Gothamist: Street Art Splashings Provoke Debate

chazzer-cise

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:25:24 -0500

being seven taught me that the pressure on a super soaker can be adjusted. i'm waiting to see what our little zodiac splasher will do next before i pass any judgement. i like to think that he is acting as water currents do to andy goldsworthy's work. keep in mind, it is street art. better the splasher than white paint and a roller.

marie

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:51:34 -0500

I think it should be in the mind of every single streetartist to be as selfless as to never mind such actions, I mean when i paste up my work I do it with the idea that it is illegal and won´t be there for such a long time and that is also one very important fact in the street art in general for me...you do something which does not exist for a long time and though it was a lot of work it is clear to me that somebody is going to destroy it anytime... I would visit my fucked up piece and rework the splash on it... then it would be the vandalism of the vandalism of the vandalism... anyway, because I am from austria I can´t go there to recreate something into the splasher´s art... so maybe guys take it with some humor and think of art like tachisme ;)

oops!paint

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 02:04:58 -0500

"Oh, totally! When I'm walking down the block and see that painting, I immediately think of the plight of Oaxacans!" -Oh wow Im a dipstick with a computer, i can express my opinion and every visitor to the gothamist has to sift thru my babble. Certain dialogueis meant for certain spaces, this one happened to spill over from a flickrsite to here. And we have to suffer each other. Read some news and do me a favor. SHUT UP

nick

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:23:57 -0500

re: #32 i second that. brilliant.

fucktard

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:45:06 -0500

Shove your chomsky up your ass. Im so bored of this I dont even care to respond.

Guy

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:08:56 -0500

I nominate otomboy's excellent poem for "comment of the week".

Sean Breault

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:50:50 -0500

"you insult true revolutionaries working for self-determination that suffer real consequences...."????? are you serious? s

Peter Vallone

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:50:38 -0500

Ok, ok, guys, settle down. The perp is me, City Council Member Peter Vallone of Astoria. I'm the splasher.

anonymass

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:25:35 -0500

I think that the splasher is "raising the awareness" of some of you taggers/graffiti "artists." Art is in the eye of the beholder. To some of you, art is vandalizing private property. To some random guy out there, art is bringing what you're actually doing to your attention. Only you're not getting it.

NYCGDB

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:39:04 -0500

I'm baffled more by the amount of energy this guy has to muster just to execute this crappy project. I mean you gotta print up the manifesto, get the wheat paste, the paint, break up the shards of glass, go out and find the pieces, splatter them... Not to mention the amount of *time* this all takes--just to misappropriate the will of the Dadaists and piss off some hipsters? Dude, get a TV. You'll love it.

otomboy

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:33:01 -0500

streetart destroys wall splasher destroys graffiti wall owner sobs... why?!

eyeroll

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:24:42 -0500

I figured it out. The splasher is the performance artist who used to give himself paint enemas in order to paint his audience.

PJ

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:24:38 -0500

this whole thread is an argument for splashing.

mog

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:21:06 -0500

Was that interview a joke? I couldn't tell.

anomalous

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:05:58 -0500

could the splasher be using paint-filled balloons?

nick

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:47:45 -0500

dobkin you're going to have to jump ship on this one, i sense a mutiny.

will

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:23:30 -0500

i paint, therefore i'm che guevera? does anyone else find this ludicrous?

roe

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:23:23 -0500

Jake, save this for your personal website, two long posts on this is just not gothamist news.

chomskyite who grew up

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:59:48 -0500

"This portrait made of a woman who lives in Oaxaca is being used to raise consciousness about the uprising and movement of the APPO" Oh, totally! When I'm walking down the block and see that painting, I immediately think of the plight of Oaxacans! Who are you fucking kidding? Look, it's a cool picture, and it's too bad it got "splashed." But it's thrown up on the side of a building. It's glorified graffiti. Nobody's consciousness is being raised, and you shouldn't be offended if someone else does exactly what you did: Paint shit where you're not supposed to paint! You're not a "true revolutionary." You're a jerk-off who's drunk on Chomsky and The Motorcycle Diaries, and who hasn't realized yet that your artistic talent can be put to way better use than competing for space with 13-year-old taggers.

buffy the vampire slayer

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:57:25 -0500

apparently no one has heard of getting "buffed". welcome to ny. what's sad is that the kid doing the buffing is probably another out of towner nerd that lives in willamsburg or somewhere equally as whack. save the art for a gallery.

