Filed under: Graffiti, Politics | Tags: A.W.R, AWR, Graffiti, L.A., L.A. River, Los Angeles, Los Angeles River, M.S.K., MSK, Politics, Saber
Some well spoken words from SABER MSK…
THE DEVIL WEARS A PINK SUIT: A RESPONSE TO “RADICAL GRAFFITI CHIC”
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Saber, “Sacred Trash” at MOCA’s “Art in the Streets” exhibition
After looking at the longest list of credentials of one person I’ve ever seen—Yale, University Of Cambridge, Stanford Law, Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, contributing editor of City Journal, recipient of 2005 Bradley Prize for Outstanding Intellectual Achievement, etc, etc—I came to the conclusion that approaching Heather Mac Donald’s fortified intellect would be the equivalent of challenging the IBM Chess Terminator: cold, calculating, and absent a pulse. I find it hard to believe that someone of such high stature would spend so much energy on something that seems trivial in comparison to her passion for deportation and torture. Yet she seems really upset at the idea of a museum honoring over forty years of development in Graffiti Art.
In her lengthy article “Radical Graffiti Chic,” she refers to artists as “vandal-anarchist wannabes” and attempts to highlight their hypocrisy. She names me personally in the article, stating that I am quick to sell out to any corporate sponsor: “Saber, who declares in an interview with the graffiti journal Arrested Motion that ‘there is no room for empathy when there is a motive for profit,’ has sold his designs to Levi’s, Hyundai, and Harley-Davidson.”
In trying to paint me as a hypocrite for capitalizing on my intellectual property, Heather does not take into account that I support my family through my art. I have painted everything from sets to faux finishing to gold leafing to put food on the table or to pay for health care bills, since insurance companies have refused to cover me due to a pre-existing condition (epilepsy). Heather, who is paid to write articles, should understand the process of making money for one’s creative output, and that this is not what I was referring to in the Arrested Motion quote. I was referring to health insurance companies taking away accessible facilities from sick people in order to save a buck at the expense of the patient’s life. To compare my art to the health insurance companies is ludicrous. Continue reading
Filed under: Graffiti, Politics, Ramblings | Tags: A.W.R, Art in The Streets, AWR, Ayer, Deitch, Fuck Authority, Fuck You, Graffiti, LAPD, Los Angeles, M.S.K., MOCA, MSK, Museum of Contemporary Art, Police State, Ramblings, Revok, The Seventh Letter
“Revok”
$320,000 Bail for Graffiti? Is that a misprint? ..Nope, it’s true.. just double checked. They grabbed up REVOK at LAX boarding a flight to Ireland on Sunday. A real FBI style (and QUITE costly) takedown.
from the LA Times:
“Revok, one of Los Angeles’ best known graffiti writers, was arrested as he prepared to board a plane to Ireland at Los Angeles International Airport, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.
Jason Williams, a.k.a. Revok, was taken into custody Thursday for an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to pay restitution, according to sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker.
Authorities claim Revok is a member of the graffiti crew Mad Society Kings, or MSK. Officials from the sheriff’s department were notified that there was an outstanding warrant against Revok for failure to repay victims of previous vandalism incidents.
That led to his arrest, officials said.
Revok is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $320,000 bail.
— Richard Winton”
Here’s some other bails set IN the past 2 months, and also IN Los Angeles County (taken from Logan Hicks)…
San Gabriel Valley man arrested for allegedly molesting teenage boy he met online. Bail… $25,000
OC hospital worker is charged with raping sedated patient. Bail… $100,000
Man pleads not guilty to offering ‘dead or alive’ bounty on daughter’s boyfriend. Bail… $250,000
(more here)
and now……
“Artist charged with not repaying (in full) restitution for victims of graffiti.”… Bail… $320,000.
DAMN! Almost 1/3 of a MILLION $s bail for failure to repay “victims” of graffiti? “Victims”? Aren’t the “victims” of this graffiti the walls that had their COLOR CHANGED? Along with being an obvious counter strike against the rising graffiti art world and MOCA’s “Art in the Streets” exhibit, I’m sure Revok’s blog posts on the police don’t help. (MUST READS, if you can stomach them).
Revok’s very honorable dedication to AYER (R.I.P.) in the MOCA show
FREE REVOK.
*** UPDATE: Revok Gets Sentenced 180 Days (from the LA Times)…
Filed under: Graffiti | Tags: A.W.R, AWR, Biggest Waste Of Money, Buffed Graffiti, Graffiti, History, L.A. River, LA River, Los Angeles, Los Angeles River, M.S.K., M.T.A., MSK, National Security, Saber, US Army Corps of Engineers, Your taxes going towards more stupid shit
So last spring I started a what I thought was going to be a 150′ fill-in on the Los Angeles River (Frogtown section). The first night, I rolled out 3 gallons of black/brown which only got a skinny outline done. It was more like the sketch so I’d know where to start filling in the next night. Well I couldn’t get back for the second session for a few days, but I figured “no biggie”; this was gonna be a big project and gonna take many nights. So I stroll up there a few nights later to start the filling in, and um…. I could swear I started it earlier that week. …Where was it?!! …Buffed?! What?! But the Saber piece was running for years. The MTA piece was just done. WTF?! Why me?!!! Little did I know, this was the beginning of something big. Or should I say the REMOVAL of some things big…
Turns out that even with these crazy economical times, they’ve come up with $837,000 to start to buff the Los Angeles River. Now if you don’t already know, the L.A. River is not exactly a beautiful “river”, but actually a literal drainage ditch with 60′ cement banks running through industrial and unvisited parts of Los Angeles. One of the only things the river has offered has been the enormous canvases for some of the largest murals on the planet.
the “SABER” piece. 60′ x 250′, 1997
(check out Saber himself siiting in the upper left part of the “B”)
“SABER” buffed September 2009 (above 4 photos: Known Gallery)
Then, last week, they had the US Army Corps of Engineers buff the MTA piece. Yup, the Army is now working to buff graffiti. Must be a national security issue. Gotta get the army to fight art done without permission. In related news, they’ve arrested 10 of the alleged MTA crew, and are charging them for the graffiti. They claim it took them 400 gallons of paint and 4 nights to do it. They also might be seeking to charge the crew the clean-up cost of $3.7 MILLION to buff it ($38 a square ft). What The Fuck?! Sounds like the Army Corp are the ones cleaning up. I’ll do that shit for $1 million. Fuck.. even $100,000.
“MTA” Piece, L.A. River, 60′ x 1700′, 2008
(above 3 photos: LaTaco.com )
“M” of the “MTA” buffed (photo: fotograffia.com)
MTA piece buffed, 10-11-2009 (photo: jondoeforty1)
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