Gothamist: The Splasher Speaks

IvanJohnson

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:17:00 -0500

The author of this article couldn't have sounded more american-junior-high-apathetic if he tried. I was waiting for him to announce that his brain hurt while reading the splasher's texts. >>>>The path to simplicity is the most complex of all." Nope, we don't understand neither. Its writer like this that contribute to the ridiculous level of social consciousness you guys are dealing with over there... I think it's really sad that a few complicated words can turn people off so easily. The splasher, on the other hand, appears to be an eager user of well established theoretical dogma, but at least I commend him for trying to put forward a strong and valid critique while being an over-informationalized american at the same time. - sad white shit

guest

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:48:28 -0500

I know I'm a little late with this but there are a few things that i just can't keep to myself. I found it interesting that 'neo-situationist' seems to continuing a long tradition of color-blind politics that plagued its avant-garde predecessors. What gets me is that when i pass a defaced picture of Angela Davis i don't think of the decolonization of everyday life or about destruction of society of spectacle; i see some bullshit fucking asshole splashing paint on an image of a radical third-world cultural politics. Seriously though, I've been trying for years to situate myself in these new left movements but i find them overwhelming blind of the ways race, gender, and sexuality function as class formations and operate with capitalism's construction of the spectacle. And i thank them for talking about gentrification i found that piece to be interesting but i was put off by use of the word 'native'. I mean are we that uncomfortable to take about how these ghettos are racial formations in which redlining and other government sponsored programs maintained a jim crow with style. or how these same programs targeted women of color, several who had to live in these ghettos because they were denied credit if they were not married and denied jobs if they were not sterilized. so yea go splash Angela Davis' face! It's funny to that we now recognize this avant-garde movement when people of color have been deploying their own situationist cultural politics (and surrealism--aime caesar, richard wright, audre lorde) way before banksy. It funny, because even the situationist of yesteryear realized this. In his piece on the 1965 Watts rebellion Debord commented that the black community "are in their own country and they are alienated. So are the rest of the population, but the blacks are aware of it. In this sense they are not the most backward sector of American society, but the most advanced.” I am excited by the emergence of these splashers but saddened that they have yet to realize how some of us live out avant-garde in our everyday lives. thank you for letting me vent. peace and love n.c.

guest

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:39:08 -0500

I think the splasher is just a poser. He must have recently watched the 80s movie Beat Street and was influenced by Spit(the vandal who tagged over Bombs). Loser. Could someone just put up graffiti hotline posters to get this crap off the walls. Some people have nothing better to do then play with themselves.

guest

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:08:01 -0500

rich kids tossing paint around! True situationist/marxist/anarchists...

guest

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:24:31 -0500

thanks for the article! i would like to have a copy of the Splasher(s) manifesto... can i get one? thanks best regards, mischa canibal http://www.perros-callejeros.info/

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:52:10 -0500

the splashed street art is more beautiful than the original? hahahah... good one.

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:51:21 -0500

I like the splasher coverage too. Maybe i didn't read it so closely so maybe i missed something, but why do you say this guy is an anarchist? the writing is bullshit. thanks for sharing it.

guest

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:01:21 -0500

i live in toledo ohio where this kid is from. i can confirm that his motivation is purely falling in love with swoon and her not giving him the time of day. bitter heart break is often the best motivation for good art. but in this case it just motivated him into a pissing contest of sorts.

guest

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 09:54:13 -0500

Whether or not Christian missionaries wanted to pave the way for European colonialism in Asia, they did. And since street artists are being used to pave the way for gentrification, they not only have a right to speak up against it, they have a responsibility to.

guest

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:27:31 -0500

ascetically, the splashed graffiti is so much more beautiful than the originals which are too straight forward & mostly boring. the mystery behind the splashes leaves a lot to the imagination and i think it was tastefully done. the rest is a lot of debate about nothing...

guest

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:00:19 -0500

I think these kids are brilliant. At least they have something to say, and as I recall art used to be a catalyst to a form of expression, storytelling and a message of sorts. All of these are things the new contemporary art world has easily and willingly tossed aside as usual. It's about time someone has picked up and carried further the realness and reality of what Marcel Duschamp & company had started a long time ago. I say they deserve all the attention if not more, since they are doing the most original creative act that New York has seen in years. As far as I am concerned it's truly been a long time since New York had something of it's own. Unfortunately the last original thing NY had was probably in 1986 with Run DMC and the beastie boys. Ever since then all NY has done is take things from other places and then claim it as it's own. Maybe soon enough this is what it is going to take to get decent shows again, where the artist will actually get involved again and show up at their showings and once again socialize and maybe have something intelligent to say about their motives instead of hiding behind shadows in the back of an alley or hiding behind a nickname like "BeakFlame" and crap like that. What the hell is wrong with saying " Hi, my name is "Jacob", thanks for coming and supporting my and the other artists work we really appreciate it ". I mean, there has got to be something wrong when artists have lost the pride in their own work that they have to use a different name to sign it. I don't know, maybe I am just a lost idiot! Maybe I should look into it and get in with the new hip world. I guess I am a little confused as to why I get and understand the "splashers" motives and creation more than most of the new pieces that are being processed and sold lately. The thing that bothers me the most is there is some great art in the "street art" label with some great messages that are important enough so that the rest of the world should really "SEE" them. But unfortunately it seems that the artists are more concerned with the lifestyle instead of the art itself. Best, Jacob.....oh wait!...AKA "Frog-Scar"

