NYC graffiti writers defied Kenny Scharf’s expectations and less than a month after it was completed, tagged his mural on Houston, their footprints hidden by post-storm snow gusts. More photos below.
(Photos: Marina Galperina/ANIMAL New York)
UPDATE: Kenny Scharf responds in the comments:
i read all the things you all wrote and i just want to say thank you for the props and to the people supporting the defacement that it hurts. i never professed to being a graffiti writer but when i arrived in nyc in 78 i quickly met many artists and writers and i would bomb the city up and down manhattan and even bombed the train with pics to prove it. i still never called myself a grafitti writer although i use spray paint and i legally(and illegally) paint all over the city(soon to paint over 100 gates in nyc,legally). i make paintings with spray paint and i think i have a lot to offer the graffiti world. one thing i do know is that when you dis someone you should have a really good reason and hopefully improve what as there before. its an act of violence and aggression and it really does hurt but i know that doing public art you set yourself up for that. i did the mural purely out of love, i didnt and dont get paid to paint walls. i dont believe in hurting someone especially someone you dont even know. if the tags on top of my painting were meant to hurt me well they did. i dont know these guys and dont really understand their motive other than maybe a frustrated attempt at attention. i hope they get their pleasure but i doubt they truly will benefit in any way. ouch!
Bro, I'm not even responding to your fuckin monkey ass no more. Go read your response to me sayin that this guy is basically a hypocrit. You come on here sayin I don't know anything about culture and start mentioning fuckin literature and symphonies. Fuck is wrong wit you? You mad at somthing? I aint' do shit to you and you started assuming my intelligence and my opinion of culture. Bro, you are a joke. This is my last word.
And yo, that mural is gonna get gone over again because that is what happens on that wall.
Peace guido-
Technically, guy, the code of conduct has always been spray paint over marker tags, fill-ins over tags, pieces over fill-ins. Anything else is qualifies beef. Scharf's 100 Gates project is well within those boundaries. The people who did those fill-ins have no claim over that wall. Furthermore, Kenny Scharf is not a street artist by any stretch. Read a book.
I'll continue having fun buying and sell stock while you drive up my profit, you fucking statistic.
You buy and sell stocks? And been bombing massive amounts of graff for 12 years? And can't understand the subtle and complex rules behind it? And haven't been caught ? Cause if you had you wouldn't be able to get a job selling stocks and shares. Your screen names a pretty boy actor out of spiderman? Trying to name drop to make yourself sound like an intellectual? Either you're full of complete and utter shit or you're the type of rich, white collar, stuckup, pseudo-intellectual prick that's not welcome in graff. Find a new hobby. Fuckin stocks and shares, just a statistic.. what a wanker.
Those faces he's doin over fill ins are basically fill ins over fill ins if you wanna get technical. And there you go again wit your fuckin ego…………you fuckin capitalistic pig. Yeah drive that profit up and help destroy our world in exchange. If your such a fuckin big shot what are you doin arguin with a statistic on a graff website? lol. Once again you are a JOKE! lol. I can't belive you man. lol. You talk out ya ass. Prob never did graff and have your grand pops give you advice on how to sell and trade stock. lmao. Your makin money off of people? That doesn't say much for you, making money off of statistics (people)? So you consider people statistics that you make money off of. Once again, part of the problem like I said before. Noam Chomsky would shit on you.
If he's not a street artist then why does he claim to do some of his stuff illegally? I should read a book huh? Illegal art on the street? Street art……….damn your really dumb for an educated person drivin up that profit…………..
Big man studies literature, symphonies and sells stock. Why are you arguin with me? This non educated, non-culture knowing statistic…………………
And if Imma statistic so are you……….cuz we are all in this together. Unless, do you have any connections to any higher hierarchy? You related to the Bush family or the Rockefellers? They mite be considering you a fuckin statistic. My last word with you fukin capitalisic guido ass, you are a JOKE!
Yo what happened to not responding anymore.
here is it in a nut shell…
Kenny has been doing his own thing (call it what you want) for years, i mean YEARS and i never herd ANYONE in my 10 years of being involved in the ''graffiti art world'' bring up his name as if he was some trouble maker.
