Gawker Artists got 28 graffiti/street artists to contribute their work on these wallpaper store fronts (curated by Billi Kid reinterpreting James and Karla Murray’s latest book, Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York), which were surrounding this very nice rooftop at a Soho party last night… I was torn about it during the evening. I sat with a friend and took in the environment, people watched and exchanged thoughts on the situation.
I have to admit, it felt a bit awkward for me. Contrived. Out of place. I see the graffiti/street art world as the anarchists artist medium, but the soho elite in their attempts to be part of a surfacing underground culture is part exploiting it, and the artists themselves are either allowing themselves to be exploited or are in on the joke. I do think it is important to bring up the conversation of graffiti picking up momentum and gaining praise as an art form… but it just seems wrong to force these two completely opposite (and mostly clashing) worlds together. But then again, some might argue that street artists trickling into the gallery world would be just as blasphemous. Yet it does bring up an interesting conversation. What do you think of this mesh? Are you comfortable with it?
I thoroughly enjoyed the work by the way, as I enjoy and respect graffiti. It just sparked this question that I thought I’d share and would love to hear from you. Pictures from the party on my flickr.
