposed patchwork of images that included a man with the word “broken” on his sleeve. Masterfully stitched together and executed, this mural was among some of the favorites from this year.

Next the tour quickly swung by NoseGo and Yakima Fields’ 2014 FFTT murals on City Liquidators.

The bicycle group’s next stop was at River City Bicycles to visit Aaron Glasson(New Zealand) and Celeste Byers (San Diego, CA).

This duo travels the world together, often working on ocean activism projects, like Sea Walls Murals for Oceans and PangeaSeed. Together they create bright whimsical images, often of lively aquatic and psychedelic scenes.

For this mural, Aaron and Celeste decided to paint a family floating down a Pacific Northwest river, something they later found out was a favorite local pastime, tubing down our many waterways. The mural also had a personal connection to Celeste, who modeled the figures in the likeness of her great-great aunt and new baby nephew. This mural was a surprise birthday present for her great-great aunt, who was visiting Portland to celebrate her 95th birthday.

Finally, they wanted to represent some of their new friends they had made while painting the mural in Portland, and incorporated their tattoos into the mural’s imagery.

After quick cruise by DALeast’s “Persistent Parabola” wave mural from 2014, the group rolled out to the final mural stop – the BMD World Naked Bike Ride mural.

Painted a few months before the start of FFTT 2015, this huge mural (nearby the new Tilikum Crossing bridgehead) depicts adventure-loving animals in quirky flare participating in Portland’s famous and well-attended annual naked bike ride.

The bicycle tour finished off the afternoon enjoying cold brews and good conversation at the Apex Beer Garden on 12th and Division, just across the street from the recently revitalized “Art Fills the Void!” mural, painted originally by Gorilla Wallflare in 1984 and thus is Portland’s oldest surviving guerrilla graffiti.

PSAA was honored to be a part of the FFTT project again this year; it is a great opportunity for the community to connect, make, interact, and celebrate beautiful urban art. It is also a wonderfully democratic project because it turns the entire city into a public art gallery, accessible and free to everyone. Finally, place-based community events like these encourage people to not just passively observe, but to also engage with and become active participants in the creation of energized, distinct, and personalized public spaces.

More 2015 Tour Photos

2015 SE Portland Bike Route Map

Full List of 2015 FFTT Mural Wall Locations

All Photos © Anton Legoo

2014 Forest for the Trees Mural Project & PSAA Bicycle Tour

Portland Street Art Alliance was honored to be invited to host a guided bicycle tour of the Forest for the Trees murals painted during the 2nd annual project in 2014.

The tour began at the now iconic Rone mural and the new Faith47 masterpiece in downtown Portland. The group of 30 or so bicyclists rode through downtown and the southeast to visit 11 of the 18 new FFTT murals, ending in a classic Portland-style celebration on the patio of Gigantic Brewery. We hope the tour helped the community experience firsthand the magic of public mural making. It was a great opportunity to see the creative process unfold and to hear directly from the artists and festival directors about their vision.

We can’t thank the Portland art and cycling community more for their support in organizing this community event. It was a great success and PSAA is already working on plans to host more street art tours in the city. If you didn’t make it to the tour, and want to see all the new 2014 FFTT murals, check out this awesome bicycle route map we made (with the help of some friends).

Stop 1. 1114 SW Washington | Faith47 (CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA)

Stop 2. 720 NW Davis | Gage Hamilton, Director of Forest for the Trees (PDX)

Stop 3. 1301 SE Grand | J.Shea (PDX)

Stop 4. 2121 SE 6th | Zach Yarrington (PDX)

Stop 5. 840 SE 3rd | NoseGo (PHILADELPHIA)

Stop 6. 425 SE 11th | Spencer Keeton Cunningham (SAN FRANCISCO)

Stop 7. 2306 SE Morrison | Paige Wright (PDX) & Blakely Dadson (PDX)

Stop 8. 916 SE 34th | The Lost Cause (PDX)

Stop 9. 5224 SE 26th | Ogi (TOKYO) & Nosego (PHILADELPHIA)

Post-Tour Celebration with the Forest for the Trees & PSAA crews at Gigantic Brewing!

More photos from the 2014 Forest for the Trees Mural Project...

All photos © Anton Legoo

Art Fills The Void

The Art Fills the Void! project took place during the summer of 2015 and was sponsored by SE Uplift’s Small Neighborhood Grants Program. This project included several community outreach, education, and networking events, including an interpretive bicycle tour, a street art of SE Portland brochure, and the revitalization of Portland’s oldest “gorilla graffiti,” the iconic Art Fills the Void!  mural on SE 12th & Division.

The goal of this project was to provide more community resources and opportunities that promote livability and art in the streets of SE Portland. These types of experiences not only increase the number and diversity of people engaged in and connected to their communities thereby promoting stronger cultural and historical identities, but they also empower people to become active leaders with the skills and inspiration needed to continue to shape and improve their shared public spaces in the future.

HISTORIC MURAL RESTORATION

The Art Fills the Void! project was a full historic restoration of the iconic Art Fills the Void mural, something that has not been done in decades. After decades of tagging, buffing, and haphazard touch-ups, PSAA connected with muralist and sign painter Frank DeSantis to obtain original photos, stencils, and schematics to be able to reproduce the mural true its 1982 form.

The repainting took weeks of planning, 5 days to buff and repaint. This was all completely done with volunteer labor, organized by PSAA. In addition to core PSAA volunteers, several local artists like Galen Malcolm, Jon Stommel and Travis Czekalski (Rather Severe) donated their time and expertise to paint the mural details.

Additionally, several banana mural neighbors, mainly Joel and Mary Schroeder, provided invaluable assistance, coming out to help on multiple days, storing ladders, and helping PSAA manage on-the-ground logistics. Restoring this mural was truly a community achievement, through and through.

Everyone passing by had great things to say about the mural, recounting their experiences with it throughout the years and how wonderful it was to see it being restored. Local business employees came out on their breaks to watch us paint and chat about the project. Passing cars honked, bicyclists rang their bells, and every two hours we got a tipsy applause from the bar-hopping group bicycle tour, Pedalounge.

These types of experiences not only increase the number and diversity of people engaged in and connected to their communities thereby promoting stronger cultural and historical identities, but they also empower people to become active leaders with the skills and inspiration needed to continue to shape and improve their shared public spaces in the future. PSAA was proud to be able to restore this piece of Portland history for generations to come.

THE HISTORY OF PORTLAND‘S OLDEST “GORILLA” MURAL

With its abundant low-lying commercial buildings, ample wall space, and eccentric quirkiness, Portland Oregon had a unique mural arts scene in the 1980s. In 1982,Gorilla Wallflare formed.

It was one of Portland’s first anonymous “graffiti” art crews. This small group of citizens brought some much needed color and excitement to Portland dull walls, all undercover, and without permission. They called them “painted landmarks, political statements, graffiti, and spoofs.” After painting each of their three Portland murals, they sent a type-written letter to city officials and news outlets telling them about their actions and motivations.