guest

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:41:18 -0500

at first i thought vandalizing vandalism was kind of clever and funny. don't get me wrong, i love street art, but it is ON the street/public space etc. but when he/she/they starting putting up the manifesto, all their credibility was lost in my eyes and he/she/they just turned into just another preachy dork.

dagzine

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:44:21 -0500

Either the manifesto is naively ironic or folks trying on their situationist hats for the first time. My bet is sarcasm mixed with a lot of the latter and a sprinkling of the former. Nevertheless, all the mocking from critics is high comedy. And now it's in the NYTimes. Gotham cannot figure out whether or not to take IT seriously. I especially enjoy all the "it's the pot calling the kettle black" routines. It's sad-funny how when youthful social critics attempt to examine the state of their surroundings that their fellow citizens mock it as a silly waste of time--as immature. Who's pretentious here? I find the manifesto full of wonderful self-betrayals. And what's a manifesto for, if not to betray one's self for an entire community? One thing whoever-"they"-are has to say is correct: street art is absolutely a bourgeois-sponsored rebellion. As it, by simply being there, is nothing more than a part of the scenery--and thus silently conspires to re-establish the dominant memes and themes of the upwardly mobile middle class aesthetics that everyone of us have come to passively accept/except. My opinion, of course, but what this "group" is doing is merely restating--through citation and paraphrase--what we have read in Debord, Vaneigem, Simmel, Marx, Baudrillard, and Adorno, among several others. I have to agree that the most entertaining aspect of this spectacle is that it appears to be the result of a rather petty personal grudge. Oh well, where would Surrealism and Absurdism have been without all the drama? Proof that artists wear many masks...drama queen situationist anyone? Like a bad O'Neill character from some strange interpretation of the great god brown.

guest

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:46:22 -0500

petulant artists liberation front is more like it.

citychik

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:41:29 -0500

I wonder why the Splasher decided to send the manifesto to Gothamist instead of a real news organization.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:13:25 -0500

the best part of this whole thing is that it all started because swoon wasnt interested in the zac guy. he did it to get back at her for breaking his poor little heart. the manifesto bullshit is just to cover up the fact that hes a little bitch.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:27:48 -0500

The Splasher totally had to have gone to Eugene Lang

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:39:42 -0500

I can't wait to get a Splasher designed Le Sports Sac! Seriously, sans the cheesy manifesto, its a pot calling the kettle black

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:45:26 -0500

THis is coming all the way from Australia.( oh how the internet has revolutionised communication.) The splasher seems like they really dont know what they want at all, Myspace fags blowing smoke up eachothers asses. Soon Myspace will have a Myspace:Revolutionaries brand to go along with their piss poor record label. Wanna start a revolution? Assasinate the president then strom the capital, dont destroy great art because you're not skilled enough to create it.

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:53:49 -0500

splasher > you spoiled bourgeois fucktards

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:33:24 -0500

#132, I don't think it is ironic at all; first, this is a relatively minor, NY-only story compared to national/international headlines. Second, we are talking about an artisan economy vs. industrial economy in your claim, which are vastly different; Artisans do not have deep divisions of labor and are thus basically rent-seekers (J. Schumpeter, in his theorization of 'creative destruction', decried we are all rent-seekers), which is different from the capitalist mode of production, which begins with the division of labor (i.e. the pin factory in Smith's Wealth of Nations) and leads to further specialization. In that sense, it's not ironic at all, as artists do what they do best, seeking rents for their welfare, and that's also perhaps why some choose to ignore these so-called artists altogether. And thanks for the wonderful comments #108 and #105, I'd post links about US job creation trends, but I don't think #108 would be in any way interested. #102

guest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 03:34:50 -0500

To be sure, the true irony here is not street art 'vandalizing' street art, but 'anti-capitalist,' 'anti-bourgeois,' 'anarchists' acting as a shill for the capitalist news racket. Thanks for giving us a story again, boys. In the end, it's one more Arts feature to run opposite our American Apparel ads this week. I'm glad their manifesto is up on the NY Times website in full, unadulterated, counter-cultural glee, beneath the banner 'We're in the business of growing small business.' We're in the business of blowing up your spot, forget it not. Unfortunately, the piece hasn't yet hit the most e-mailed lists. 'Mommy is Still Dearest' is still #1, followed closely by 'Iced Coffee? No sweat' at #2 and 'Economic Scene: An iPod Has Global Value. Ask the (Many) Countries That Make It' at #3.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:34:35 -0500

PSS - the splashers is a person or group mainly living in Brooklyn?? WOW! great work Sherlock.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:31:58 -0500

I love The Splashers too! HBO should do a new show, or better Hillary should make a new video. But mostly I love how it ties all the graffiti artists up in knots of contradiction, and I love graffiti art. But it really is a dandiest past time. PS - get fucking threaded comments - this shit is so annoying - what's the problem? Gothamist on a budget?