All this talk about whats real whats not and gates ect…is just excuses for the actions that these writers did. I think they did what they did to get people talking, i really see no other reason.
The obey wall getting dissed makes sence, he sells out on a culture even tho is not graffiti related it still ties into it, and im so sick of that guy. kenny is able to sell paintings for thousands of dollars to colloetors and still have a strong past of painting in the streets,with out having to have shit printed on tee shirts and shot glasses.
i much rather see the kenny mural than KR krink drips respect where respect is due.
thos fills are horable too. if your gunna do shit atlest come off correct.
The fella can't cry about people going over his work if he's doing the same to others with that 100 gates project . By doing this he's disregarding graffiti in much the same way those writers disregarded him. I would say those writers took that spot because of its high profile, with the added bonus of going over "some artfag". Probably couldn't give 2 fucks about who's talking, just as Kenny won't give 2 fucks about who's talking when he paints out them gates. He will have to get over feeling hurt at getting gone over however, as it's bound to happen a lot more with these 100 shutters.
In my day bombing in a winter blizzard was done hit winter layups in train tunnels. Their were plenty layed up in this blizzard. Now that is real deal grafftii!
shut up ken
KR has done his share of peices
I see nothing from kenny
nothing
@James Franco
For claiming to be a 12 yr proprietor of graffiti and a college graduate, how do you overlook the fact that graffiti has gone through various "incarnations". The Hip Hop incarnation is a very deep and culturally significant incarnation. disenfranchised youth, utilizing art to emancipate themselves from their conditions and uplift their communities.
@ The Bronx Brooklyn
Now, I personally haven't come across any incarnation of graffiti other than the Hip Hop one, that is compelling. If that is the culturally significant incarnation of graffiti that you are speaking of, how can you justify dissing another artist regardless of their aesthetic or background? Would making an attempt to justify those un-calligraphic throw ups be shooting yourself in the foot?
In the very minimum, it appears that the Hip Hop incarnation of graffiti, there would be a system of respect in which works that take more effort (amount of paint, technique, and concept) are not dissed by lesser forms.
Even outside the incarnation of graff as hip hop, and in the realm of the reckless bomber, why not catch a gate that is going to run instead for by that means, you would get the end of sustained "fame". To go over a Kenny's mural only gives you cheap "fame", equivalent to a toy bombing over JA or Cope 2.
I don't mean this as an insult to you, but it appears your view of graffiti is a bit convoluted. You appeal to the incarnation of graffiti as visual Hip Hop, intellectual resistance, but also appeal to the reckless bomber type, that just doesn't give a fuck about anything, just paints where ever the fuck they want when they want, and if you go over them with more skill or not, be prepared to fight or in some cases get shot. And if they go over you too bad, knuckle up or shut the fuck up.
I would love to see something revolutionary(The potentiality in style writing/graffiti/street art/bombing tht appeals to me) come out of this discussion and maybe art on public space can shift from the paradigms of ritual vandalism(graffiti)and consumerism(advertisements) to an objective form of visual communication with the uncompromising allegiance to genuine visual communication and the visual enrichment of the man made landscape.
I will check back and try to "build" with anyone trying to do so, but if the new responses are drenched in logical fallacies, I will simply digress, for to argue on the internet, even if ones points are sound and valid… nothing positive has come of it in my experience.
@the condescending shit talkers, I would rather sound "gay" to you, but in reality be constructive, that to pretend to be "hard/cool/macho" and in reality just be stupid.
visual communication is exactly what graffiti is, from the ugliest tag to the craziest production. It's just not for everyone, it's the means of visual communication for a particular marginalised section of society.
"…what you have here is a whole rotten subculture…"
the 100 gate thing kenny scharf is doing or planning to do..hi kenny, if you are doing these works OVER gates that are 'graffitied" dont expect them to get destroyed prettty quickly. my take is , ok you are a street artist or lets say just a plain ol artist(i dont know what youd call yourself) so being someone with a creative mind- why would ou chosse to do this 'gate project' and do it over already decorated gates? why not seek out owners of gates which have been cleaned by the city with that vomitous,boring,way to sterile for nyc grey buff paint. re-claim these gates for atrs sake and help bring some flavor back to this city with your art, instead of covering some already existing visual stimuli, be it legal or illegal. add dont take away my friend.
on another note i think mr scharf should thank these guys for the attention they inadvertantly gave him and his wall by adding thier names to it. in my opinion that walls style is/was some played out 80s psuedo psychodelic let me just darw some wierd shit and fool peole into thinking its brilliant style art andyway. but that just my opinion on it and we all know how that goes… and again- this is nyc still(barely) lets keep it exciting mother fuckers!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Man, I'm not commentin on this shit no more. All I'm sayin is if he does those faces over heads fill ins on gates then it'll get gone back over. I'm not sayin go over the dude.