Gorilla Wallflare’s first “attack” was their Art Fills the Void! banana mural at the corner of SE 12th and Division. This large 30 by 50 foot painting of a bruised banana may look like a reference to Andy Warhol, but a member of Gorilla Wallflare has said that it was originally about the war in Central America, a banana republic, “Viva mi banana! The group later decided to change the wall’s exclamation to “Art Fills the Void,” as a protest to the existence of such a boring blank wall.

Art Fills the Void! is the oldest mural in Portland. Predating even the 1984 Black Pride Malcolm X Mural (Read more about that mural here).

It is also a rare example 80s murals in Portland. Many old community murals in Portland were lost between 1998 and 2005, during the lengthy legal battle between the City of Portland and AK Media (now Clear Channel) over signage rights.

This local landmark is centrally positioned on the corner of SE 12th and Division. Once a quiet and somewhat seedy and abandoned part of town, this is now one of Portland’s most quickly gentrifying and developing neighborhoods, being cooked up by Portland’s sizzling food scene.

The Art Fills the Void! mural shows how communities can embrace a piece of illegal graffiti, and over time come to appreciate and embrace it. With or without permission, this piece of “graffiti” has lasted decades, and now holds a special place in Portland’s urban landscape and social consciousness.

2014 Interview with Frank DeSantis

Tell us a little about Gorilla Wallflare, and what made you form the group? There were about 5 of us who actually painted the murals. Of that, 4 were professional artists. But we had lots of honorary members. We were inspired by graffiti artists, just get out there and doing something about it. Artistic inspirations came from Calder, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Dali, Duchamp, Matisse, Man Ray, and a group called the Art Squad out of Canada.

Willamette Week called you Portland’s “underground graffiti gang,” did you see what you were doing as “graffiti” as we think of it today? Although I saw it as graffiti, I wanted it to be something different. We waved to authorities while we painted in broad daylight, sometimes taking all day to complete the project. Naïve, maybe, but there was definitely an adrenalin rush in being clandestine and brazen at the same time. I remember liking that, but didn’t care for using the words “underground” or “graffiti” at the time.

Other than Art Fills the Void! did Gorilla Wallflare paint any other guerilla murals in Portland? We painted three murals – “Art Fills the Void,” ‘Oh No!” on the Hawthorne Bridge, and the “Fingerprint” on SE Belmont.

What were these other murals about? The Fingerprint mural on Belmont was a subtle message about privacy and the rights of the individual. It felt as if soon everyone would be followed and watched. The Oh, No! explosion, on the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge, was about the end of the world, then in 1984, just a few years away.

Why did Gorilla Wallflare send letters to the press about the murals? 

The letter was fun to write, and a great public relations gag. How else can you get a half page of free public relations and advertising in The Oregonian newspaper? 

What were the reactions to you guys out there painting these murals in broad daylight without any permission? 

We wore painter’s pants, hats, and had official-looking ladders. We usually painted on Sundays. At the time, there were no sign inspectors or mural regulations. This was also the worn, torn, and tattered Eastside; people just didn’t notice of a couple of painters painting the wall. We had one person stop at the banana painting, a small Asian man carrying grocery bags. He looked up at us on the ladders and said, “Oh, that’s enough food to feed my family all week.” He laughed and kept waking. A police car drove by once and just kept on going. The owner of the office supplies store where the banana was painted was surprised by the new art, but they liked it. They actually incorporated it into their marketing campaigns.

Did you find that your antics generated any discussion in the city?

 Some discussion, I’m sure, but in circles I wasn’t privy to in Portland. The city’s mural program did loosen up some a year or two later, or so it seemed. We really weren’t interested in the legal aspects. We were a guerilla operation; in and out. It was about free speech. We had more of an affinity towards graffiti, than the stodgy mural scene.

Gorilla Wallflare painted their murals before the City of Portland had to enact mural and sign permitting regulations we have today. How do you feel about that shift, how the city handles now handles public murals? 

Who’s to say who can approve or not approve art? I’m not that knowledge about these mural waivers and permits, but I do know about sign codes and permits. Those I understand, but why regulate murals? They are artistic community ventures. We went through all that rigmarole for other murals. It was too much bureaucracy. Too much of being a “suit.” By the time we got through it, we were bored with the whole thing and could care less. The initial creative thought and energy were lost. Better to beg for forgiveness, than ask for permission.

BICYCLE TOUR 

The Art Fills the Void! project provided a public interpretive bicycle tour of existing murals and street art installations in the SE Uplift area of Portland. PSAA tour guides provided descriptions, histories, and explanations of the artwork seen at each tour stop.

PSAA tour guides provided a bicycle tour that provided descriptions, histories, and explanations of the artwork seen at each tour stop. Several local artists, activists, and academics participated by being guest speakers a tour stops; talking about various topics they focus on and experiences they’ve had painting murals in Portland.

Speakers included local artists Jon Stommel and The Lost Cause, who spoke about their experiences painting the Music Millennium mural in 2013 in collaboration with PSAA.

Local artists Paige Wright and Lord Blakley who spoke about their experiences painting murals for the 2014 Forest for the Trees project.

Representatives from the City of Portland including City Planner and mural permit program coordinator, Douglas Strickler and Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) Public Art Manager Peggy Kendellen provided overviews of both official systems for creating legal art in the streets.

Other speakers included Gage Hamilton, director of Forest for the Trees, Kohel Haver a lawyer who specializes in artistic copyright law, and PSU geography professor Hunter Shobe whose research focus on the politics of public space, geographies of graffiti, and sense of place. Unfortunately the bicycle tour had to be cut short due to inclement weather (even for Portland standards!) so the rest of the group converged at Sweetpea Baking Company for good coffee and conversation.

Northwest Spray Day

Graffiti art is probably not the first thing that crosses a person’s mind when they think of Onalaska, Washington. Situated halfway between Portland and Seattle, Onalaska is an unlikely location to hold one of the largest aerosol art events, the Annual Northwest Spray Day; a regional live painting event that since 2014 has been bringing together and showcasing of some of the best graffiti art talent in the Pacific Northwest. 

Every June artists from as far as Oakland to Vancouver, B.C. gather to create their aerosol-based artwork at three sites scattered around the small town: the abandoned waste transfer station, the old 300 foot-tall Carlisle Lumber Mill smokestack, and the Onalaska Middle School basketball playshed – a space totaling over 3,000 square feet.

Justin Boggs, the event organizer and once-Onalaska native, secured space around the small town from several local governmental and non-profit entities, raised money, and networked within his community to make this happen. He, along with several other graffiti artists and supporters, turned the once abandoned, dull, and un-notable structures into colorful, energized spaces marked with distinct personality.

Boggs and his family also did a lot of community outreach to raise money, even securing art donations to auction off. This year, Boggs parents even donated $1000 to the event; Boggs explained, “It wouldn’t happen without their support.” Boggs got permission from the Onalaska Volunteer Fire Department and Lewis County Public Works to access the main Spray Day venue, the abandoned transfer station. Local paint distributors Jerry’s Color Center and Rodda paint each donated 20 gallons of primer. Spray paint sponsorship comes from Silika Store (in Tacoma) and Ironlak. 