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:11:22 -0500

looks like zac "the splasher" dempster and jimmy "harry potter/the stinker" cooper are bff: http://myspace.com/rustygoldhouse http;//myspace.com/andproximate http://www.youtube.com/RustyGoldhouse http://www.youtube.com/ZacharyDempster

matty

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:22:08 -0500

i hope you get this one wrong and this guy sues jake dobkin for defamation.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:59:58 -0500

"Lord what work was here! What clattering of glasses! What beating down of walls! What tearing up of monuments! What pulling down of seats! What wresting out of irons and brass from the windows! What defacing of arms! What demolishing of curious stonework! What tooting and piping upon organ pipes! And what a hideous triumph in the market-place before all the country, when all the mangled organ pipes, vestments, both copes and surplices, together with the leaden cross which had newly been sawn down from the Green-yard pulpit and the service-books and singing books that could be carried to the fire in the public market-place were heaped together." -- Bishop Joseph Hall of Norwich (1643) "We brake down about a hundred superstitious pictures; and seven fryers hugging a nun; and the picture of God, and Christ; and divers others very superstitious. And 200 had been broke down afore I came. We took away 2 popish inscriptions with Ora pro nobis and we beat down a great stoneing cross on the top of the church." -- William Dowsing (1644) "Touching the books you mention, if what is written in them agrees with the Book of God, they are not required; if it disagrees, they are not desired. Destroy them therefore." -- Amr ibn al 'Ass (642, order to burn the library of Alexandria)

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:05:27 -0500

whoa. he even wears stylish eyewear...

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:42:31 -0500

The Times says the Splasher is one James Cooper. Which is it? Cooper or Dempster?

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:26:25 -0500

Hey, Splasher: What is on your head? Your girlfriend's shorts? A guy who wears those glasses & his girlfriends shorts on his head has the friggin' audacity to criticize artists? Lock his sick, lame & lazy ass up... quickly.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:21:14 -0500

it takes so much to create and so little to tear down. the splasher's 'campaign' is little more than sheer laziness.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:48:58 -0500

how old was he when he was castrated with a hammer?

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:59:19 -0500

I want to follow this story, but I'm an artist and I'm too busy making art.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:58:58 -0500

This man is neither an artist nor a revolutionary. I sincerely hope he runs into a few of the artists who's work he's defaced in a dark alley. Then he will find out just how far his holier than thou attitude gets him.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:40:09 -0500

I believe I found a video of Zac Dempster dancing. He's the skinny guy in tight sweatpants (not the fat guy in spandex). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmwSxTiKCA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eelasticnonoband%2Ecom%2Fnews%2Ehtml

zodak

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:31:22 -0500

i'm going to join his super splasher squadron so expect 2 c more splashy-splash goodness for months to come!

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:26:47 -0500

now the questions is, who's the hot cross-eyed girl? Nothing is better than hooking up with cross-eyed girls and "splashing" them!!!

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:24:04 -0500

These people need to get lives and use their time for more constructive things. Volunteer. Help someone.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:38:55 -0500

Oh, Dada, you will always be with us. I too remember being 21 and this being just the coolest shit in the world. In ten or twelve years you'll be a web developer somewhere and remembering how you used to really want to change the system and fight against the bullshit! My advice to you is shrug, go with the bullshit, and get paid. Buy compact flourescent light bulbs or something so you don't feel like a complete sellout, but sell out just a bit, the alternative is slow suicide and bitterness and death. The System ain't going anywhere and you're not special.

Abe Froman

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:32:58 -0500

excellent work revieling this idiot. glad anyone following the story of his annoying antics can "accidentaly" spill a beer on him next time he's out at the bar. seriously, if his reaction to street art is a paint splashing, why not voice your reaction with an additional "splashing", on his person directly? turnaround is fair play, after all... (seriously, splash the splasher!)

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:58:00 -0500

this has been a first-rate internet clowning. good work.

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:57:26 -0500

lol wtf i tried to digest all that bullshit but to no avial, I cant seem to make it past all his pretentious bullshit. Im a fan of "street art" and I think this dude is taking it too seriously or trying a little bit too hard to start a revolution... lame. It kinda sucks when people start coming up with wierd conspiracies about wheat pastes? come on get a life...

guest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:38:44 -0500

i went to cooper union with the crosseyed girl, maybe homeboy did as well.

Nick S

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:45:08 -0500

ok, 107... i'm a registered poster and have been since this new stupid comment regime came in. this splasher story is bullshit. who gives a fuck? jake dobkin is a fucking idiot.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:58:20 -0500

#45 here. I was wrong... not black ironic glasses, but clear ironic glasses.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:40:01 -0500

#102 You're an idiot #105 why don't you just suck #102's pencil dick Splasher should be sent to federal pound in your ass prison, and get brutally anal raped.

