Infamy response

Topics about art become quite frustrating, because the term art is very ambiguous that essentially everything is its own art form. Graffiti is one of those vague fields where many find it as an insult to art in general. I am sure many of us have friends who tend to appreciate and even practice this rather new art uprising and I have many. I  on the other hand chose to stick to a canvas and acrylic. One close friend whom I’ll place another alias to his numerous aliases as ‘Korn’, without any relation to the band. He chose to be the alter-written-ego, or pseudonym, as ‘Broke’. Quite frankly with his given situation the term fits quite well, however seeing it written all over the city became less intriguing. 

Being a fellow art appreciator, I did not see much art in displaying names or words, instead of all the things that could be produced. Korn has several black books, and reminded me of many of the people that were introduced in the documentary Infamy. However, after watching the movie I was very drawn to Jase. Him and others helped me interpret another view of this art form in hopes to bring a better respect that is entitled to them.

As I said before I was not much for the name tags, I was always for the murals. Murals were another canvas of sorts which I had much respect for, yet could not pin point why there were more tags than murals. Besides the time it takes to produce this art, including the possibility of incarceration, there had to be more to why people enjoy to post up words. The only things I could make into sense to me was the purpose that these people were so intertwined into the underground scene of art is that they all had a similar connection of being like Doug Martsch. Many don’t know who Mr. Martsch is, but he is a wonderful guitarist and song writer. Not many know who he is, but they may have heard a few bands or songs he has performed. The connection is that each of these people chose to hide there true identities as much as possible for protection, and that they didn’t want to become ‘super-stars’. 

Jase was a little different sharing some of his real name into his art, yet his love for trains reminded me so much of Korn. My friend had always wanted to become a hobo, and if there were any working railroads in our area, then I am positive he would had done the same thing as Jase. Jase wanted to be as real as possible, which is why he probably chose to keep his alias close to his reality. He not only wanted people to see his tags throughout the continent, but not many would be able to connect a signature as Jase to be him, as many would connect such mainstream artists signatures like Andy Warhol (to reach for a stretch). In other words, more people recognize the name, but usually can put a face. These artists much like Jase are entirely faceless to the public eye. Also another trait of Jase were his intoxications, which I am sure my friend Korn would agree but in another area. With these strives to be intoxicated and their mixed histories, it makes sense to do such art forms in a manner that is vaguely comprehendible. Like wise an artist makes things for them to understand, doesn’t mean the audience is to understand.

To say graffiti isn’t art could easily attract many people, but I would like to say that it is an art form. I believe art is anything that is manifested tangibly created and is derived off of ideas to induce intangibility. Even with things that are spray painted saying “Earsnot” or “Jase” are tangible creations, that create the intangible idea of personality and identity. Of course not everything is made to be created to satisfy everyone, but if it at least satisfies one person, even the creator then it has met its capabilities. Although with many artists comes an irrational ego, but it is to be quite expected, because creations take hard work, and without dedication (with out ego) there would be no success. 

Folks in WV.

More art from folks in WV.