Graffiti Artists Rain On Spring’s Parade12:48 pm | Monday, December 18th, 2006
photos via JimandKarla Murray
Some people were not so hyped about Wooster Collective's 11 Spring St. project. And what better way to voice your disdain than painting big block letters. HOST18 and TABOO, painted a huge DYM (their crew) over almost one whole side of the building covering most of the “street artists” exterior wheatpasted work. HOST18 tells us that he's basically fed up with the 'street art' scene:
“These people continually put their art over real graffiti, completely devaluing what us real writers do. There were a lot of old tags from the early 90s and even some from the 80s that still existed on 11 Spring that these kids went over. It’s a load of shit.”
See a close up of their extra special message for “street artists” after the jump.
“Take It From the Pros, Street Art Ain’t Graffiti”
See more images here:
mongism December 18, 2006 at 1:30 pm
yeaaaaah bwoy!
murda mook December 18, 2006 at 1:53 pm
thats whats hood
doublemint December 18, 2006 at 2:11 pm
no tarps needed this time… just keep in mind that street art has been around just as long as or longer than graff.. however, each one should respect the other. you also see a lot of graff goin over street art that’s been there… i’m in favor of graffiti but just pointing out the two sides…
breatheazy December 18, 2006 at 5:54 pm
Street art in its modern form was not around before graffiti. And if you want to talk about its past then you could easily say that graffiti has been around for thousands of years. But in modern times, graffiti rules the streets. Seems like DYM is really taking a stand for graffiti… personally Ill take a throwup over a wheatpasted poster of a dog any day.
brian December 18, 2006 at 11:31 pm
not sure why it matters. people who do other street art never said they were doing graffiti. what is their point, that’s so lame.
they is from da streetz yo.
John Doe December 19, 2006 at 1:54 am
Thw point is that these artschool dropout hipsters put their faggotry over graffiti with absolute no regard. WHat they are doing in reality is a form of graffiti, but they take the aproach that they have a right to go over graffiti. They have no respect for what it is that they are dabbleing in and therefore get no respect in return. When we see that garbage over any graff much more over dead or retired oldschool cats it infuriates us. I know for a fact that I’m far from alone in that if I saw one of these faggots wheatpasting over anyones shit they would catch a brick to the face!
John Doe December 19, 2006 at 2:01 am
^Put it this way… when fraffiti writers go over other graffiti writers it’s a declaration of beef. Either you already have beef with the guy or you’re looking for beef with the guy. So basically these frail little hipsters are LOOKING for beef (whether deliberate or not)with an entire culture overflowing with hardened thugs that have grown up un beef. And it’s going to catch up to these kids when they get caught in the streets.
jj December 19, 2006 at 10:20 am
guess what
graffiti is gay
it’s just letters
who gives a shit
most of it is totally butt ugly anyway
do graffiti fags get their panties in a bunch when it gets washed off the building too?
grow up and stop crying
yeah i bet graffaggits like “beef”
pj December 19, 2006 at 11:50 am
^ good point jj.. wow. retard
posers December 19, 2006 at 1:05 pm
“brooklyn gods” you have no talent
give respect where it is due
graffaggot December 19, 2006 at 2:21 pm
i respect the “street art” wheatpastes.. but when they have no regards for history or the graffiti movement their shit is bound to get stomped and hated on.
respect graffiti and writers within the movement will respect you..
look at bl4ckh4m.. he actually goes out and gets up with other “writers”
cost/revs anyone?
Jack December 19, 2006 at 6:05 pm
This whole 11 Spring Street thing really clarifies exactly what I think divides graffiti from street art. It basically comes down to training, education and background.
Most graffiti artists are self-taught and never had any true formal training. I admire them more because they have this urge to create and have found ways to bond together to create the work they make. It’s basically urban outsider art.
I have no personal beef with street art, but most street artists come straight out of the art school world. And while I think many are talented, too many simply move to a city, come up with some witty poster/sticker, post it… And based on their art school connections get press and publicity based on it.
There’s a legitimate reason one group can be angry at the other.
For example, 11 Spring Street is ultimately the largest “permission” piece ever. And there are really cool things there, but it’s such a chaotic mess beyond normal street art standards I think that when all is said and done it’s a bit embarassing how it all ended up. And in my humble opinion, I think true old school graffiti artists would know how to really work that space to make it a bit nicer to look at than the utter chaos it is now.