MC

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:33:48 -0500

74 of the 105 comments up until now were posted by "guest". Seems very "stuff the comments ballot" to me. (Of course, here I go adding to the total tally of comments. Oh, the irony!)

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:01:47 -0500

DON'T CARE

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:51:48 -0500

#102, completely brilliant. you seem like a well-rounded, decent human being with some perspective. so rare to encounter such a person online!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:45:35 -0500

he's not the only one. i'm more interesting than him.

laisla

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:40:24 -0500

I find it interesting too. It is/was a mystery, and it is applicable to NYC. That said, I find him utterly ridiculous.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:39:11 -0500

"The (many) art openings I've attented feel like a mix between a cattle auction and a middle school dance"... then he got interested in street art, through the local anarchist scene, but felt "there seemed to be no acknowledgment whatsoever that street art is a bourgeois-sponsored rebellion." No, actually there is plenty of it, but you presume that no one beyond you have made this observation; there are plenty of example of doctors, scientists, academics, and humanitarians who've decided that a life of art will never replace pragmatism and have thus decided to pursue other means to better society. Unlike you, these are the people who've realized early that revolution will not be born out of art/graffiti; they also understand to never to listen to artists in these types of matters, so they ignore all this non-sense and simply concentrate on their own line of work. But admittedly it's getting harder to let go of this topic, because of the gross misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the Left portrayed by you. So let's get one thing clear; you're no rebel. If I asked you what capital really is (and how it takes form today), your 'artistic' critical study won't scratch the surface of what classical Economists like Smith, Ricardo, Mill, and Marx have had to say, and neither will the street-art Obey guy, who himself sounds ridiculously self-righteous, living through a state of grandeur. And in this continual state of grandeur, it is no wonder that statistics such as global unemployment (especially in the Third world) steadily increasing with the expansion of global finance markets are secondary (a new record of 186 million worldwide, per ILO 2006 data); in this continual state of grandeur, it is hardly a surprise that wage-erosion from the middle-class down goes mostly unnoticed, undebated. While pushing Leftist politics to dogmatic delirium, these so-called artists remain clueless to the relevant factors of advocacy that affect the working class, the nation, or for that matter, the world. Bill Maher once had a funny thing to say about all this: "they hate us because we don't even know why they hate us". I can only chuckle as I remember this dictum. I say this again: you are no more of a revolutionary than the firms that come up with a variant of an old product and call the changes 'revolutionary'. You do not represent the Left, you certainly do not represent any form of Marxism, nor do you add any value in enriching the debate of political economy. Yet the sad part is that people will pay more attention to you, or this Farley-dude, all the while many brilliant minds out there with substance remain unheard, relegated mostly only to their respective occupations.

polaroidgirl

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:04:40 -0500

A few comments: I am enjoying this from way out in Los Angeles. Keep it up - people don't have to read the posts if they're not interested (just like I skip all the sports score posts...). I studied Critical Theory and all that other jazz in art school (In fact, I was a student of Dick Hebdige - mentioned in post #86.). Clearly, the Splasher went to art school, owes a shitload of money to Sallie Mae and can't get a job or, worse yet, didn't go to art school but read all the theory in a vacuum. Either way he doesn't seem to be producing any of his own art. Lastly, post #92 had me laughing very, very hard.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:46:22 -0500

this skinny pissant whiteboy (living in williamsburg probably) is the van guard of this revolution? and you wonder why we don't care about art? i hope he meets one of the real artists in a dark ally some time.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:41:28 -0500

Can she see in 4D? I bet she can see in 4D.

r_friend

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:20:53 -0500

What goes around...

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:16:22 -0500

splasher is genius, and he's a hero. all you self-righteous 'street artists' should have all your blood removed and used to paint over your 'work'.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:55:40 -0500

I was hoping for a shocking plot twist like Jake Dobkin's split personality is the Splasher but no, nothing so entertaining.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:55:37 -0500

#94: And wears designer glasses!

emilydickinson

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:46:27 -0500

Maybe someone will come along and splash the elaborate dessert table visible on his flicker stream. From the looks of it, he should be making finger sandwiches, not art. He rants about the establishment and money, blah blah blah, yet easts dainty sandwiches off of a blanket of lace? Tres bizare!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:45:20 -0500

wtf is that thing on his head? www.forgotten-ny.com

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:18:16 -0500

when i see that photo i am suddenly seized by the image of his girlfriend just staring at him blankly with those cross-eyes as he sententiously bloviates jargon for 45 minutes, then she tells him how smart he is and he leads her to his bedroom (or 'hobbit hole' as he calls it) and halfheartedly fucks her with his tiny tiny pencil dick, his eyes closed, not breaking a sweat even in this heat, but oh so happy with himself as he thinks about his next trite, derivative assault on the artworld. she looks up at him as he listlessly wiggles inside her, his peter pan hat barely moving, and she thinks about how lucky she is.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:39:03 -0500

