by Mar°a B. Del R°o
Daily Lobo
Java Joe’s in downtown Albuquerque opened its doors to art fans Saturday, March 29.
Lindsey Mound, Ben Cressey and Derrick Montes, a TVI student who presents graffiti-style art, are being showcased.
Graffiti art is an underground culture all its own. Here is just a short rundown of the culture: A “writer” is a practitioner of this type of art. Artists are deemed writers when they throw up or quickly spray paint their work on a wall or train car, often looking over their shoulder.
Loosely organized writers make up a “crew” that works together. “Tagging” is the simplest and most recognized form of graffiti art, while a “piece” is short for masterpiece and takes more than three colors to create.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
When writers have respect of city crews, their work is often left untouched for several weeks. A major no-no in underground street art circles is a “bite” or copy another artist’s style. Elements of hip-hop music and break dancing are also in underground graffiti culture.
Montes has worked with crews. He says his sources of inspiration are from the people he paints with and old school writers who have made the Albuquerque graffiti scene what it is today.
Montes uses aerosol techniques to create smooth lines rather than ragged looking ink.
In one piece, vivid colors are offset by the occasional banana. In another piece, intertwining pipes create a street landscape.
Graffiti art has a bad reputation and artists are often issued citations. According to the City of Albuquerque’s Web site, graffiti is considered “ugly” and reports that 10 percent is gang related or racist. A graffiti hotline is set up for people to report graffiti.
Montes says that not all graffiti is bad.
“I don’t agree with tagging on someone’s house or tagging on a church or school but there are a lot of blank walls in this city that could use a lot of color,” he said.
Writers frequently experience run-ins with the law. Montes has been cited but has also done legal work on walls. He said tougher laws have increased the negative opinion on graffiti and created a defiant spirit among writers.
“It makes a lot of writers want to just get out there and put their work up even more,” he said.
Whether graffiti art should stay true to its street origins or expand to indoor presentations is a debate among the graffiti community.
Montes says displaying graffiti in a gallery might change people’s negative opinion about graffiti. He says others only see value in graffiti if it remains illegal.
“If it’s something that you create or comes from the heart I don’t see any reason why you can’t put up your art for people to see it,” Montes said.
Hideous, an artist who has dedicated his life to writing, says the true form of graffiti should remain underground. He says graffiti has a lot of history younger kids might not acknowledge.
“It really depends on the writer,” he said. “You have to do it all to be considered a writer. Art in a gallery is for later or just a small part of it.”
Java Joe’s is located on 906 Park Ave. It will display Derick Montes’, Lindsey Mound’s and Ben Cressey’s artwork untill the end of April.