But whatever. The place will be sandblasted and painted over for some “luxury” lofts and perhaps a restaurant or “proper” gallery on the first floor.
blazing lazers December 20, 2006 at 4:34 am
the problem is, street artists have no respect and look down on graffiti… but when the media timing is right, they will call themselves graffiti artists. As far as old school writers.. most of them are so out of touch with graffiti at this point that their shit is irrelevant other then the purpose of trying to make the “fine” art scene. For instance.. I heard lady pink speak about graffiti and she had no clue what she was talking about.. completely lost touch with the movement
Mike Hunt December 20, 2006 at 10:40 am
The difference is that graff artists have to come thru, bomb quick and clean and get out of there without being caught, all a wheatpaster hasta do is take all damn day doing their little character or whatever they do an arrow or whatever the hell, then run up and paste it. Actuall Spray can graff is much more dangerous and alot of times, to us, its about the rush. These are little art school fagatroids that wanna just hurry and paste so they dont get caught and hafta call mommy for bail. Thats the difference, the rush, and the technique of hittin clean and fast and doing your thing right there, not at home and then bring it with, ya smell me?
54 December 20, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Apples and oranges. Street art is not graffiti and vice versa. One is not better than the other, only different. No need to hate. There are things you can’t do with graffiti that you can with paper. That’s the attraction. Some people like to draw, some paint. Peace.
RIP OFF December 20, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Street art? These kids are just makes wheat pasted business cards, waiting for hipster galleries to pick them up.
Sticker and wheat pasting is a fucking fad.
Weird Name December 20, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Thank you. The average person has no idea about the blood, sweat, and tears that go into graffiti. Do you kids even know how many graffiti writers have died for their craft? Countless names. Getting shot for traspessing, falling off high spots, getting hit by trains. In NY alone, it seems like another writer bites the dust every year … think about the rest of the world. How many have had lengthy jail stays. How many have been stabbed or crippled. How many have had their families torn apart. Lost their jobs. Abandoned by people they love. Kicked out of their homes. Completely misunderstood and hated by society at large. And for what? For nothing. For no gain whatsoever. For expression. For a drive to become part of the landscape. For recognition from their peers. Street artists flatter themselves by even comparing what they do to graffiti. Think about that next time you’re putting your wheatpaste over a tag.
torcho December 21, 2006 at 3:15 am
Alright here’s the story. Ignore all the stupid comments you’ve just read..this is what’s up.
Graff is a lifestyle. “Street art” is a trend. Graffiti is learned over a period of time, the journey from a toy to a respected writer is a tough one. We learn the rules, we learn the game. There is no learning process to “street art” which is why these yuppies are so clueless. They decide to pay 6$ for a montana while writers rack rustos, they want to paste up a poster or pay 2 have 5,000 stickers printed of a stupid graphic and stick them up while graf writers are doing fillins and catchin tags. Spray your name faggots! Graf writers go all city. That means all city. Not all soho or all williamsburg. If you homos want respect get the fuck up. I don’t see any of you faggots ANYWHERE besides soho and williamsburg. I would usually say live and live but fuck that let’s be realistic..I’ve had stupid ass posters slapped over my fillins before..bottom line is nobody is going to respect your shit..there’s always going to be some asshole who peels off ur sticker or covers up ur shit. Let’s just have a fucking war, fuck it. Might as well make it fun. I wonder who’d come out on top. Graf was sacred and thanks 2 these art queers it’s totally commercial. We write because it’s all around us growing up. We ride trains, walk the streets,know people who write..you rich kids have no business getting involved in this shit..in a real neighborhood you go over the wrong person you get slapped the fuck up.. We write Because we want to fuck shit up. You fags have to stop being such bitches. Graf is nothing 2 fuck with. Either get with it or stfu. You assholes better go cop beat street,videograf,stylewars.wildstyle whatever the fuck you need 2 do just step ur game uppppppp pussiesssssss!!!!!