90- hilarious...thanks! signed, 86

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:26:29 -0500

I wish to inform all concerned that the respective members of "the Splasher" have just this past weekend signed a four year contract with Phaidon entailing the publication of two coffee table books; in the meantime I can assure you that all present members - who, in keeping with Marxist ideology, prefer to remain anonymous so as to evade "commodification" and blame - will be taking crash courses on Baudrillard, Foucault, Lukacs, and Bloch so as to better mime their syntax, if not gauge a better meaning of what any of them was actually saying. An annotated copy of "Kapital" will be sent to all, as will free bootlegs of the films "The Matrix" and "Big Momma's House," which several of the members have referred to as "totally awesome." In the meantime, they have expressed their desire that all journalists and bloggers refrain from further discussion of "If We Did It, This is How It Would've Happened" until the crash courses and assigned readings have been completed; similarly, they wish that those commenting on their works keep their critiques to a minimum, so as to prevent, in the words of one member, "any possible commodification, which is totally, like, the sin of the whole capitalist world and its commodified agenda."

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:17:54 -0500

Dear Splasher, You are a scatterbrain and a horrible typesetter. Please stick to splashing.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:08:08 -0500

being from "across the pond" I find this highly amusing. I've become quite interested in this whole concept of vandalism over vandalism, and this manifesto stinks of Jack the Rippers letters to Inspector Abberline. I am quite intrigued to see how this goes, will there be a host of copycat splashings, just like faile and obey starting the whole new wave of street art. taking it to a new level. I heart NY, you quirky yanks!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:03:24 -0500

Exegesis means critical explanation. Writing: 'part critical exegesis' is redundant

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:20:18 -0500

i wish the splasher had read dick hebdige's subculture: the meaning of style (1973)...in it, he analyzed Britain's mod and punk subcultures, and picked from the table of subcultural theory and semiotics to break it down, rather nicely, rather succintly... among other things, hebdige discusses his theory of recuperation...by which underground, working-class subcultures become co-opted... as was said earlier...this shit is not new. neither is gentrification. i just moved to new york from st. louis, where square footage and beer is dramatically cheaper... and yes, st. louis is being gentrified as well. so is EVERY OTHER CITY IN THE WORLD. get the fuck over it, and stop blaming people like banksy (who by the way, quite humorously acknowledges the relationship between street art and gentrification). it is by now, rather obvious that the splasher has no real artistic talent...spent his college years debating the intricacies of foucault and derrida, while drinking sierra nevada's and kombucha and charging it (as well as rent) to mommy and daddy's credit card... and to everyone who posts bitter diatribes that attack jake for writing too much or everyone else for discussing this - nobody makes you read this...if you don't like it, great...but really, who cares? p.s. SWOON rocks. she is a highly articulate and fantastic artist. she actually creates...and isn't that what street art is meant to be about anyway?

David Topping

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:02:09 -0500

Today, Torontoist re-published a pro-(artistic)-graffiti manifesto from one of our city's up-and-coming artists that makes a nice compliment to this post. Check it out.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:31:37 -0500

You can request copies from the author: zdempster@gmail.com

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:17:48 -0500

Is it possible to get readable version of this? I'd really like to read it and form my own opinion.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:26:33 -0500

remember the joker in the movie batman that came out in 89' or something.......when he's in the musuem splashin' all that bullshit art ..while some prince song is playin....

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:13:46 -0500

i kinda like these guys

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:13:15 -0500

you're dumb. can you even read? you clearly can't follow abstract thought. just do food reviews. how did you even get this job?

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:09:29 -0500

I found a copy at Red Bamboo when I went to pick up my lunch special. If you want one, keep your eyes open.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:01:48 -0500

can you just post the essays? rather than you're explanations of them. i'd like to see what they actually say rather than taking your word they are impenetrable. some of what you termed "splasherese" makes sense if you read it carefully.

zodak

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:00:34 -0500

37 & 74 said it best! splasher > street artists i want 2 buy a supersoaker & join the splashtastic four!!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:23:50 -0500

If these people really were poverty-stricken and hungry, they'd be too busy trying to get some damn food to make up all this crap. Instead, they're declaring themselves judge and jury on the meaning of art and capitalism? Spare me. Grow up and get a job. Gothamist, you've given them their stage. Show's over now. Here's the hook. Close the curtain and start the next act already. Enough is enough.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:21:27 -0500

SPLASHERS ARE THE NEW JACKSON POLLACK!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:15:06 -0500

keep on splashin splasha!!!! woooo!!!!! woooo!!!!!!!!!! stupid who cares that it's written all fancy it's funny that way, they're funny. woohoo!!!!!! splashy splash on!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:24:43 -0500

i just wanted to comment and say that i really enjoy the splasher posts. art in the city by way of graffiti is important, and the destruction of that for whatever strange reasons is both sad and fascinating (the latter due to the motivation). keep up the great coverage!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:59:25 -0500

"We do not want a world where the guarantee of not dying of hunger is paid for by the certainty of dying of boredom." Obviously they've never gone hungry. Our culture is over-entertained as it is, a little boredom is good for the mind. The rambling self-important nonsense of a bunch of art school idiots. Please don't give this any more press. (Full disclosure: I went to art school too.)

