Graffiti gives voice, grabs eye
It’s scratched into the seat of picnic tables and it’s written in the bathroom stalls. It’s scrawled over stop signs and cement. It’s one of the reasons spray painting is viewed as the destructive antics of misguided youths.
Photos by Kayley Kiefer
the exterior walls of Kyle Tolva's garage are covered with the 17-year-old artist's work.
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In Homer, a community renowned for its artistic aura and counter-culture individuality, some have begun to practice what is controversially hailed as the “art of graffiti.” This form of creative destruction blurs the lines between what is conventionally considered art and what is considered to be visual pollution.
Meet some taggers
Kyle Tolva and Jude Murphy are taking a break to admire a piece Tolva has been doing on the back side of his garage, which is covered in years of paint. Tolva spilled the rainbow for this one: on baby blue and white lettering, dark blue dots make Swiss cheese letters with a third dimension composed of red and yellow stripes.
Tolva, 17, was arrested about six months ago for vandalism and criminal mischief when he tagged the backside of a local business. A former football player, an avid musician and a student at Homer Flex School, Tolva has been tagging for years at home and around town. He hopes to become involved in the graphic arts industry.
His first experience with graffiti was in the Lower 48.
“I tag because once I was on a train, and we passed the backs of buildings that had been bombed (covered in graffiti) entirely, and it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to do it myself,” he says.
Not all taggers are so inspired.
Says Murphy: “Kyle’s do-ing it because he wants to be artistic and he likes doing it. I’m just doing it because my friends are and I like to make people angry.”
Despite his sarcasm, Murphy can still appreciate the artistic nature of graffiti and talks about pieces he’s seen in New York and California.
“It takes skill,” says Tolva. “Any kid with a can can’t do that. You need to have artistic ability.”
But is it art?
Asia Freeman, an artist and artistic director of Bunnell Street Gallery, doesn’t hesitate to classify graffiti as an art form.
“It’s pushing the limits of what is accepted as art and challenging social tolerance.”
She also addresses the issue of messaging.
“It’s illegality is part of what gives it power, the demand to be heard. It’s in your face, but can we force the issue of tolerance and acceptance?”
People have been howling their frustrations in such a way since the earliest cave drawings, she notes.
“The renaissance, dada, surrealism, while at first being ridiculed, these art forms reconstructed our perceptions of art as we know it, from the fringes of society.
“The issue to me is not ‘what is art,’ because we all have different definitions. The issue is about hearing the call for attention, the desire to be heard in our youth, frustrated, disempowered.”
Homer Police Sgt. Lary Kuhns takes a different view.
a single word asks viewers to keep their eyes open.
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“I see it as a totally unnecessary symptom of our young people. I understand their need to belong to something, or to find some purpose in life, but to willfully go about the process of destroying other people’s property by putting their brand name on it, personally makes me very angry. Some businesses are just hanging on by a thread. There’s a lot of pressure for these businesses to look good.”
Kuhns’ qualms lie with the illegality of graffiti, the destruction of property.
“If somebody owned a building that they allowed to be tagged, it’s their choice. What I am seeing isn’t art. In a sense, they’ve become what they’re fighting against. They’re fighting the establishment, and in turn, they become an establishment. They feel they are having it shoved down their throats, and so they shove it down our throats.”
A vision
Even those who tag can understand why some people think of graffiti as merely vandalism.
“When they think of graffiti they probably don’t think about putting stuff like this up,” says Murphy, referring to Kyle’s shed piece. “They probably think of people writing profanity on the side of a building.”
That’s not what Tolva is about.
“I’m sure that’s how some people think of it, but that’s not my goal.”
He has a vision for legal graffiti in Homer that he hopes to get off the ground.
“There have been attempts, like the teen center. Shut down. There aren’t a lot of places, but there are talented artists. My idea is to get businesses with walls to donate them to specific individuals for private use,” he says.
He points to the cement wall at ACS.
the narrow end of a steel beam becomes the canvas for a celestial scene.
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“If we had a good crew, and we showed ACS our work, and said ‘We’re good at what we do, donate this wall to us’ and then signed some papers so that we were the only ones allowed to paint it, we’d have a legal place to put up our art, and ACS would get a sweet mural on their wall.
“If anyone who wasn’t registered to paint it came along and threw up an ugly tag, then the law would get involved.”
A safe place
Jr. Gid, his tag name, is a student at Homer High School and has lived in Homer his whole life. He recently got into graffiti art and has progressed quickly. He talks about a place referred to as “The Playground” — a relatively safe haven for people serious about honing their graffiti skills.
On a tour of “The Playground,” Jr. Gid points out his favorite pieces. Some are signed with tag names like his while others are anonymous. Some walls are entirely covered, different styles and ideas blend to create a wild mural, a rising tide of voices, the cries and musings of the Homer graffiti community.
There are flashes of color, and here and there, an intricate patchwork of design. It’s an eyeful — not just squiggly lined obscenities and doodles, but a sprawling smorgasbord of different levels of artistic talent, as well as a balanced clashing and melding of style. It’s art laced with symbols and revelations about life, living and the state of the human psychodrama.
Some thoughts
Part of what makes these messages so poignant is they aren’t showcased behind glass and illuminated under electric lights. The world is the canvas of graffiti artists, and in this manner the world must contend with what they have to say.
Graffiti provokes thought in a forceful manner. It super-condenses a message into one- or two-word designs and, therefore, is wide open for many different interpretations.
The painted walls cry out, more than just concrete or iron. Is there a place in the world for graffiti, and could a place be found for it in Homer?
Stenciled on a Homer sign: “Stop and Think.”
Colin McArthur, 17, is a senior at Homer High School. His plans for the future are to find the rest of the world, dream a little, and do something mildly responsible like going to college.
a slab of metal becomes the tablet for an artist's thoughts.
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Kayley Kiefer is a Homer High School senior. She has been interested in photography for three years now, but only recently became more serious about it.