Boggs, now student at the University of Oregon in Eugene, described the main goals of NWSD as a way of bringing together and networking the best spray paint talent in the Pacific Northwest. He also wants to bring vibrant public art to his rural hometown community. “It’s a unique celebration of graffiti art that helps regional artists gain exposure within the global graffiti community. There’s also something special about the atmosphere of so many talented artists gathering in one place during one day and painting all at the same time next to each other. It produces a higher quality of work,” explained Boggs.

Amidst the sound of rattling and hissing aerosol cans, non-stop hip hop beats, and sizzling BBQ, graffiti artists took center stage, painting their unique characters and stylized monikers in an impressive array of styles and techniques.

The basketball court play shed at Onalaska Middle School is the largest of the three painting locations, displaying 12-15 individual pieces of graffiti art each year.

Local parents, children, and students visit the event throughout the day to watch the artists transform the structure’s formerly blank aesthetics into something quite notable. Many onlookers seemed to appreciate and admire the efforts of these local and visiting artists. They not only helped bring the community together for this event, but they also provided kids with positive examples of how transformative this style of art can be if you put your mind to it (and ask for permission). It takes a lot of time, skill, and diligence to master the medium of aerosol. In a time when the school’s art programs have been cut due to budget constraints, this town needs all the positive art outlets it can get. 

Overall, Spray Day was a community effort, big and small. Graffiti artists throughout the region worked together to provide an outlet for their craft, a legitimate modern art form that’s still sometimes feared, repressed, and regulated in nearby cities like Portland and Seattle.

On a smaller, but no less significant scale, Boggs and other local organizers, were able to give a special gift to their hometown, one that’s plagued with boredom and poverty. They were able to bring these spaces to life in a style that they and the town’s youth can connect and identify with. The art not only brightened up the often grey and rainy town, it also sparked imagination and interest throughout the region. A random town off I-5 is now a Cascadian graffiti art landmark. Next year, Boggs is considering changing the location of Spray Day, bringing this gift of art to another deserving site. As with graffiti, there’s always the urge to go bigger and better.

2014 Northwest Spray Day Artists:

  • Syhis – Vancouver B.C.

  • Pest – Seattle, WA

  • Isrek – Seattle, WA

  • Noise – Seattle, WA

  • Sim – Olympia, WA

  • Rite – Portland, OR

  • Sens – Portland, OR

  • Live DJE – Portland, OR

  • Kango – Portland, OR

  • Grime – Portland, OR

  • Dr. Greed – Portland, OR

  • Ashley Montague – Portland, OR

  • Case12 – Portland, OR

  • Trips – Salem, OR

  • Akses – Salem, OR

  • Conus – Eugene, OR

  • Frey – Oakland, CA

2015 Northwest Spray Day Artists:

  • SYHIS – Vancouver B.C.

  • MERLOT – Washington

  • KANGO – Salem, Oregon

  • They Drift – Seattle, Washington

  • Jeremy Nichols – Portland, Oregon

  • ISREK – The Universe

  • Ashley Montague – Portland, OR

  • EYESR – California

  • UTER – Oregon/California

  • ZAFOS – Washington

  • VIDEO – Washington

  • TASK – Washington

  • HARLEM – California

  • PEST – Washington

  • 179 – Washington

  • JRATS – Washington

  • SEZUR – Washington

  • RITE – Oregon

  • SABLE – Oregon

  • CKOS – Oregon

  • CONUS – Oregon

  • FONE – Washington

  • COMBO – Vancouver, WA

  • RADIO

All Photos © PSAA 

The Rise of Global Street Art Festivals

THE RISE OF GLOBAL STREET ART FESTIVALS

‘What is a festival? It’s something exceptional, something out of the ordinary . . . something that must create a special atmosphere which stems not only from the quality of the art and the production, but from the countryside, the ambience of a city and the traditions . . . of a region (de Rougement, quoted in Isar, 1976).

Beginning in the early late 1990s and early 2000s, a new contemporary art movement began sweeping the globe, this time transgressing the walls of the gallery and museum and resided primarily in the streets. Some modern cities are transforming into free public art galleries, showcasing talent from near and far. It has been said that street art is one of the most influential art movements of recent history. With roots in graffiti culture, pop art, and community muralism, contemporary street art is the current culmination of global communities coming together in time and space. These festivals have a way of producing both a mass spectacle of new art splashing onto millions via social media. On the ground, festivalgoers get a temporary glimpse into public spaces that have no bounds, where a carnivalesque atmosphere allow people the freedom to gather and use the streets for expression of all kinds.

Festivals play an important role in countering the social and homogenizing crises faced by cities in the context of globalization. The growing interest in festivity and street art is partly a grassroots reaction and strategy to combat the growing alienation and insecurity we feel in increasingly commercialized, militarized and bureaucratically-controlled public spaces. A new generation of artists, organizers, and activists see the city as their canvas and message board. In many modern cities, the urban landscape provides endless amounts of blank indeterminate spaces. These are canvases in the eyes of many, and are a striking and accessible context for their art and message.

Large multi-year street art festivals are now happening in cities around the world. This proliferation and resilience is evidence that these festivals have some use-value in society, for social-bonding, place-making, or place-marketing.

Bushwick Open Studios 2014

Bushwick Open Studios 2014

The following research is the culmination of several years of visiting street art festivals across in the U.S, including some of the largest and most well-known street art festivals in the U.S. like POW! WOW! (Honolulu, Tawian, Austin), Art Basel (Miami, Basel, Hong Kong), Bushwick Open Studios (New York City), and Forest for the Trees (Portland, Oregon). We actively experienced and participated in these festivals in multiple roles, from mere spectators and party-goers to managing paintings and tours. This multi-level engagement gave us unique first-hand glimpses into the festivals intricacies, similarities, and differences in their organization, styles, and impact on people and places.

Kobra, Art Basel 2013

Kobra, Art Basel 2013

During these festivals, local and visiting artists collaborate on public art murals and interventions. For artists, they benefit not only from the exposure, but also by participating in gallery exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and panel discussions. Public engagement is a key component of these festivals as organizers attempt to create welcoming spaces and opportunities where the community can interact, network, and learn from artists.

Wynwood Walls at Art Basel 2014

Wynwood Walls at Art Basel 2014

Logistically, these festivals take an immense amount of time, effort, and money to orchestrate. Some festivals are run by city governments, or arts commissions, but many, and we argue the best, are run by a dedicated group of local citizens and small business owners who are active in the arts community of their cities. Regardless of their position, festival organizers spend up to a year planning for a week-long event. Relationships with local business and property owners must be nurtured to secure ample wall space and to find spaces to host events. Sponsorship must be secured from city governments, crowd-funding, and corporations. There is also the logistics of providing paint, lifts, and supplies to muralists.

Honolulu Museum of Art School event for POW! WOW! 2014

Honolulu Museum of Art School event for POW! WOW! 2014

Differences between these festivals are seen in the way they are founded, who the organizers are, and how they are operated.