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:44:50 -0500

it's only a matter of time before they splash a pair of Dunks that sell for $900 on ebay. and the circle of life continues

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:41:54 -0500

For the maybe two other people out there reading this who actually like graf instead of bitching about how it's vandalism: How the fuck has this kid avoided getting his ass kicked for this long? Seriously? The streets are slackin.

sociodoc

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:39:36 -0500

UpperEastSighed is correct. The Splasher(s) are practicing a neo-Situationist critique of the commodification of art. Good for them. Are they original? No. They've not only copied Situationist gestures of intellectual / artistic vandalism, but have also lifted some of their exact phraseology in the tract which reads like it was written by someone trying to recreate a Situationist situation right now. But, as Debord once said, plagiarism is necessary... history requires it. Cynical responses to their acts prove some of the points they are trying to make. My criticism is that they play it very safe by limiting their critiques to the very safe, trivial, and mostly insignificant world of NYC "street" art. But hey, at least it's a start. Besides Vaneigem's Revolution of Everyday Life, and Lipstick Traces by Greil Marcus, check out The Situationist International Anthology by Ken Knabb - to the extent that they impact you, you'll be a better person for it afterwards... you might even aspire to Splasherdom.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:23:01 -0500

Why do people think everyone wants to read their crappy manifesto? I want this on a T-shirt.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:22:58 -0500

[65] The acts of the Splasher are iconoclastic, though there is no "direct historical parallel with the Protestant Iconoclasts." To boot, iconoclasm does not "always fundamentally [stem] from the ignorant man's irrational hatred of the beautiful." In fact, it rarely does. Iconoclasm, historically speaking, stems first from religious edicts forbidding idolatry. Following the Protestant Reformation there was an increasing number of iconoclastic movements that were politically motivated, in which people smashed certain images as symbols of overthrown powers. Today most iconoclastic acts stem from the belief that images may affect the morality, behavior, or beliefs of their viewers. Off the subject, but i can't let Wikipedia pass for truth.

Monster_mash

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:11:55 -0500

I.e., more Gravity's Rainbow than Das Kapital. It's all coming together.... Maybe the Splasher is Thomas-frickin'-Pynchon, people.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:58:55 -0500

Such ignorance of history here! No-one has yet mentioned the direct historical parallel with the Protestant Iconoclasts, or any of the other inonoclastic movements in history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconoclasm This really has much less to do with Marxism than it does with Puritanism. Every culture has people who just can't stand to see people making art or enjoying themselves. Iconoclasm always fundamentally stems from the ignorant man's irrational hatred of the beautiful. "Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." --H. L. Mencken

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:43:16 -0500

I appreciate the coverage of the Splasher as well, and hope it continues. I think it's an interesting phenomenon, and in spight of their over-enchantment with jargon, and their faulty logic, the Splasher does raise some important issues. For instance, their take on the relationship between street art and capitalism is over simplified, but i think the relationship itself is worth discussing. Although i don't like to see good pieces of street art covered over, i do admire the Splasher (as i admire street artists) for actually doing something.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:40:01 -0500

Yeah, enough with the splasher posts. I think you're kinda encouraging vandalism.

janelle

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:26:38 -0500

this reminds me i should think about buying that OBEY t-shirt i have my eye on. thanks!

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:15:46 -0500

This is nothing new. street art, tagging, graffiti, whatever you want to call it is another art form (blues, jazz, rock n roll) created by impoverished minorities that has been co-opted by white middle class america and turned into a GAP ad. Just like gentrification, it is what it is and has been happening in all societies since the Beginning... i think we call it Economics. Graffiti was commercial-ized as early as 1973 i believe with artists like Futura 2000 painting on canvas for gallery exhibitions follwed by graffiti artists being paid to go to rich folks mansions and paint a wall or two (story from an old grafitti artist that i used to know)... all of this attention is nothing new. and to post 56: it is Not shocking "that such techniques still seem to work so well" after all we are all simply animals.

emilydickinson

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:10:23 -0500

I am all for your coverage of The Creepy Splashers. To me Gothamist is all about what's happening at street level in NYC. I always prefer to have more information on a subject than less. Regardless of how one feels about a subject, arguing that it shouldn't appear here is basically being the HTML version of The Creepy Splasher. Not interested in the subject? Skip the link. As for all the gentrification talk folks, just let it be. NYC is already completely gentrified for better or for worse, there isn't an inexpensive inch left. It happened, it's old news, so stop complaining or move to Philly.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:47:18 -0500

[16] said: 'Without reading this tract I can already tell you what it says: "We have too much time on our hands."' I say it says: "Or too much coke/meth in our noses."

