After touring Bushwick on Saturday I was still feeling the Graffiti/Street Art itch, so, having Monday off, with Lane playing catch-up to my rapid torch cutting of her projects, I planned an adventure from 3332 Broadway down to 300 West Broadway.
I began at the Martinez Gallery which is a Graffiti Gallery and children's clinic. This space was littered from ceiling to floor with big name artists' graffiti, however, the renderings which were sprawled across every surface I found lacking in effort, technical execution, and the aesthetic wonderment many of these artist are capable of. The banisters which were laser or water jet cut steel were quite stunning. Repetitious cut-outs of artist names in 'tag' format, throw-up bombs, and some intricate wild styles surrounded wheel chair ramps and framed stair cases. These were painted a solid glossy white, but the aerosol work upon the drywall didn't seem as though it was layered and packed in enough. It left generous amounts of the 'white cube' to shine through. This made these intricate banisters amalgamate into their surroundings rather that 'pop', or create dimension through a push and pull effect-this really detracted from the works potential and the ability of the artists to manipulate this space. This paired with the 'half-assed' throw-ups' was a real let down. It honestly appeared as though they commissioned the big names on the front doors to do the sketches for the computerized steel cut-outs, and then let a bunch of chuckle-heads and hobos decorate the interior with the left over aerosol they didn't huff.
There was one other element of this installation which stood out for me and surprisingly was the one place in the entire space which was not scrawled upon, this was the bathroom. It was tiled all in white with eleven tiles which had quotes and remarks about graffiti writing on them. It was the most well composed 'white cube', inside this 'white cube'.
This space had such potential, and it is in an ideal location to connect and begin a dialogue with its surrounding community. I believe these artist's fell short, which is very discouraging, when your art practice falls inside the confines of 'outsider', 'low-brow', 'marginal', or 'questionable' art practices, opportunities need to be used to their full potential and I don't believe this was accomplished in this gallery/clinic.
I will be breaking my Monday Up-town to Down-town Broadway hop into a few sections, there was simply too much to see and show you all in one post. I'm also having a hard time in keeping up with all I'm seeing and would like to write about to share, and my intensive apprenticeship with Cal. The Graffiti Hall of Fame Tomorrow. Be well all!
Comentarios