POW! WOW! is a more localized festival, started by a group of artists based atLana Lane Studios. All the murals are located in the Kaka’ako warehouse and manufacturing district where Lana Lane Studios is located. Founder and director of POW! WOW! Hawaii describes what he has created over the past 5 years as a “global network of artists and organizes gallery shows, lecture series, schools for art and music, mural projects.” This weeklong event is managed by seven directors, and includes over 100 visiting and local visual artists, and countless documenters and festivalgoers. Each artist is sent photographs of the available walls and asked to pick their top five location choices. Event coordinators then try to match artists with appropriate walls that they have been working to secure all year. With now increasingly limited wall space in the Kaka’ako district of Honolulu, some older murals are buffed to make way for new murals, other times artists are paired together to share a wall and form impromptu artistic collaborations. Local graffiti crews and street artists are also invited to participate in the festival and are provided wall space to showcase their talent. What is particularly unique about Pow Wow, is that upon arrival the artists are provided “cultural tours,” so they can consider setting, place, and cultural history when creating the work they put on the streets of Honolulu.

Bushwick Open Studios describes itself as a “volunteer, non-hierarchical organization” with “a completely open structure.” Anyone in the community who is willing to volunteer their time is welcome to join and take on a leadership role. Artists who want to paint can arrange a mural with neighborhood property owner as they normally would. Artist living and working in Bushwick open their studios up to visitors hosting gallery shows and parties. A few blocks are closed to traffic, turf is laid, bands play, and food carts serve up local specialties.

Comparatively, POW! WOW! and Forest for the Trees are more centralized and planned out by a single entity.

The Forest for the Trees (FFTT) public art project was founded and is directed by a local artist and gallery curator. FFTT murals are spread throughout the City of Portland, rather than being concentrated into one district. Several large-scale murals are located downtown, but the majority are located along the main drags of Portland’s five districts. In 2014, 23 artists from Portland and around the world paint over 20 walls.

The event, now in its second year, assigns twenty artists, half of them regional, to locations throughout Portland. The results are site-specific, significant-scale murals painted in a variety of styles and palettes on sixteen buildings in mainly close-in neighborhoods about the city.

Said to be the first large-scale art festivals of its kind (started in 1970), Art Basel Miami exhibits more decentralized management, being part of a larger event that focuses on gallery art.  Murals are mainly organized by several art galleries, property owners, and developers working in tandem. Like POW! WOW!, Art Basel is centered in one area, the Wynwood Arts District. Wynwood was a consorted effort started by developers who redeveloped warehouses, factories, and unused buildings into art complexes, galleries, restaurants, cafes, and other creative businesses.

Broad local outreach is an important factor in planning these festivals. It is easy for international festivals like these to be criticized for ignoring or outdoing local talent. At POW! WOW! 2014, several indicators of resistance were documented including mural tagging and pasted protest flyers. In Bushwick, it took the form of stenciled sidewalk messages.

Festivals also run the risk of being difficult to navigate for artists and visitors and co-opted and corporatized by marketers. Like street art, there is a great possibility and threat of commodification and disenchantment with these festivals. Successful events must find a balance between many factors; infusing the city with new art and ideas, all while paying homage to and preserving local cultures. There is also the issues of how to pay for the events and murals, perhaps profiting but trying to maintain legitimacy by not “selling out.”

For every mural, however, there are countless unauthorized graffiti interventions. Artists who visit might do an official piece on one corner and a few blocks away do an un-commissioned piece. The juxtaposition of planned and spontaneity adds to the allure of these events for spectators. Generally, business owners allow this activity to happen during the festival (after all many of them are benefiting from the foot-traffic and tourism) but like after Art Basel, many buff and remove it after the event is over.

For the viewer, it is fascinating to watch the process of mural making unfold day after day. Each artist has their own unique style, method, and approach. Some use only aerosol, others use a combination of aerosol for fill and brush for detail, others use rollers, mittens, chisels, and hammers.  Seeing a piece jump from a black-book to a wall, outlined, filled in, rendered, and detailed is an exciting journey into the artists’ craft and personality. Some work quickly, others take a slower pace. Some rise with the sun, others paint through the night. Everyone however must work with what is given to them, adjusting their artistic visions to fit the walls and contours of the space.

Artists benefit from these festivals by being provided spaces to showcase their work to new audiences in other cities. There is an influx of new ideas and styles into the city’s art scene. Cultural exchanges are made, as artists learn to work together, blend styles, sometimes without even speaking a common language. The result is entirely new forms of art that would have otherwise never have happened. Forest for the Trees specifically aims to create a mix of traditional street artists, those with backgrounds in graffiti-style, and even fine, sculptural, and graphic art.

Artists are provided opportunities to meet, reconnect, and network with other visual artists from around the world. Introductions are made, and cards and stickers are swapped. Convergences like these provide a platform for sharing ideas and building new partnerships. Although social media has provided an amazing platform for connecting with others, face-to-face interaction often offers the possibility of forming stronger more lasting relationships than those based solely online. These types of ‘meeting grounds’ are where new cultural movements form, solidify, and evolve.

Another benefit of organized art festivals is that sometimes it is difficult to get walls in cities where one does not physically live, or have connections to. Having someone on-the-ground helping visiting artists secure wall space is essential, especially in a city like Portland where having the permission of a property owner is not enough – all murals also need a city permit (or RACC wavier). Attaining a city permit is a month-long process that requires someone applying, paying a $50 fee, posting a mural notice, and holding a community meeting all things that are difficult or impossible to do remotely.

Street art and festivals can also positively impact surrounding businesses and drive local tourism. They call attention to now unique places and make people want to get out of their cars, walk around, and enjoy the streets. Traditional art hubs like New York City, Paris, Berlin, London, Sao Paulo, and more recently, Detroit and New Orleans, are becoming destinations for creative-types and art connoisseurs.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, these events provide a way for the general public to engage in the process of public art making. Public art is a democratic form of art. People do not have to pay to go to a museum, or feel uncomfortable going to a fine art gallery to see amazing modern art; they just have to explore and walk the streets of their city.

Organizers’ use of social media to promote, inform, and connect with their audiences. In addition to informational webpages, interactive maps, and press releases, these festivals use platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to notify the public of events, locations, and opportunities. POW! WOW! offers free lectures and classes on various topics during the festival, and in 2014, Portland Street Art Alliance partnered with Forest of the Trees to offer a guided bicycle tour to help the public engage with the muralists and the new exciting spaces being created.

Moving art from the studio and canvas, and into city streets, has a powerful effect on people and places. Concentrated public artistic interventions like these street art festivals can dramatically transform landscapes, uses, and compositions of cities. Making public art is a bold statement and a powerful tool. Street art festivals distill creative energy into one space and time, and have an everlasting ripple effect on the people and cities. This global movement is inspiring people to re-energize their public realms, one wall, one space, and one conversation at a time.

The global street art communities converge at these festivals to create a more inspiring streetscape. A truly exceptional break from the ordinary, a certain time when people celebrate in the public sphere, art runs freely through the streets, and life springs up out of the cracks of the city streets.