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:48:35 -0500

Too much information.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:38:25 -0500

On a scale of 1 to cares, I don't.

UpperEastSighed

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:27:14 -0500

You be remiss in seeking an American Studies PhD--I'd say, if anything, you would learn more from a Critical Theory PhD or someone well versed in the work of the Letterist International, Situationist International, and other movements. Read Lipstick Traces or The Revolution of Everyday Life, and you will realize that there is absolutely nothing shocking or new about this. The only shocking thing is that such techniques still seem to work so well. Oh, and "Marxist" and "Anarchist" are not interchangeable.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:41:40 -0500

yo..im from california.,.how did i even find out about the splasher....or end up here in the gothamist?.this shit is cool..people tell me im unhip and fat...i always had dreams of visiting NYC..for me...its just like reading a dope bedtime story..(does the splasher have a myspace?).

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:00:13 -0500

52, let me get this right: anyone with a different opinion than yours is not in the position to have an opinion? Good point. That said, I agree.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:34:44 -0500

[P.S. Forgot to add that I was also poster #45]

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:34:38 -0500

Not taking either side, but: Anyone who disagrees that commercialism (and really, any monetization) of "street art" is hypocritical and self-defeating, is probably not in the position to have any opinion on this matter.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:34:11 -0500

#48 - Exactly. Hence the TSP reference, because they would prefer Bushwick and therefore feel superior to everyone in the East Village.

guest

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:17:16 -0500

Marx's Capital is actually a very good read and probably the best-researched book of political economy/philosophy ever. These guys, on the other hand, are boobs.

joeBoy

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:08:31 -0500

I too, like the splasher coverage ... it is a pretty intruiginging phenomenon. Keep it up. That looks to be a pretty interesting piece of ephemera.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:24:02 -0500

#45, you're so unhip you can't even get the hipster stereotype right! Tompkins Square Park? try somewhere in brooklyn (bushwick?).

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:21:51 -0500

from the proof in the gallery to the galley proof, it's o so hard to fathom two-and-half syll...able words! O damn u splasher cult, you're so verbose. "This much verbal production suggests a certain insecurity-- a certain fear of being shut out and ignored. That feels a little sad." ..sniffle. [45] you're such a profiler. to the teehee

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:17:49 -0500

Das Kapital.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:58:47 -0500

My profile of the Douchebag(s): -Aged 22-26 -Unmarried, but probably cohabitating if anyone will date them -Got first tattoo on St. Marks Place -Wears those ridiculous "ironic" black glasses -Carries around a copy of Catcher in the Rye to freak people out -Spends free time sitting at Tompkins Square Park, feeling superior

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:58:32 -0500

THE SPLASHER IS NOW JUST ANOTHER STREET ART COLLECTIVE WITH A LIMITED EDITION BOOK THAT I HAVE TO GET MY HANDS ON!

garbnzgh

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:40:31 -0500

"And barring a serious escalation in their game, is this an appropriate place to stop writing about them?" it's like you're trying to encourage them to step it up to another level ("a serious escalation in their game") or you'll stop posting about them a billion times a day. is that your intention? i read this site a lot, and rarely comment this much on one thread, but this whole splasher obsession and promotion just reflects badly on gothamist.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:39:30 -0500

if you cared enough to get so worked up over their "bullshit" as translated.. then you clearly care to continue writing about them.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:19:47 -0500

A little vomit just came up in my mouth.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:07:25 -0500

So what's the deal? It's Dobkin's roommate? College friend? Brother-in-law? It's *OBVIOUS* that all this coverage is pushing some agenda. "STOP TRYING TO MAKE 'FETCH' HAPPEN."

garbnzgh

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:59:52 -0500

"is this an appropriate place to stop writing about them?" YES. please stop.

garbnzgh

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:44:08 -0500

[11] i was kidding, trying to point out that up until the manifesto was delivered, there wasn't much actual fact in these threads on the splasher.. lots of irresponsible promotion of rumors. is it any surprise the splasher group sent the manifesto to gothamist? gothamist is the splasher's greatest promoter and enabler.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:20:04 -0500

The Splasher is Awesome!!! Those fucking dickhead street artists are always wining that the splasher defaces their art but don't rationalize that they themselves had to paint over someone else's art or property. look at the street art. It's painted over someone else's street art. Same shit splasher does but the splasher isn't egotistical about it. You go Splasher!!!! Keep Splashin!

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:02:12 -0500

These guys have nothing against The Contours of Dallas and LAR of Los Angeles, which are true rebels of Street Art. These "Splasher" kids are way over theier heads with this "manifesto." Get around kids...

schmod

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:58:13 -0500

oh man. Sounds like one of those poorly-written anarchist manifestos.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:56:04 -0500

my god. what a bunch of nonsensical asshats these guys are. when their moronic psuedo-anarchist quasi-boho asses have kids that resent them for sucking at life so much, they're going to wonder why they wasted so much time with this shit.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:49:59 -0500

"... Fake artists conspiring with fake journalists to create a fake controversy ..." Bravo.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:37:15 -0500

The only thing the splasher has accomplished with all of this is to promote those artists they despise through supplying them with close to constant media coverage the past 6th months, so as a fan of street art I just want to thank them for introducing these artists to so many people. Cheers guys.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:33:25 -0500

I for one find this totally hilarious. Fake artists conspiring with fake journalists to create a fake controversy.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:21:25 -0500

WHO FUCKING CARES?