If I had a dollar for how many times you posted your "last comment" I could subsidize your societal contribution.
I only said it twice there guy, maybe three times. Your a real smart one. You come onto a site where mostly graff heads are gonna comment and you start mentioning shit that you know no one is even gonna know what the fuck your talkin about. And you know a lot of graff writers are not as well educated as others. A lot of heads are straight from the streets with no further education. Go start a debate with some other intellectuals hot shot. You lose. lol
Shit is Real…and Graffiti reflects that…Bombing is just as much a part of graffiti as piecing and probably more important than commisioned works…but…they shoulda at least rocked some multi colors! and put that shit over the top…and on the flip side allota people who wouldnt be saying Kenn's name at all are talking about him…im sure he'll get some sympathy dollars…so all should be good…no one got maimed or killed…Enjoy the New Year everyone and move on from this….graffiti is a living movement…while you sleep these guys creep….lets see more shit from all involved including Ken!
I agree.
Happy New Year to all including Jimmy Franco up there.
Imma have a ball tonite!
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20421650,…
That's wild! Aye Franco, your busted! What a herb.
Life is shit
And then you get dogged
@James Franco, it's very obvious you haven't been writing graffiti for 2 years, let alone 12. Please cut the immature exaggeration. I will generously meet you half-way between suspected reality and what you're saying: You successfully dodged being arrested after multiple weeks spent in your highschool bathroom perfecting your tag's arrows.
What Bronx_Brooklyn states about graffiti being culturally-deep is real to the writers — real to the culture. People who aren't part of it can sit on the sidelines and jest at it, but that doesn't change the fact that the culture is sound, rooted, and has guidelines. We take the game very seriously and there is a lot to learn before you can tell people how it is — to anyone who's been writing for a while, you don't come off sounding like someone who knows about the culture. If you're interested in learning about it; the pecking order & the respect guidelines, there's a mountain of resources. Start with Style Wars, follow up with the follow-up to Style Wars (20+ years later), Vice's History of Hip-Hop, KRS1's album "The Fundamentals of Hip-Hop", I could continue… but come on… you don't _actually_ want anyone to explain the nuances of graffiti culture to you. Admit that. I could ask you to tell me how your favourite culture (or a particular symphony?) is nuanced, but the ideas presented would fall on deaf ears because deep cultures can't be explained in a few paragraphs. Go to Egypt and have someone explain to you their history and why their culture functions the way it does in a week — let me know how that pans out.
For the record, I am one who believes in hitting every other wall in a City before going over other artists. Period. In or out of graffiti I have more respect for art creation than I have for any bland concrete wall/advertisement. Happy New Years to you all.
Ah well, that mural was fun while it lasted. I loved it.
BUT, even though I doubt the dudes who responded above were the actual bombers, the 'real' dudes who did that would be very similar: They saw a big space out there and decided to bomb it. I don't think it was a message or personal at all: those are the kinds of dudes really out there still doing graffitti: Completely disconnected from some artistic 'scene'.
Take it from me (Fuck You 162 circa 1973), when I was a dumb kid I might have done the same thing (if I was pretty sure the muralist wasn't going to try to find me and kick my ass). It's like that out there in the streets.
But it was a great mural.
Opek Pecked,
"@James Franco, it's very obvious you haven't been writing graffiti for 2 years, let alone 12. Please cut the immature exaggeration. I will generously meet you half-way between suspected reality and what you're saying: You successfully dodged being arrested after multiple weeks spent in your highschool bathroom perfecting your tag's arrows. "
To clarify while you cry, I've painted transit across the world, New York subway included. I've been doing street spots and roofs since around 1996. I have shoeboxes of flicks (yes, shoeboxes) of subway panels and wholecars I've painted spanning back to 2000. But believe what you want, please. At this juncture I have nothing to prove. I would laugh in your face while you stuck your hand out for a handshake, fake.