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Portland Graffiti Abatement Summits

For several years, members of PSAA have attended the annual Graffiti Abatement Summits, the region’s largest anti-graffiti event. An unlikely place for art advocates, but we hoped that by hearing opposing perspectives, we would gain a better understanding of the politics of graffiti criminalization and how the City of Portland approaches graffiti removal and abatement.

On May 23rd 2013, PSAA attended the 2013 Graffiti Abatement Summit held in Portland. This training was provided by Portland’s Graffiti Abatement Program (part of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement) for local officials, police officers, and community members interested in learning more about the topics of graffiti prevention, conviction, and removal. 

Presentations were made by Portland’s Graffiti Police Investigator’s Matt Miller (Graffiti Vandals – Who They Are/Why They Do It) and Anthony Zanetti (Building a Case – How You Can Help), Multnomah County’s DDA Nathan Vasquez (Prosecuting Graffiti Cases), and Graffiti Abatement Coordinator Dennis LaGiudice (Abating Graffiti with Volunteers) along with a graffiti removal demonstration by the Graffiti Removal Services Corporation.

One of the main topics discussed at the Summit, was how to build felony cases against people caught doing unauthorized graffiti. For this reason, outside the building where the Summit was held, a group of local artist advocates staged a community action protest, spray-painting murals while dressed in black-and-white prison uniforms. These advocates wanted to call attention to the general criminalization of graffiti and street artists in Portland.

During Officer Matt Miller’s presentation, an audience member voiced their concerns about the lack of support for emerging artists, and the harassment of local businesses that support street art culture and graffiti-style art (the now closed Samo Lives & Railyard art galleries). This passionate outcry was met with some anger from the audience, and hostility from the presenter. The audience member was eventually escorted out by police.

Shortly after the interruption inside the Summit, three Portland Police officers arrived outside, at the community demonstration to question the group’s intentions. The police eventually left, making no arrests or demands.

Graffiti is often a symptom or sign of larger systemic societal issues, such as youth disenchantment, the privatization of public space, general resistance of mainstream and state-run systems, and the exclusiveness of the art establishment. There is a big difference in the intentions behind vandalism, gang graffiti, and ‘artistic’ expressions in the street – there are also differences in the outcomes and public acceptance of these different forms of spatial interventions.

Even though the City’s Graffiti Program Officer’s presentations focused on tagging as the main problem in the city, their actions over the past few years (which are based on a zero-tolerance graffiti policy) suggest that they often do not distinguish between various forms of unauthorized expression. Unfortunately, the Summit presentations seemed to instigate a ‘culture of fear’ and intolerance and promote broad stereotyping of people who carry out unauthorized public expression in the streets. Matt Miller clearly stated that these are “bad people,” who often commit violent crimes, have no respect for the community or authority, are gang members, and drug addicts.

Instead of making broad-brush stereotypes and promoting punitive policies, PSAA would like to see our city’s Graffiti (Abatement) Program provide more unbiased evidence-based information, educate the public  about why graffiti actually exists and consider alternative graffiti management strategies that have shown positive outcomes in other cities (like Tacoma’s city-sponsored Graffiti Garages).

Additionally, graffiti police investigators should focus their resources on gang and hate graffiti (which they claim is the problem) and less on abating other forms of unauthorized (or unpermitted) artistic expression.

PSAA hopes that the Summit, and the subsequent reactions it sparked from the arts community, alerts Portlanders that it’s time to have a more open and inclusive dialogue about public expression in our city. This issue goes far beyond some random markings; it speaks to larger social questions about how we can better share and maintain our public spaces and how the community can engage in, and affect, public policy regarding these topics.

On Tuesday May 20th 2014, PSAA attended the 2014 Metro Portland Graffiti Summit. Hosted by the City of Portland and Friendly Streets, the Summit is organized by the Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI), the Graffiti Abatement Program (GAP), and the Portland Police Graffiti Task Force (GTF).

This event was also sponsored by several private, public and non-profit entities (including Clear Channel, Pearl District Neighborhood Association, various graffiti removal and management services, Alaska Airlines, and the Crime Prevention Association of Oregon).

The Summit Planning Committee consisted of Matt Miller and Anthony Zanetti (Portland Police Graffiti Task Force), Denay Love (Friendly Streets), Amy Archer (City of Portland), Dennis LaGiudice (City of Portland, Graffiti Program Coordinator) and Marcia Dennis (former City Graffiti Program Coordinator, now Vice President of Friendly Streets).

Starting this year, the Summit was divided into two sessions. First, a private day-long police training, and second, a free 3-hour public lecture and award session.

According to Friendly Streets, the first session provided “networking between police agencies” across the US and was designed as a “tool in catching and prosecuting graffiti vandals, who often travel between states to damage property.”

The second session included visiting and local guest speakers, City officials, neighborhood association members, and graffiti removal businesses. Even Portland Mayor Charlie Hales made a brief appearance to present ONI’s Graffiti “All-Star Awards.” Unfortunately, this session opened with a statement telling the audience that this was not the time for public comment, an obvious reference to last year’s public disturbance.

The keynote speech was given by Valerie Spicer, a Vancouver, BC police officer. A presentation focused on “Tagger Behavior and Graffiti Culture.” Spicer is a PhD candidate in criminology and holds master’s degrees in art history and criminology. She is also is the co-founder of RestART, a restorative art program that engages with graffiti offenders to build self-esteem and direct them towards “pro-social activities” like community mural painting.

Spicer presented her research on graffiti subcultures and juvenile risk predictors. Her main argument was that graffiti is an at-risk youth indicator and leads to serious social-ills like drug abuse, theft, and violence. Spicer believes that the motivations behind graffiti are usually to vandalize and destroy, and not making art. Spicer sees graffiti as the only supposed “art” movement that produces a victim, and thus needs to be criminalized.

An aesthetical argument was also put forth as Spicer went through photos of fine artists’ work (such as Picasso and Monet), and compared those to the artwork of graffiti taggers at the same age. Her key argument was that the “quality” of work by the graffitists was inferior to that of fine artists.

Spicer did present some empirical data from larger studies, like that of Graham Martin (2003), who argued that if society really wants to reduce graffiti, it has the responsibility to address the underlying socio-economic issues causing graffiti and should not just criminalize the outcome. Graham believes these issues should be addressed through preventive approaches and proactive programs, not with increased penalties and criminalization.

Taking just one audience question, Spicer was asked: Do stricter laws result in less graffiti? Spicer said that in Australia and Canada (where her research is focused), current data suggests that harsher penalties do not deter graffiti.

The next speaker was Richard Toscan, a retired art school Dean from Virginia Commonwealth University who helped create downtown Portland’s Cultural District.

Toscan’s presentation, titled “The Writing on the Wall: Art, Art Schools, Money and Graffiti,” touched on a number of topics, including the Spraycopter (a DIY graffiti-spraying drone), the Pearl District’s Centennial Mills water tower (AKA Portland’s unofficial graffiti museum), and his personal quest to convince the Portland Art Museum not to sell the “Guerilla Art Kit” book.