And just for the record-i respect all artistic efforts but I lose that respect when people pay no dues. To be involved in anything you should know your history. I think graf and “street art” will coexist just fine as soon as “street artists” learn to respect graf writers and vice versa. Either battle it out or coexist. Simple as that. In closing, no matter who you are or what you do, keep doing it! I may sound like a hateful fuck but basically this city is all of ours. Let’s enjoy it before it gets blown up. Stop staring and start doing! SPREAD LOVE STAY POSITIVE! PEEEAAACCEEE
settgsdg December 21, 2006 at 4:42 am
yo, fuk all street art fagets DYM will kill ur gay ass fagets!!!!!!! fuck you, fuck your pussy ass wheatpaste, stay off the streets u queer asses! shit,fuck ur fruity flowery “contemporary urban art”, talk about dis shit in ur fuckin MFA disserrtation bulll shittttt yo, did u hear about tha new white stripes??? LOL fuk ur dyed black hair faget assesssssssssss art school motha fuckasss
juelz December 21, 2006 at 6:25 pm
as stated before, most graff is butt ugly, and if you guys are so hard why are you crying so much? your fave activity is to hate on ppl who make better art than you it seems..
torcho December 21, 2006 at 10:11 pm
piecers(graffers) make better art with stolen cans than any of you art school fags with your pockets full of daddys money…homos…
tom December 21, 2006 at 10:48 pm
screw it, ima go enjoy renisance art, i also thought the mona lisa was some ill shit
REZ December 22, 2006 at 1:14 pm
we doin the same thing for different reasons, i think if they have respect for there elders there would be no problem.
chaz December 22, 2006 at 11:13 pm
i dont really consider myself a street artist but ive done my research on graffiti and respect the form as with anything else i get into in life, I hate the generalization people make… just becuase someone doesnt feel like using spray paint to express themselves they are atomatically considered “rich hipsters”. Im a immigrant and ive lived in brooklyn all my life, i dont live in a loft apartement with 10 other art shool students …. but just because i prefer to not get up as a graffiti artists Ill get lumped down in the same group as the other hipster fucks? thats really hypocritical of you guys :: coughs ::
the whole graffiti vs street art thing is whack, i agree there are some lame street art going on but there are also some pretty whack graffiti going on but one isnt superior to the other. At this point, I should just say FUCK THE SCENE theres a bunch of immature morons running around claiming they’re the shit and this and that. Its some whack east coast west coast shit going on.
I enjoy art in all forms and I enjoy walking down the street to see something other then ugly corporate advertising asking me to buy beer. Most of you guys need to practice what you preach and stop talking nonsense.
Ella December 23, 2006 at 5:00 pm
I think it’s kindof shitty that there’s this perceived dichotomy between ’streetart’ and ‘graffiti’, it’s more of a value judgement than anything else. It’s about respecting the stuff that other people have up there, and the history of the movement more than anything if you ask me. The medium used doesn’t have much to do with it, I’ve seen wheatpastes and stencils from graffiti crews and tags from ’streetartists’, there’s a lot of crossover that happens between the two. I think it’s fucking rad that people are finding more and different ways to put their shit out there, and I think it’s sad that so many people feel the need to buff and disrespect other people’s shit while they’re doing it. Have respect for other artists and writers and put some effort and thought into what you’re doing and I’m about it. Call yourself a streetartist or a graffiti writer or barney the purple fucking dinosaur, I don’t give a flying fuck, just show some respect and you will get it back. If you went to art school or trade school, who gives a flying fuck, it’s totally irrelevant.
Off topic, but I think it would be awesome if people could find more interesting ways to insult others than by throwing words like ‘faggot’ and ‘pussy’ around, that shit’s kind of played and stupid if you ask me.
cld December 23, 2006 at 6:12 pm
just remember that alot of street artists are writers who have graduated into street art…
writers are all about ego… all about me me me… all about king dick.
street artists shat on that… gave it up… they said fuck the rules of graffiti…and are smarter about it. writers are just too fuckin sentimental. just like old writers who wont ditch their old style and break out…because they are too sentimental.
people outside of graffiti appreciate street art bcas its not all about fame… and they can relate instead of this egocentric bullshit writers press…dym made their point…that graffiti is dying and they are fighting to keep it alive… by discrediting the new movement.
RD December 24, 2006 at 1:55 pm
^^ Well said!!
dick Pound December 25, 2006 at 1:41 pm
silly art fags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cld December 25, 2006 at 11:21 pm
toy
yo mama December 26, 2006 at 8:07 am
I am so sick of all the hate coming from you guys who claim to be graff artists. Calling people faggots, homos, pussies, etc. is so tired ,so retro, so OVER. There was a scientific study done that proved that men who are homophobic are secretly attracted to other men, so maybe you should shut up and quit outing yourselves.
