Filed under: Politics, Ramblings | Tags: 2013, Brooklyn, courtesy card, Family Ties, Get Out Of Jail Free, It's Not WHAT you Know It's WHO You Know, New York, New York City, NY, NYC, NYPD, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, PBA, Politics
“It’s Not WHAT you Know…”
Filed under: Politics, Ramblings | Tags: Fuck You, New York, New York City, NYPD, Politics, Stop and Frisk
Old news if you live in New York City’s hoods…
“I wanted to help people. But civililian Population are being hunted. Instead of being protected by us, they are being hunted, and we are being hated” – honest NYPD cop (11:29)…
Out of 684,330 stops in 2011, roughly 1% are caught carrying weapons.
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”
.
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: Art, Graffiti, Politics, Ramblings | Tags: Fine Art, Graffiti, L.A., Los Angeles, M.T.A., Politics, RTH, Smear
From the LA Times (thanks MAC)…
“Graffiti Artist’s Past is Tagging Behind Him
Cristian Gheorghiu scrawled ragged images and his nickname, ‘Smear,’ on L.A.’s lampposts, walls and riverbeds. Now that his gallery career is taking off, an injunction is threatening to bar him from profiting from art bearing his telltale ‘tag.’
In 2007, Gheorghiu’s problems came to a head with his first adult felony arrest. Responding to Smear’s graffiti on buses, L.A. County sheriff’s deputies raided his home. A graffiti vandalism conviction resulted in a 40-month suspended prison sentence, three years’ probation and about $28,000 in restitution for scrawling on buses.
Gheorghiu remains on probation because he has paid off only about $5,000 of his fines.
He says he stopped vandalizing property after his conviction. Today, he insists, his only artwork is created in a studio, with larger pieces fetching $2,000 to $2,500. Art “is my way of making amends,” he said.
But his trouble with the law didn’t end. When his old tagging crew was suspected of creating a quarter-mile-long MTA tag in the Los Angeles River, Gheorghiu was caught in the ensuing police sweep.
He spent three days in jail in 2009. Charges were never filed.
But in 2010, the city attorney sued him and nine others. The suit seeks at least $1 million in penalties and a civil injunction that would forbid many activities, including making money from work emblazoned with their street names.”
Read the whole story here.
“SMEAR”
photo: LA Times
Hmmm… tags no longer allowed in fine art? Wow. That’s pretty fucked up. What about signed pieces by other graffiti and street artists? Are those just criminal evidence now?
If you read a little further the real motive against graffiti/ graffiti art reveals itself (again)..
“Their suit also argues that Gheorghiu’s graffiti served as free publicity, giving him an unfair advantage over legitimate artists — a violation of state laws governing fair competition.”
…..Exactly. All about the $$$$s.
Filed under: Politics | Tags: Fuck You, George Bush, George W. Bush, Iraq War, Muntadar al-Zaidi, Politics, Shoe, Shoe Throwing, ThankYouForThrowingYourShoe.com
If you haven’t already seen the video, Muntadar al-Zaidi is the Iraqi journalist who was arrested for throwing his shoes at President Bush. ThankYouForThrowingYourShoe.com is a photo project devoted to letting al-Zaidi know that people from all over the world share in his outrage over the war in Iraq.
photo: ThankYouForThrowingYourShoe.com
If you want to show your support for this (fairly) non-violent protest, upload your picture on the website.