Providing his overview of graffiti art cultures, Toscan focused on street artists who also attend art school. Toscan gave several self-proclaimed “wild guesses” of who might makeup Portland’s “Tagger Pool.” He guessed that there are currently 700 taggers in Portland, 20% of those are “art school students,” and 1% are just “art-school-wannabees.” Toscan’s opinion-statistics went as far as estimating how many graffiti writers come from each of Portland’s universities and colleges.

Toscan then called out several Portland street art and graffiti related organizations and initiatives. Included in his list, was the Portland Street Art Alliance, labeled the “The Second Front: The Graffiti Lobby.”

Toscan told the audience to ignore PSAA’s mission statement (describing it as meaningless academic jargon) and explained that what PSAA is really doing is promoting crime, destruction, and vandalism. Toscan went on to suggest that PSAA was consorting with the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) and will soon receive operational funding from them.

The final presentation was provided by Paul Watts of Graffiti Removal Services. Watts is also a board member of Friendly Streets. It is clear that one of the main functions of these summits is to provide a marketing venue for profit-seeking graffiti clean-up companies.

To clarify some of these misconceptions about PSAA…

For two years, PSAA has worked to build bridges and relationships within the city. We want to help promote all forms of public art in Portland.

RACC has been willing to meet with PSAA and listen to our concerns, ideas, and suggestions. We are concerned that Toscan suggested, in a public setting hosted by the City’s Graffiti Program, that community groups like PSAA should not be associated with. Isn’t it the duty of all public entities to be willing to meet with and at least try to understand the communities they represent and serve?

PSAA is open to speak to anyone who wants to know more about our mission and purpose. We have requested meetings with various representatives from the City over the past two years. To date, our requests have been mostly ignored.

As of 2013, PSAA is a volunteer-run community group. We do not make any money advocating for public art. We are open to opportunities for receiving city and/or private funding for specific art projects (such as murals, curated walls, etc.).

PSAA exists because we feel passionately about the public’s right to free speech, public space, and the city. We see these rights as essential ingredients for preserving a democratic society.

In general, PSAA does not believe that graffiti is an automatic sign of urban decay or distress. Like everything, it is place-specific and the larger context and intent should always be taken into account. We see the vast majority of graffiti in Portland as a sign of urban vitalization, vibrancy, energy, and urban culture-building. We also appreciate the history of graffiti and hip hop culture and recognize it as a valid form of self-expression.

It was unprofessional and irresponsible of the City of Portland to host this event without verifying whether or not its content was accurate. Toscan’s “wild guess” statistics are now being repeated in news articles, including one by Don MacGillivray recently published in the SE Examiner. If the Summit is going to host presentations by academics, they should at least be presenting legitimate statistics.

Commendably, this year’s Summit presented a few alternatives to simply criminalizing graffiti artists, such as the RestART program. However, we are disheartened to hear that Portland’s Graffiti Program is not using their funding to re-instate the mural-assistance program that was cut a few years ago.

We encourage everyone to contact their neighborhood and City representatives, and share your thoughts. We’ve been told the commissioners and neighborhood association presidents are good people to start with. Leaving your mark in public can have an effect, but speaking directly to those in power can have quite an impact too.

Ugly Sweater PDX

PSAA interviewed Claudia Martinez, one of the yarn bombers behind the uglysweaterPDX project. In its second year, uglysweaterPDX yarn bombs Pioneer Square’s bronze art statues with festive ugly sweaters for the holidays.

How did the Ugly Sweater PDX project start? What were the project’s goals?

Our team of knitters this year included Jessica DeVries, Jenny Mosher, Amanda Miller, and myself (Claudia Martinez). Our friend Kyle Stuart, who works for a local branding company called North, wanted to propose a yarn bombing project to Travel Portland. He wanted it to be something that locals and visitors to Portland could enjoy during the holiday season. Problem was, he only knew one crocheter. Luckily, he reached out to his friend Jessica DeVires, who then approached Jenny and me with the idea. I was already familiar with the practice of yarn bombing, so I immediately wanted to join the team. It was an opportunity to what I could normally be doing any Sunday Crafternoon anyways, but on a much grander scale, and more importantly it would be something for the city.

Jessica and Jenny dress up downtown’s deer. [Photo by: Travel Portland]

Jessica and Jenny dress up downtown’s deer. [Photo by: Travel Portland]

Did your team face any challenges when trying to make this happen?

I was a little skeptical about the idea of getting paid, and also worried about the longevity of the sweaters. I’ve made art installations before and know that people often remove or take them (just for fun, to keep, or maybe they think they’re trash). The temptation of decorative sweaters would be no exception. As sad as it is to have the sweaters disappear, I’ve come to peace with the idea that if it’s taken, it was such a good piece that people wanted it, or perhaps they actually needed it to stay warm. I knew that if we did this project, we had to be ready for criticisms the possibility of vandalism, but those are things that come with any form of installation art.

Under different (or normal) circumstances something like this could technically be fined as littering, or even theoretically criminal mischief (i.e. interference with private property). Any thoughts on that? What do you think about unauthorized yarn bombing?

I’m a bit biased on this question due to my long-standing affection towards street art. Sometimes you just need to break up the monotony of everyday. The advantage to yarn bombing is that it can be removed with little or no damage to those directly affected by the art. It is the same with wheatpasted art. Any artist will tell you that even their best pieces have at least one villainous critic, so someone’s litter is another’s needed splash of color.

UglySweaterPDX 2014 [Photo by: Gina Murrell]

UglySweaterPDX 2014 [Photo by: Gina Murrell]

What were people’s reactions to you putting up these yarn installations? Any memorable interactions?

I was surprised by the amount of positive feedback we received from passersby, both young and old. The older crowds were inspecting the types of knots or stitches used, while the younger people made comments about the time it must have taken to create the pieces. In fact, when one of our first pieces was stolen, some unknown strangers put scarves and gloves on them, as replacement pieces. It was nice to know that our work had touched people so deeply that they made and installed replacement yarn pieces, all just to keep the sentiment alive.

Claudia knits on some leg cozies [Photo by: Jaime Valdez]

Claudia knits on some leg cozies [Photo by: Jaime Valdez]

It would be great to see publicly-funded yarn art for causes that are for the greater good like this because I really do feel that it reflects well on the city. I was also part of the team that did Bridge for Blankets this past year, a temporary installation on the Broadway Bridge to celebrate its centennial birthday. After, all the blankets were donated to the local homeless shelters and hospitals. Projects like these show that the city wants to support the non-traditional, and it stands behind all sorts of creatives, from traditional painters and muralists, to the lesser-known fabric, yarn, and fiber artists.

Watch a short UglySweaterPDX promo video.

For more photos of this years and last years installations, search #uglysweaterpdx on Instagram and Twitter.

Hanky's Portland Surplus Candy

Check out Hanksy’s new episode of Surplus Candy, featuring PSAA and other members of Portland’s street art community. Filmed in the Spring 2014, the 4th episode of this mini-series highlights the unique and determined artists that call Portland home.