Vandals In Motion On All Steel!
As I said a few pages back, you are a bullshitter. No way you're a stocks and shares trading, moneymaking literature quoting drone by day,and a world-travelling super hardcore vandal by night. The amount of graff you're talking about painting is a full time job in itself. Travel the world talking stocks and shares with the rest of the hardcore jailbird train bombers do you? get to fuck you lying cunt.
VIMOAS my hole you're a fucking fantasist.
What bugs the shit out of me with this wall on Houston Street is this. We have the best graffiti or shall I say aerosol artists in the world living in NYC and none of them are ever asked to paint this location. Artists who have paid their dues and then someby painting illegally on transit & in the streets. Seriously talented artists who would rip this Kenny Scharf shit to crap. Artist who would paint better and more beautiful works that even normal folk would appreciate this more then this wackass Scharf, Fairey crap. Why is that the best artwork on NYC streets by artists like T-Kid, Part , TAT's crew and many many more, are always tucked away in the industrial area's of this city? Maybe its time for Dietch gallery to give some play to some real deal artists to paint this wall. I guarantee if Lee painted a mural on this wall it would last until the paint peeled off and it would look a trillion times better then anything that has been painted on this wall in recent memory
True
@ boomer, I completely agree with you in that Kenny should add visual stimuli to the city instead of going over other stimuli.
Kenny's work may not be as compelling as Alex Grey, but it did require more effort that those writers that I now consider toy did over him. I think any real writer, that has painted that large of a space would see Kenny's effort and respect his work even if he isn't a hardcore bomber or style-writer.
What if instead of always trying to keep things exciting as if a party is always going on, you kept shit real.
@ Bronx Brooklyn
James Franco, as a college graduate, what the first to employ an obvious logical fallacy. I respect you for not wanting to continue posting here, for James Franco is just being childish.
True, although you are merely stating Kennys work will be dissed, and not suggesting people diss it, if you love this culture as much as I do, hopefully you can mentor other writers in the NYC, and teach them to respect other peoples art. How can we as a genre of artists ever expect full respect, if we never give it. Im trying to crush mainstream stereotypes what are these toy bombers doing by going over Kenny aside from shooting every other positive style writer in the foot and destroying all the progress they have made.
@ James Franco
You would have no more than 5 dollars for every time Bronx Brooklyn said he would stop posting. Maybe you could apply what you learned in college (and hopefully at home), and conduct yourself in mature manner not just in person, but on the internet as well.
I and I hope Bronx Bomber would never reach out to shake your hand. Even though you claim to do this and that and have it documented here and there, if you ever were bold enough to disclose what you write and I was able to verify, regardless of how talented you think you are, I would never look at your work again, and would campaign to the rest of the graffiti community to do the same. I wouldnt at or laugh at you, I would pray to your god, that in your heart, you can be real with yourself, for your own vanities sake.
However if your comments started to reflect that growth I suggest, I would give you the respect that growth deserves.
@The Spoken Truth
I too would much rather see T-Kid, Tats Cru, Daim, Seak, Mear, and a mutitude of other talented graffiti artists to paint this wall.
So is anyone going to actually build? Or did we all just waste out time, extemporaneously talking shit on the internet.
@ Brian D
Bombing is important maybe just as important as piecing. Bombing represents that public space is being taken not asked for, a form of protest. But after a while, you should, if you are actually bombing for reasons greater that mere infamy, find another context to protest, a context that actually arouses people to the policies on public space, not just piss other artists off because they are different.
They should have done their throw ups somewhere else and if they really were compelled to do some nice shit, they should have got in touch with Kenny and offered to collaborate and do throws up on the wall in a way that compliments Kenny's work.
True no one got killed, but the bombers that did their toy throw ups over Kennys work did bomb "ritualistically" instead of meaningfully and in the process, probably made some people that were trying to appreciate graffiti as art lose their interest. That is why this article was written.
Happy New years to you too Brian D, graffiti does keep moving, but while graffiti writers sleep during the day, the world powers creep on the third worlds resources. We may have painted a few thousand gates and walls, but in the end, who is winning at the current rate?
