Walking into the Spanish Moon this past Saturday night was like traveling back to the ’70s when break dancers spun on their heads, hip-hop was actually hip-hop and graffiti was more than vandalism. Normally an outdoor venture, the art of graffiti came indoors for a one-night show hosted by the Baton Rouge Gallery. Entitled “Ill Communication,” the show featured five artists from New Orleans and Baton Rouge: Chris M.H. Ovek; Saul Cruthirds known as Jedi One, Swan; Eric J. Brown; and Last. Break dancers, or b-boys, in the University’s Hip-Hop Coalition popped and locked in front of 4′ by 11′ plywood panels that the gallery provided to the artists. The work ranged from traditional tags and bubble lettering known as throw ups to pieces resembling giant portraits. Cruthirds, University fine arts graduate in painting and drawing, created the large avant-garde pieces. “I don’t think Baton Rouge has ever seen this side of graffiti,” he said. “It’s going to make people realize that you can do really beautiful artwork with spray paint.” “I’ve seen stuff like that in the streets but never in a gallery before,” said Southern University student Jamal Tyson. According to Cruthirds, graffiti art is not in the public eye of Baton Rouge because most of the work is relegated to the train yards, unlike New Orleans where much of it is found on city walls. “They don’t see the good stuff,” he said. “The best graffiti writers are known for doing trains because Baton Rouge has a lot of train yards.” Cruthirds said a lot of major metropolitan cities have legal walls for graffiti, and he would like to see that happen here. He said he hoped the show would bring in job offers to paint murals downtown. “There would be less tagging if there were a legal space to share their work with the public,” he said. “It would just show the creativity of the city and bring more people downtown like they’re trying to do.” Event coordinator and gallery intern Jill Warn said the show was educational, letting people know graffiti artists aren’t just thugs out to defy the law. “It is a way of defining urban youth today and a way for artists to define themselves iconically,” she said. One of the most noticeable icons at the show were swans by the artist Swan, who was the only female artist at the show. “Anyone from skinheads to crackheads can write graffiti,” she said. Both she and Cruthirds said graffiti is, without a doubt, a legitimate art movement. “It’s just like art movements of the past, but it’s still alive,” said Cruthirds. Hunter Roth, University design shop manager and alumnus, took full advantage of the live aspect of graffiti by painting on the blank wall provided for attendees to add their own art. He said he did not agree with the vandalism aspect of graffiti, but he was glad to see such an art show so accessible to the public. “There needs to be more of this,” said University graphic design freshman Dave Dixon.
—-Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]