NYC-based artist Hanksy has teamed up with The Hundreds to showcase what American streets have to offer, visiting off-the-beaten path cities like Montreal, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Austin to explore their unique street art and graffiti scenes. The episodes air every other Wednesday on The Hundreds‘ website.

“The Hundreds is pleased to bring you Hanksy’s “Surplus Candy” episode 4 – Portland. Hanksy’s six-part street art odyssey, with the help of Squarespace, has brought him to the streets of Portland to find an art scene that is supposed to be absent. After a scuffle between an ad agency and the city of Portland, a zero tolerance policy for graffiti and murals was put into effect. Though Hanksy soon learns that when art is blocked it just changes courses and flows into a different direction. Portland is a place where street artists have been forced to channel their creativity around the strict laws, ironically pushing street art back to its purest form – underground and out of sight. So much for a city with a non-existent street art scene. (Review from The Hundreds)”

A HUGE shout out to all the local artists involved in this project, and everyone that makes up and supports Portland’s street art and graffiti scenes. Portland’s street art and graffiti scenes are alive and well, if you take time to stop and look. 

Read more about Hanksy’s work and his unique spin on the world of street art here.

Graffiti + Activism Panel Talk

In September 2014, representatives from three organizations; Portland Street Art Alliance (PSAA), Endless Canvas (Bay Area, CA) and Graffiti Defense Coalition (GDC) (Seattle, WA) participated in a panel discussion exploring the use of graffiti as a tool for communication and activism.

UNMEDIATED ACCESS & COMMUNICATION IN SPACE

The event was held at the University of Oregon in Portland, as part of the Cascade Media Convergence, a three-day long regional gathering of community-based media organizations, journalists, and artists.

The panel discussion focused on what activism graffiti is, how it can be an effective tactic, how it’s spatial and social contexts affect its message and impact, and how city municipalities and corporations have responded to these types of actions.

The panelists were first asked how they define “graffiti” for the purposes of the discussion.

Occupy graffiti, Portland 2011. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Occupy graffiti, Portland 2011. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Although each panelist’s definition differed, consensus was that graffiti should be framed both legally and culturally. Legally speaking, graffiti is any marking text, or imagery that’s done in public (private property or public city-owned space) without permission. One type of illegal marking, is activist graffiti, which aims to communicate a dissenting message to the larger public. It was noted by panelists that all of these definitions are fluid and not universal. What is, or is not, considered graffiti greatly depends on the cultural, spatial, and legal contexts within which it is created and viewed.

The panelists then discussed how graffiti exercises our rights to free speech and expression.

Make Living Space Cast out Investors, Berlin September 2011. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Make Living Space Cast out Investors, Berlin September 2011. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Panelists felt that graffiti is a highly autonomous and democratic mode of communication. Because it occurs in public, graffiti is a way for a wide range of people that might not typically interact with one another, to freely and directly communicate with one another. The anonymity acts as a mask, protecting people from being prosecuted (unless caught) and encourages honesty and harsh criticism.

Endless Canvas representatives pointed out that graffiti is an accessible medium for anyone, no matter what their socio-economic status is. Everyone can, at least in theory, create graffiti in public space. In so doing, graffiti can give value and power to under-served parts of society because it’s a way to insert their voice and presence into spaces where they’re otherwise not welcomed or allowed.

Anti-Ulises Ruiz Ortiz graffiti, Oaxaca 2006. Photo: Itandehui Franco Ortiz

Anti-Ulises Ruiz Ortiz graffiti, Oaxaca 2006. Photo: Itandehui Franco Ortiz

Women’s Rights graffiti by Grrrl Army, Seattle 2012. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Women’s Rights graffiti by Grrrl Army, Seattle 2012. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Graffiti also challenges so-called “free speech zones,” acting outside of these regulated spaces and pushing the boundaries of what is done and tolerated in public space.

Next, panelists provided examples of how graffiti has been used as a tactic for activism and direct action.  

Occupy graffiti, London 2011. Photo: monevator.com

Occupy graffiti, London 2011. Photo: monevator.com

Protest graffiti has been used in countless social movements throughout history. Recent examples can been seen in the Occupy, Egyptian, and Greek uprisings of 2011, the 2006 Oaxaca, Mexico protests, and the 2014 anti-World Cup graffiti in Brazil.

“In our home, our own freedom, our own strength and our own truth.” Kyiv, Ukraine April 2014. Photo: Magdalena Patalong

“In our home, our own freedom, our own strength and our own truth.” Kyiv, Ukraine April 2014. Photo: Magdalena Patalong

The multiplying power of social media technologies can amplify the reach of these social and political commentaries. Therefore, these types of unregulated communications can have an immense amount of potential power that governments fear. Governments have been known to shut down telecommunications during political uprisings (for example, in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Egypt).

Memorial Mural for Victims of Police Brutality Oakland, 2013. Photo: Endless Canvas

Memorial Mural for Victims of Police Brutality Oakland, 2013. Photo: Endless Canvas

Violations of free speech like this can even be seen in the U.S. For example, Endless Canvas representatives explained that following the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant by a BART police officer in 

Oakland, BART shut down all underground cell phone service to try to prevent large protests. In some cases, graffiti is one of the only ways people can communicate dissenting messages to the public.

Billboard graffiti, Berkeley 2009. Photo: Craig Cook

Billboard graffiti, Berkeley 2009. Photo: Craig Cook

Also discussed was how graffiti is often used to protest the “visual pollution” of corporate advertising. One of the most interesting cases presented was how Bay Area graffiti writers concentrated their interventions on certain billboard advertisements. These pieces tended to last longer on billboards than other spaces in the city because they were in hard-to-reach spaces, which proved to be difficult for the billboard company to remove. The owners eventually found these billboards to be a lost cause and were decommissioned due to unprofitability. Though the graffiti writers were unconsciously making a political statement, other guerilla artists found that these tactics were a powerful way for average people to fight against corporate advertisements in public space.

It was also pointed out by one panelist that after the AK Media (now Clear Channel) vs. City of Portland case of 2005, painting murals without official city permission in Portland was (and still could be) seen as a form of protest. Today, all murals that are done without a permit or RACC waiver can be reported as “illegal graffiti,” fined, and forcefully removed by the city (regardless of whether or not the property owner consents).

Art Fills the Void by Gorilla Wallflare, Portland. 1982. Photo: Gorilla Wallflare

Art Fills the Void by Gorilla Wallflare, Portland. 1982. Photo: Gorilla Wallflare

Kickin Ass for the Working Class by Nuclear Winter, May 1 2011. Photo: Endless Canvas

Kickin Ass for the Working Class by Nuclear Winter, May 1 2011. Photo: Endless Canvas

Panelists were then asked how permitted activist art differs from un-permitted activist graffiti.

Anti-GMO mural in Oakland by Pancho Peskador and Desi W.O.M.E, April 2012.

Anti-GMO mural in Oakland by Pancho Peskador and Desi W.O.M.E, April 2012.