matty

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:56:11 -0500

also obey and banksy are to graffitti as aesope rock and sage francis are to rap. No soul having white boys who have pretty much ruined it for everyone.

el_tarasco

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:55:11 -0500

"You piss me off, you insult true revolutionaries working for self-determination that suffer real consequences." This person clearly misses the point, in ways not thought possible. "Street art" is nothing more than personal ego, this criticism is orthogonal to it's aesthetic/symbolic value. The people making these wheatpastes and being creative in public spaces aren't speaking out about it -- it's all part of the environment. But here the author of this quote is, bitching and moaning about people she doens't even know. You need to find a hobby and shut the fuck up.

matty

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:53:09 -0500

all those banksy type thigns are tired and boring anyway. no one cares about the stencil you drew and printed at home. real grafitti artists do throwups and pieces on the fly. These people are no talent hacks. Good for the splasher cause he is only covering up the stencils that themselves covered up real graffitti. That said, I pretty much hate all graffitti but at least I can appreciate a good piece when I see one if only because of the risk and time it takes to make them.

splasher's trashy

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:51:32 -0500

say what you will about the merits or lack of merits of graffiti...splashing paint around is about as interesting/fun/thoughtful as a chimp throwing it's own excriment. splasher only splashes because it is the quickest way to cover the graffiti, if he/she had any real backbone they'd at least cover it with something that took more than 5 seconds to do.

art critic

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:45:29 -0500

boo hoo!! my precious "art" got ruined!!

bens

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:41:57 -0500

Do you really think these are actually raising awareness on issues, like oaxaca? You think people walked by that and went, "damn, the situation is really bad in oaxaca for the people right now, what can i do to help?" get real. if the "artist" wanted to raise awareness on an issue with these he/she failed. Gothamist is an example of raising awareness on issues. totally agree with 2 & 3, painted on a wall in public, the owner of the wall owns the graffiti. Actually graffiti with paint splashed on it says much more than the graffiti alone. This is not just happening on graffiti or street art. A huge dewers ad on ludlow was splashed as well.

R

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:41:36 -0500

Splasher's narcissism is mediocre. There's nothing revolutionary about his theoretical temper tantrum.

maia

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:31:55 -0500

Someone should just set up a webcam outside of the next swoon painting to catch this guy. Street art may be vandalism, but it's also a lot of time and energy invested in creating something beautiful. This spash crap is a statement. It takes all of two seconds, and all it's doing is pissing people off. If the dude (and I assume it's a dude but I could be wrong) were so up front about his actions he'd show his face or leave his name. This is the same as leaving an anonymous "fuck you." If you want to have a discussion let's have it. But don't just be a dick and destroy for destruction's sake. It sure as hell isn't going to stop street art.

Velvet Sea

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:27:14 -0500

sounds like the graffitists are jealous that the splasher has made a name for his/herself in such a short period of time and they are attempting to discredit the splasher as illegitimate saying he/she "must have used a supersoaker" to splash so high up. did "obey" use a supersoaker to wheatpaste so high up? splasher is the real deal.

JP Lynch

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:24:47 -0500

Jimbo & Natis: Right on! I thought 'street art' was supposed to be fluid - constantly changing and springing up in new places. Isn't this just an extension, albeit an unwanted one, of that idea? And oh yeah, no matter how pretty, profound or inspiring 'street art' is, it is considered vandalism as well. Buncha whiny babies that think they're geniuses are cryin' about another whiny wannabe genius that's a douche. YAWN.

yawni

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:23:39 -0500

vandalized vandalism = vandalism 'obey' vandalism = advertising (they have a web site selling products). sanctity of street art = bullshit

eyeroll

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:19:10 -0500

Woohoo! I was waiting for the "liberation from Capital" talking point. Visual Resistance does not disappoint.

robin.g

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:09:23 -0500

I prefer the Billboard Liberation Front.

natis

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:04:04 -0500

It's all graffiti and it's the nature of NY. Get over it and get over yourselves.

jimbo

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:03:59 -0500

Wait -- so if you draw something on a wall it's art, but if you draw something over that drawing than it's vandalism? This seems pretty hypocritical to me. If street artists demand the right to be able to draw on walls, then other people should have the right to draw on their drawings. They have no right to demand protection for their work, because their work relies on the belief that nothing should be protected.

seriously

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:01:45 -0500

I find no integrity in "street art" or graffiti, period. If he is defacing murals that have been commissioned or approved by the property owners, then there will be something to talk about.

nice

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:53:25 -0500

yeah, just delete the comments and start over. That will make it seem like anyone cares.