CONSCIENCE UNDER PRESSURE
In March I wrote a blog post “Rebel without a Cause” about my experiences with the Melville Residents Association regarding the removal of graffiti pieces from the boundary wall of the Melpark Primary School. The piece referred to conversations I had with Cynthia Rose and a guy I called Mr. Jones and their negative views on graffiti and street art.
http://mrbaggins1.livejournal.com/50982.html
I have since discovered that Mr. Jones is in fact James Durno who, according to his website, is a visual communications consultant, who does corporate fine art, illustrations, cartooning and graphic facilitation. Durno’s view to the work of PCP was, for me, quite strange as he totally discounted graffiti and street art as an art form, in particular on the walls of suburbia.
In the last nine months I’ve had a lot of interaction with graffiti artists, mostly with the crew of Pressure Control Projects (PCP) who originally created the work on the boundary wall of Melpark Primary, Faith47, and Zesta. In my opinion they are very talented artists which choose to use graffiti as a medium. This is totally at odds with the general perception that graffitos are a bunch of irresponsible vandals hell-bent on destruction and defacement. This does not mean that I endorse the wanton spray-paint of tags and scribbles all over public property and garden walls.
I also learned of the creative work of Write on Africa whose philosophy is “Creative Activism, Making Love visible”
According to their site their aim is:
Creative inspiration and urban rejuvenation through special events, initiatives and Art in Public Space.
Write on Africa is an initiative that mobilizes creativity for inspiration, social change and urban rejuvenation.
The aim is to rejuvenate with color and inspire the youth, each other and ourselves. The artwork and projects we create is a window to the imagination for our audience young or old, this allows us to create a connection with and make difference in the communities we work in.
Write on Africa is a platform for artists to create the change they wish to see.”
http://www.writeonafrica.org/blog/
Write on Africa is running a special project - 20 Crèches/20 Artists - to paint crèches in Khaymandi, a shack settlement close to Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. The “before and after” visuals of these crèches are amazing. Working for READ continuously exposes me to disadvantaged schools and I recently visited crèches in Kwa-Thema that can hugely benefit in a similar initiative. The same applies to the crèches in rural Limpopo that READ will be working with in 2011 with funding from the Roger Federer Foundation. These crèches are mostly run from drab cinder-block buildings in a place denuded of trees or playground equipment, an environment most definitely not suited to stimulate young minds
The latest edition of the Melville and Northcliff Times featured an article “Taggers take over the City” which is the first in a series of articles on graffiti. This at least shows some willingness by the paper to engage in dialogue about the subject.
The article includes the following gem of a statement by an anonymous reader;
“Please do not call these twits artists. There is absolutely no talent displayed on walls around Johannesburg at all. It’s simply a pathetic mess.”
Ah well, I suppose one person’s pathetic mess is another’s art. I do not consider Damien Hirst’s famous series of artworks in which dead animals (including a shark, a sheep and a cow) are preserved in formaldehyde as art at all, yet Hirst is reportedly Britain’s richest living artists. “Different strokes for different folks” as the sage Xaviera Hollander once said.
Graffiti and street art in my opinion has a positive role to play in society, and I’m wondering if it’s not perhaps a better approach to recognize the work for what it is - as artistic expression and rather try to harness this talent in a positive manner than to outright condemn it as a pathetic mess created by twits.
PCP will be presenting an exhibition titled "Conscience under Pressure" at their Greyscale Gallery in De Korte Street, Braamfontein from 18 November 2010
“Conscience under Pressure”, a group show of artworks made from used spray-paint cans. The artists that include graffiti writers, illustrators and tattoo artists where asked to create a piece using at least one empty aerosol can, the decision on whether to paint, sculpt or draw on their can was left to them.
The idea and title of the exhibition is a play on the “Contents under Pressure” label that appears on aerosols and comments on the mind of an artist. When it comes to graffiti artists this applies on many levels, for one, spray-paint is not the most environmentally friendly product, it is harmful for the atmosphere and not easily recycled. Add to this the fact that most graffiti artists have at some point been involved in activities deemed to be vandalism, one would assume that their conscience in under an immense amount of pressure.
Taking this concept further, a conscience under pressure could refer to any artist. Whatever is on an artist’s mind will eventually find its way out in their work in some form or another whether it is abstract or literal. Expectations of fans and the general public, conceptualising solid ideas, maintaining standards and style development can also build pressure on an artist and this in turn affects their work because creating art is how they release this pressure.
Spray-paint can shows are not a new concept and have been done around the world. So to give a fresh angle on this idea the artists will create their can artwork as well as an original A4 sketch that relates to their piece, the two works will be sold as a set.
Mr Jones, I am confused, it seems that the graffitos, especially Rasty and the PCP crew, are maybe bona fide artists with a conscience. They are also very much involved in doing their bit for community development. PCP has even offered to create a mural for the Field of Dreams Library project in Albert Street, a school for refugee children many of them orphans. I am sure they’ll do wonderful work that will bring light and joy into the lives of these kids.
Thanks Rasty, Curio, Angel and the rest of the guys.