Furthermore, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I’m a street artist, I’ve been pasting stuff up since the 70’s, before most of you little punks were even born. I did not go to fucking art school, or college or any of that shit. My stuff gets tagged over by haters even when I put it up on clean walls. More often than not the tags are ugly crap that show no skills whatsoever. Maybe y’all should spend less time hating and more time working on yer damm skills so you can throw up something worth looking at.
Who'sYoDaddy? December 26, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Stop the hate and get to creating something meaningful with yourselves. Like getting the fuck out of the ghetto! I did, and it worked wonders for me. I highly recommend it! I started out a street hood with spray cans at hand. Then, went to art school to develop more skills. Let me tell you something, it worked wonders for me! Good to have the streets behind me, better to have a future ahead of me.
Most people are afraid of trying and failing. They end up talking shit, instead of acting like men and taking care of their lives, not to mention their families. Want to be a tough guy—try putting your kids thru school, to better their lives. Now, wouldn’t that be something to brag about, instead of all your macho rhetoric.
DSENSE December 29, 2006 at 2:05 pm
DYM did it right with Elizabeth street !
HOST and TABOO blasted street art on Houston and Bowery !
To be a mature adult i will try and say that one is not better than the other, and that graff writers ain’t cooler, fresher, do more drugs, party harder and get all the babes, and all that crap.
BUT I GOTS VERY LITTLE LOVE 4 YOU STREET ARTISTS.
graf life baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DSENSE
Atlanta Representitive December 31, 2006 at 4:57 pm
I think most of you art bags have the wrong impression about DYM. I dont think they are saying they are better, or cooler. DYM themselves are professional artists, doing gallery work and all that shit. They are blasting the street artists who think THEY are better than graffiti writers but will claim to be graffiti artists when its convenient.
Call them out. January 1, 2007 at 2:15 pm
It’s funny that Wooster Colective’s website has no mention of the DYM incident. Compleatly WACK, they are trying to tell the fluffy story with out the fact that this happened. Are they the Bush administration of “street art”? They have pages and pages of how great there event was. That is what I love about graffiti. It is compleatly uncontrollable and wooster is trying to whitewash this and rewrite history. Wooster is full of SHIT if they say there documenting the event. I applaude Taboo and Host. Shit is real on the streets. YOU CANT CONTROL THAT.
ATL January 2, 2007 at 10:20 pm
I agree with callthemout. Thats super weird that there is no mention on the Wooster site of DYM at all.
Complex MNGMT January 2, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Agreed. We were hoping that Wooster, who’s often been open to debates, will address some of the grievances and gripes but nary a word so far. But we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they agree to address or at least make mention of the other side of the coin in regards to this project.
Complex Mngmt!
charms January 11, 2007 at 7:43 pm
I personally thank that we don’t have that kind of beef over here in the west coast but I think “graff artists” should pay respect where its due. For me as one of the few female graffiti writers respect other writers and won’t EVER go over anyone’s shit cuz that’s disrespectful. To the guy who said that why don’t guys get out of the ghetto and try 2 better themselves, I agree but to a certain point. I disagree with the fact that you should take art classes “to better your style”. If your a true graff artist you don’t take no goddamn classes. Graffiti is shit u learn from within you. I got out of the ghetto but I’m still a graff writer and I always will be becuz graff is what I am and what runs in me. KNOK bietches!
mmm January 16, 2007 at 8:24 am
just a thought
what about reas,twist,espo?
g3msp4 February 8, 2007 at 1:40 pm
ha ha-i love all the hard talkin here. every graf artist i’ve met recently is a wigger wannabe trustarian from the suburbs. most of the original cats are either gone or opened tat shops. rent “wildstyle”? how many of you were actually around for that stuff? go cry into your ‘che’ t-shirts. if you wanna tag–do it. but don’t believe your own hype. most of your shit now sucks anyway. i blame it on a lack of good drugs nowadays.n peace!
DSENSE February 14, 2007 at 9:19 am
you sound like you never took a tag in your life and most well known graf writer you ever were down with was Marco…