So please, if your a "graffiti" artist or a traditional artist, as Brian D requests, lets all produce some MEANINGFUL and ORIGINAL visual art this coming year, not RITUAL and NOSTALGIC images.
@OPEK
yes James Franco dropped a exaggerated comment, but so did you.
Hip Hop Culture, of in you dont believe graffiti to be the visual element of that, just graffiti culture, is NOWHERE as complex as the Ancient Egyptians, and CAN be taught in a couple books, clearly and consisly, citinng the sources you disclosed and a multitude of others.
It is clear that currently, Hip Hop or just graffiti, as sound as it may be in principle, it is clearly not so in practice, the event this article documents, is a clear example of that.
James Franco, may not be interested in learning about the culture, but I am clearly interested in MAKING IT BETTER as it moves into the future. Perhaps instead of just dropping comments on the internet haphazardly, you can keep the dialogue going in a revolutionary and meaningful context or at least in the context you think it should be.
I too agree with your last idea 100 percent: all artists should respect other works of art.
@ EMO
Yeah as kids we all act in less than perfect ways, but the people that destoryed Kenny's murals are most likely adults. Yeah the streets can be rough and unethical, but that is our fault as a society, we have obviously failed at raising our youth and young adults.
Well, although you are right this is precisely the environment out of which graffitti emerged. It's roots are precisely in places where society has eroded, and we feral children went out searching for some kind of life and/or fame & name. These new graf writers are the same, and in that sense you can't disparage them too much because that is precisely where grafitti came from and still comes from.
Me, when I'd get on a freshly-bombed AA train to 163rd street I thought it was depressing and looked like shit. I was and still am basically happy to see graf gone from the trains because most of it sucked. BUT, we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that grafitti only shows up where it's "supposed to", because if we ever were able to push it down into a can it would be dead forever.
I'm not sayin to go diss the guy. What I'm sayin is there is an image of him doin like three faces over a fill in. Those three faces are not a mural. People do faces and characters for their fill ins now. So, what I'm sayin here is that, it's disrespectful to graff heads he goes over if he is just doin that. It's like doin a fill in over a fill in.
LA stylewriter please stay out of a thread about NYC graffiti. West Coast graffiti is not respected by most here.
You do not have a train culture of graff to validate yourselves as paying due's. Plus you talk a whole of non sense.
All info is being recorded, thanks for all the evidence.
hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa
What information and evidence? This is nonsense.
Tip: Go gather intelligence on a forum were such a concept exists.
"You would have no more than 5 dollars for every time Bronx Brooklyn said he would stop posting."
I know there guy. I've already done that math. I did say I could subsidize the total sum of his societal contribution didn't I?
Kenny's mural got fixed. Nobody got any infamy from dissing that wall, to be honest I can't remember who did it. La de da, de da ohh life goes on. I'll leave you cops and crybabies here to talk amongst yourselves.
No free time.
L.A. Styleguy,
Firstly, I absolutely would never state what I wrote here, sorry. That said, good luck campaigning to the "graffiti community". I'm sure everybody will be eager to sign your blackbook petition, herb.
@lastylewriter i agree with pretty much all of your points. but i dont understand on thing(minor thing but puzzling to me )as someone who sounds educated level headed and articulate..what does the end of this sentance you wrote mean?
"What if instead of always trying to keep things exciting as if a party is always going on, you kept shit real. "
care to elaborate? haha. not even taking i shot at you im just curious how you feel one should go about that.?
KENNY BARF! hahahhahah what a BITCH, stop crying and fix your grammar FAGGOT! How old are you anyway? ACT IT
Kenny why you responding to every comment? You're such a BITCH, grow UP! get off the internet and paint a clown! FAG
graffitti is for dick eating homos that need attention to validate their pitty existance…go solve issues that matter to the collective human existance, cure aids, cancer, get rid world hunger and then tell me grafitti really matters…those guys are straight up toys spot jockiing. just cause a toy is up it doesn’t make it fresh go practice develop better styles jackoffs
WEAK SAUCE…..fools need to stop spot jocking with some toyass throwies..at least rock a burner and out do the mural like the msk guys did to buff monster in la a while back…i read that those guys have decades of experience well it doesn’t show douchers need to go back to the lab and practice….never heard of them anyway
kenny, i'm sorry i blurted out your daughter's name last time you fingered my asshole. i'm more graff than you. check out my show @ parez.