MissMeowy

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:46:07 -0500

ooh yay they have a tl;dr manifesto. What they clearly want is attention. And here you guys are publishing the whole thing. Hmmmm.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:21:21 -0500

Ooh, the Spasher Manifesto!

Jen S

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:18:40 -0500

Wow, shout out to American Studies! If only mom were proud of my degree!

rtd2101

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:14:44 -0500

Splasher may be over the top, but you have to admit, he has a point about artists and gentrification. They're the storm troops of redevelopment whether they want to admit it or not. Greenwich Village, SoHo, LES, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy and Bushwick...the list goes on and on.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:11:32 -0500

Wait, I'm confused, is this from the "splasher" or the "stinker"

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:08:41 -0500

why are jake's graf/street art posts always fifteen times the length of other gothamist posts?? please move the jump up, jake.

r_friend

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:05:29 -0500

Personally, I enjoy the coverage. Graffiti being vandalized. Who doesn't love irony? I'm also very curious to read the Splasher's Manifesto now, too. I hadn't expected it to contain much more than "Those who cannot create, splash." Because let's face it--that's his/her/their only real m.o.

robingee

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:58:04 -0500

Why do people think everyone wants to read their crappy manifesto?

Nick S

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:55:53 -0500

i was into the splasher when i thought it was some snotty kids fucking with "street artists".. now this? ugghhhh

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:36:59 -0500

Jake posts stories on the Splasher because he's a devoted fan of "street art," better known to most of us as graffiti. Any attack by the Splasher is an attack on Jake himself and the Splasher is enemy number one as far as Jake is concerned. You might as well ask him to stop all the graffiti posts.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:36:24 -0500

It definitely seems like someone has taken a few too many Art History classes mixed with a distinct Marxist slant. As for Agent00Soul-artists are always concerned with gentrification because they are generally considered to be the first wave of gentrification. They move into a poor neighborhood because they are often poor and then get mad when they see faces that look like their own moving into "their" neighborhood after them. It's juvenile but their furor is often justified because they will be displaced just like all the other residents. Maybe it's just me but seeing how rapid the displacement is, why aren't we all concerned about gentrification. Especially considering that in NYC, most of the middle and working class people I know are being displaced for disgustingly boring high-rises that often times do not add enough units to actually meet the needs of the people living and wanting to live in that neighborhood.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:34:44 -0500

Gravity's Rainbow meets Das Capital? Please tell me that was tongue in cheek (it doesn't translate well over the internets). And please stop treating this like a serious movement. Without reading this tract I can already tell you what it says: "We have too much time on our hands." For all we know, this could be the latest issue of n + 1.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:32:42 -0500

I don't know. Someone that spends this much time putting together a document will want people to see it, through Ghotamist or elsewhere. 'Don't like it don't read it' i say

Agent00Soul

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:31:18 -0500

I wonder why they didn't just email it to the Gothamist office. Who uses snail mail for important stuff anymore?

cool

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:31:06 -0500

At our leisure, we'll update this post with some excerpts from the various texts inside the newspaper Please, don't rush.........no....please...don't....rush....

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:30:01 -0500

Let's give 'em some attention. At least there seems to be something behind it.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:29:44 -0500

Or Shepard Fairey...

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:28:56 -0500

I like the splasher coverage too.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:28:35 -0500

I know what you're implying garbnzgh, and no, the kids were 100% NOT affiliated with Jonathan LeVine Gallery.

Armchair_warrior

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:25:24 -0500

you guys pay too much attention to him/them/it. if you guys ignore them. they'll go away.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:24:15 -0500

borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. get a job, kids.

garbnzgh

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:19:18 -0500

[6] you're on to something!! time for an update to the post!!!

Blairy Blair

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:17:27 -0500

I like the splasher coverage. Keep it up.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:10:16 -0500

A group of kids passed this paper out on Saturday at Shepard Fairey's opening at Jonathan LeVine Gallery.

guest

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:04:49 -0500

please stop with this crap.really, i think you're the only "media" that cares about this- does it even occur to you that this person or people are playing you for publicity? duh.

Agent00Soul

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:04:10 -0500

Why are artists so obsessed with gentrification anyway?

RatherBe

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:02:59 -0500

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!111!!!ONE!!!11!!1!!

garbnzgh

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:56:08 -0500

woops meant to say splasher. not slasher.

garbnzgh

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:55:40 -0500

seriously, enough with the slasher posts. you're obviously just encouraging them by giving them so much coverage.