On one hand, panelists saw both legal and illegal activist art as two different strategies that can work simultaneously. Both forms can communicate powerful messages to the public though political commentary, making an impact on civic consciousness.

On the other hand, panelists also pointed out that it is impossible to radically change the system by working within it. Some believe illegal activist art is a much blunter weapon that maintains maximum power and impact. With illegal art, there is no censorship. It is not mediated through the framework of capitalism or the state and the risks artists take to trespass and produce their artwork illegally infuses their art with intrinsic symbolic power.

Occupy Walls by Graffiti Against the System (GATS), Portland 2011. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Occupy Walls by Graffiti Against the System (GATS), Portland 2011. Photo: Portland Street Art Alliance

Lastly, panelists were asked to think about the public’s reactions to graffiti and how it alters our perceptions of space in the city.

Falsas Promesas Broken Promises, South Bronx, 1980. Photo: John Fekner

Falsas Promesas Broken Promises, South Bronx, 1980. Photo: John Fekner

A Graffiti Defense Coalition representative gave the example of New York City in the late 1970s when many young people saw graffiti as a creative way to bring much needed color to the crumbling and decaying city, exciting the urban landscapes around them. Amidst this political and infrastructural chaos, authorities and the media began to campaign against graffiti, associating it with dirt, decay, disease, and madness. These anti-graffiti campaigns cited the “broken windows theory” as their basis, arguing that minor misdemeanors (like graffiti) must be stopped or there will be an atmosphere of lawlessness that will attract serious criminal offenders who will assume that residents don’t care about the neighborhood.

By promoting a culture of unrealistic fears, and tapping into the public’s moral insecurities, authorities were able to justify increased policing and regulations of our public spaces. Policing ideologies like this did nothing to address the longstanding social inequalities, infrastructural neglect, purposeful arson-for-profit scams, and declining tax revenues that were causing urban decline at this time. Today, it’s clear to see that graffiti is often actually a sign of a vibrant urban area, or one that’s in the early stages of gentrification (Berlin, Bushwick, and Miami, etc).

Portland Street Art Alliance members then pointed out that dominant ideologies define what is, and is not appropriate in public spaces. In the case of graffiti, the public was told by city-sponsored anti-graffiti ads and public announcements that they should prevent graffiti at all costs, that it didn’t belong in the city, and will cause a spiral of decay like is seen in extremely neglected and ignored urban neighborhoods, like the South Bronx in the 1970s and 80s. Subsequently, the tide of fear and criticism against graffiti rolled in.

Representatives of Endless Canvas echoed the sentiment, stating that graffiti doesn’t actually physically hurt anyone, and the battle between the city and graffiti artists, is a sign of a much larger battle for control, voice, and representation.

Graffiti is considered a major urban problem because it challenges the notion of private property, and by extension, the entire system in which modern society is built upon. It also makes us think about who really does or should have control of our public visual space. It is symbolic of a much larger struggle for our collective rights to the city.

Special thanks to Brett Peters for helping to write this article and CMC organizers, particularly Tim Rice, for supporting and making this regional discussion possible. 

Portland Sticker Nerds

A group of dedicated street artists just pulled off what might be the largest sticker art installation show in the United States – Sticker Nerds III. After months of preparation and stickers donated from around the world, a simple warehouse space was transformed into an alternate reality. Every wall and fixture covered with an estimated 15,000+ pieces of artistic expression from 1000s of artists around the world. Each sticker telling a story, a small glimpse into someone’s unique personality and imagination.

The third and largest installment of the Sticker Nerds trilogy was carried out by a team of about 20 prolific vinyl sticker artists and supporters including: Skam, RxSkulls, Kanye, Doctor Rasterbator, Voxx Romana, and Jonathan Boys.

Over the past 10 years, the Portland sticker art scene has blossomed into an impressive, colorful, and relentless force on city streets. To the dismay of tireless graffiti abatement crews, volunteer community groups, and vigilantes, stickers just keep getting up – an endless cycle of slap, stick, and scrape. Many sticker connoisseurs would agree that Portland is one of the best places to see this type of urban intervention.

Some say Portland’s wet weather and mural regulations have encouraged artists to focus more on vinyl mediums, others look back to our DIY and skateboarding cultural roots. Regardless, a strong and supportive community of artists has formed, all helping each other master this craft, push its limits, and organized for the cause.

Tension and nerves were high before the show. Logistically everything was working great, however, organizers ran into red tape when it came time to obtain an event permit from the Portland Fire Marshal. The City’s Fire & Rescue office and the Portland Police have come under scrutiny in recent weeks for allegedly paying extra attention to enforcing capacity codes and shutting down local cultural events like hip hop concerts, art gallery events, and dancing events.  Even though Sticker Nerds III venue was a big space, it only had one exit.

After days of talking with marshal’s staff, the organizers were forced to limit the event to no more than 25 people at any time. Three people were needed to manage the space, leaving only 22 spaces for visitors. To accommodate for this unfortunate, but understandable limitation, the event was quickly reconfigured into an all-day open house.

On the morning of the show, a message was posted by organizers with the warehouse’s address and a note “Please be advised that you may have to wait in line. Please respect the local neighborhood. The Sticker Nerds 3 event does not condone vandalism.”Within minutes of posting the location on various social media outlets, people started lining up outside the door hoping to be one of the first 100 guests in who received a special SN3 sticker pack. Sticker enthusiasts from as far away as Minnesota, California, and Washington came to Portland for this free event. The line remained 1 to 2 hours strong all day and night.

Once in possession of the doorman’s magic glass ticket, guests entered the warehouse. You were instantly submerged in a sea of stickers and wheatpastes. Static-crackling TVs, light projections, and DJs gave it a post-apocalyptic vibe. The artists even incorporated real pieces of everyday life into the space like city furniture, utility boxes, newspaper boxes, bathroom stalls, espresso makers, and a few classic tube televisions. The walls constantly change throughout the day as guests added more stickers and tags. Outside the venue, an art-covered newspaper box was used by attendees to share stickers and swag.

A full screen-printing set-up cranked out fresh prints on bought or brought clothes, a gallery sold handmade fine art pieces, and pop-up shop sold merchandise like prints, stickers, tee-shirts, bike bags, books, bandanas, cozies, patches, and buttons. Local street and graffiti artists painted a full wall collaborative mural, displaying some of Portland’s finest artistic talent. Throughout the day, free art was given away to guests. The day after the show, an all-warehouse auction was held. They even sold the wall panels to raise money for the next event.

Since they had to officially close their doors at 9pm, organizers threw a special SN3 VIP After-Party. Guests with exclusive stick-its quietly descended upon the dimly lit warehouse for evening of networking, creating, trading, and conversing. The evening closed without incident, everyone played by the rules.  Most of us left with pockets full of stickers and an amazing sense of community. Portland’s sticker art scene is as much about the art as it is the people who do it and the social spaces it adheres too.

More Photos from Sticker Nerds Events

And More Photos!

ALL PHOTOS @ PSAA