Kenny, you can't have it both ways. How are you gonna sit there and tell the graff world "you have a lot to offer" and talk about all the illegal spots you did/do and then turn around and be all butt hurt when someone goes over your mural. If you think it "hurts" when someone goes over you, then think about how much it "hurts" private property owners when you illegally get up on their shit like you said you did. If you don't give a fuck about that because you're so "legit," than you have no room to moan when someone goes over your mural.
Saying you "don't consider yourself a writer" doesn't give you the right to brag about writing and still complain about people going over your legal pieces.
Ya know i give it this much….. The mural is dope… cool great. But to run around the city and go over 100s of gates (as kenny says he will have this year)…. and to go over classic REAL graffiti, dont by REAL GRAFFITI wrtiters, some who have quit, some who have died… some who have bled for the beef they have had. Its wrong…. and ya cant brag boast about "never been a graffiti writer", and then expect to understand how or why a person who does it illegally, feels.
I don't know much about graffiti except the basic 101 cliche stuff. Style Wars, Martha Cooper documentation etc etc. What I do know is that the aesthetic of the these throw ups is ass. If these guys have been writing for so long you would think they can offer up something a little better. Maybe these amateurs can use a few more decades to develop their styles before going over something superior to anything they have ever done. One word sums up this act. JEALOUSY!
Those throw ups are toy.
@boomer
By Keep it real I mean instead of pretending every piece or bomb people do is some amazing art form that cant be explained, lets be honest with ourselves and keep it real. Lets get smart, like every other interest group/sport/ corporation and get scientific with the shit and push it to new levels. The principle and elements of design employed in the graffiti aesthetic are not too complex. We can, if we matured, master everything that has been done, and push it to new levels. Like the direction shit was going with that lee whole car about the lexington line.
from mere scribbles, to bubble doodles, to abstract typographic compositions, to productions, to productions with sound messages that objectively express what the people outside out culture think it implies.
Instead of entertaining the notion of revolution and art as a means to self actualization, lets cognitively consider those ideas and sentiments.
@Franco
Your being silly dude, you know even children contribute more than 5 bucks. For a college educated person, your comments are so immature. Im glad I have outgrown that stage, wish everyone could.
Campaigning wouldnt be hard at all, but there is no point since you are actually bright enough not to disclose your writing name. I hope I never do make the connect between your comments here and your graff.
Since your a college graduate, why cant you deduce that your comments are turning out to be the only ones to resemble a baby crying.
I pity you and the toys that dissed Kennys mural. You both are doing a great job at destorying the path people like Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant have spent their lives trail blazing. And the sad thing is you are college educated.
But I shouldnt be so quick to pass judgement, I sincerely hope that your inept behavior here, doesnt carry over to any other aspect of your life, and that I never make the connection between your comments here and your graff.
@meea
I agree, the throw ups are toy.
@taskforce
There is no real evidence here sir, so whether you are a cop or a dumb writer pretending, you should already know better sources for intelligence.
@Kenny
Sorry these toys dissed you, even though they claim to have been writing and respected for doing so, so long, they lost any respect their street work could have earned them with me.
Dont disrespect other artist, even as toy as they may be. Its clear that you didn't like it when they dissed you, so why diss others that havent dissed you. Hopefully the Golden Rule has been incorperated into your system of ethics.
Peace to all the graff artists/street artists/ and all other artists that are positive and capable of cogent reasoning. Good luck to all you that arent there yet.
Maybe one day one of you will make graff will live up to its hype.
@ guy talking shit about LA
LA is respected by many from NY, at least the NY writers that are respected. Thats why respected LA writers have consistently collaborated with NY writers to this day.
We may not have had subways back that, and the new subway we have, may never let a hollow throwy run, but back in the day, we did kill the inside of buses, and we KILL Highways and HEAVENS like no other city on earth.
None, we may not have your respect, but for damn sure we get respect where it matters. Just as the NY writers that matter, get respect where it matters.
THIS IS A WEAK ATTEMPT FOR FAME BY THREE OR FOUR LEGIT CRACKHEADS WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY ARTISTICALLY CHALLENGED. THEY GET NO PROPS FOR THEIR ACTIONS. IF ANYTHING THEY EXPLOITED THEMSELVES AS BEING TRUE MISCREANTS.
WHILE KENNY IS AN ESTABLISHED ARTIST SELLING HIS ART WORLDWIDE THESE BUMS WALK THE STREETS MID BLIZZARD SCRAWLING CHILDISH DRIBBLE ON WALLS. WOW THATS REALLY KEEPING IT REAL HUH…IDIOTS!
HEY KRAM,
YOUR GRAFFITI ONLY EXISTS ON KATHYS BLOG..THE REST OF D30 DIDNT EVEN KNOW YOU WERE DOWN WITH THE CREW.
YOU LOOK LIKE A 9TH GRADE GIRL WITH DOWNS SYNDROME….PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE AND STAY THERE.
AYO KEN SHARP
MY NIGGA YOU BRING A TEAR TO REMOS EYE SON..REMO GON FUCK YOU UP..REMO DONT PLAY THAT..REMO REMO REMO REMO REMO REMO
REMIO
Hey LA Toy writer, please kill your noise. "Hollow throwy" you cornball??? It's obvious your a nu-jack with your new school toy terminology. Sorry but the term throwy is not a term any of us from the old school have ever used. The terminology you speak with shows your age and skills. It has nu-jack written all over it.
@ uni wide, you are aware that people in different cities call it different things. throw up/fill/ hollow/ whatever the the fuck.
your comment clearly indicates that you are a fucking moron.
are you gonna tell in 1982 no one called their shit throw up?
eat a dick.
tell us that in 1982*
and so what if LA stylewriter is a new blood, isnt it in your job as an elder to raise the new school? or just talk shit? lmao
secondly you ever here " its not the years in your life, but the life in your years"
You may think catching toy tags 30 years ago. but if between those 30 years you just grew old, your opinion sure as hell aint worth considering beyond what it is. Ass toy as Remo's throw up.
broken into 2 parts
1) What disappoints me about Kenny Scharf is his complete lack of any kind of response about how LAII (Angel Ortiz) got completely washed out of the Keith Haring history. Kenny was around during this early period. He was close to Keith. For example- LAII has his work in the 2 major Keith Haring books- one book done by Dietch and the other by the Whitney Museum. Both books have work in it by LAII and he is not given any credit. None. Without LAII, Keith would have been nothing more than a graphic artist. Once KH hooked up with LAII, he created some of his most original and important work- starting with those sculptures in the first "Keith Haring" solo show at Tony Shafrazi's. This was a break out moment for Keith. Right from this very first major exhibition -even though LAII was all over that show–but- right from the start- LAII credit was left out of the mix. It was the Keith Haring show. The Keith Haring retrospective at the Whitney has LA's work in it– the credit is only listed as a Keith Haring. Why cannot Kenny talk about this fact? I have nothing against Kenny- but why is he keeping quite about LAII? Kenny made a lot of noise with this mural- he got his props- LAII has his whole history erased- now that is something to bitch about. I hope that Kenny does not look at LAII as just the local Puerto Rican kid from the projects who hung around the same time he did– Kenny is the big time artist and LAII got burned.
2). Kenny forgets after Keith painted the Wall- it was eventually tagged up- Keith said he would never do anything in the EASt Village again- that Wall is not a museum- or a gallery. It is a part of the street. People get their moment– it latest for awhile and eventually it gets buffed. I make no claims to be a graffiti artist- I am not–I have done my own street stuff- but I make no claim, other than having many photos of street graf– and a large sticker collection- it is not my thing. Although, in the early 90's, I did paint the Wall. It was bare for a long time- Elsa and I went over one weekend and took 2 days to paint the Wall. It was a political art work. Since I kicked the Wall back into gear- after a couple of months Chico was paid to do an advertisement over my piece. I went one night and threw some buckets of paint over the advertisement- it was an ad for a wine bar. I then went to one of Chico's spots- told his people that I went over his piece. Soon Chico came by my place, as I am easy to find, and wanted me to pay for his paint so he could do it again. I said– "No!. We are both from the LES. We both know who each other is. You disrespected me by not telling me you were going to buff me- so No! I will not pay." We became friends after this- love and respect to Chico.
thanks clayton patterson
part 2-
3). the Wall- recently I helped LAII when he went over and filled in his tag around the Happy Birthday to Keith Haring reproduction of the first Haring Wall, paid for by Jeffery Dietch. LA painted his tag all around the KH reproduction. This LA did as his contribution to KH and the WAll- it was an act of love and not hate. I got the story into the NY Times. Just before Dietch went to LA (California) I went over and talked to him about LAII. I first discussed the fact that LAII needs his credit and then I went into a ghetto story- I was telling a story about 2 Puerto Rican project kids who grew up, in the late 70's early 80's on the LES. One (Luis Rosado- known as Blueboy) killed someone and went to jail for life- the other hooked up with this artist and helped make the artist become famous (LAII and Keith Haring) in the end they both lost. Blueboy, went on and became one of the most notorious inmates in the NY prison system- he became a high ranking CRIP- he is the inmate who killed LArry Davis- long story short- LAII eventually married Blueboys mother and even though both are around the same age- LAII is Blueboy's stepfather- when I told Dietch this story- he jumped up in the gallery and started screaming- you are threatening me- you are threatening me– I said are you crazy??? why would I threaten you– this is a story about the history of an inner city artist that you helped screwed and you can help rectify this wrong doing. So I ask- – where is the threat??? Anyway- what can I tell a screaming gallery owner, soon to be one of the most important museum directors in the country, who is using screaming as a tool to end the conversation. ? I left= later I was told he called the cops and made a complaint about me. A weak move I thought.
4)- As to the Ai Weiwei article- now this is a sad and painful story- the government completely leveling his studio- a note of interest- Weiwei as we called him in the early 90's, was a solid player in the LES (Lower East Side) struggle against all of this gentrification and big money that came rolling into the hood killing off everything that was before. I am thankful for a picture he took of me– I had a serious court case going on– and since you are checked before going into court and cannot bring much inside– so as a form of protest- in court- I wrote on one palm DUMP and on my hand I wrote Koch-( the Major of NYC at the time)- in the court house- I opened my hands and Weiwei got the DUMP KOCH picture in the NY Times. Weiwei recently had a show in London- I sent him some photos and videos of the LES struggle for some background information to his show. Props out to Weiwei.
thanks
clayton patterson les-
Tester Caps, please keep testing your caps toy. Let me guess you call throwups, throwies too which is why you felt the urge to step to me in cyberspace. Before the interent toys yourself like did not have a voice.
It is not my job to raise the new school. Sorry I am not into teaching Graffiti class 101. Their is plenty of information online and plenty of books out to learn the history. Get to work researching and maybe you'll learn something. You children of today want everything handed to you on a silver platter, pay your dues like the rest of us did through hard work , beefs , and risk of arrest or else shut the fcuk
LA Style Writer got a comment from me because he speaks with a tone of authority and acts like he is from the old school. The terminology he uses clearly shows likewise. Old school writers from other cities do not use this new school terminology either. He also uses word Style Writer in his name. Their are very few style writers. This is a term not to be used loosely and surely this person by the way he speaks is not one who should be using this term.
those aren't even tags. merely puny scribblings. actually, it looks like someone took a metallic colored shit on that good looking wall.
kenny scharf is the worst thing to happen to art. ive seen kids in daycare doodle better shit than that.
as far as bombing over that shit. im all for it.
again and again and again.
get that sace back up fools or youll have your wall smashed again and again.
its not always about the fame.
for me it would be about going over some ugly ass "who the fuck is kenny skarf?" "spray can art" with my throw.
this is how i feel about kennys bogus ass wanna be acid trip bullshit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7zc1XNeAzA&fe…
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both the taggers and Scharf's graffitis sucks! what a waste of paint and wall… the wall can be solved, but the paint was already lost…
The guys that capped it are idiots… they've even gone over JA recently. Fools.
I was lying about JA being capped. Welcome to the internet. (",)
Mr. Scharf, I'm sorry this happened. You seem like a genuinely good person and you are also one of my most favoritest ever artists. I aspire to work with you someday.