Tag, you're soo it

I was browsing through the NY Times today, and I ran into this editorial piece that caught my attention. It was about Martha Cooper, a photographer for mounting graffiti art that would otherwise have been unseen today. The 70's and the 80's were a time of social decline in New York. Funny enough how the film "the Warriors" comes to mind: relentless feuds between gangs in NYC that seemed unstoppable even to the police forces attempting to bring these wars to a halt.


Part of the charm of New York is simply the ability for an artist to use anything found in this city as a canvas. Whether it have been hanging glass ornaments in the New York's Botanical Garden in the Bronx, or tagging up the side of a building, this city has been home to art, and in some cases has become a work of art. Let's face it it is already. I love the color that can be seen on the bricks of Long Island City, it's just as rich as anything that MoMA could present.

I kind of wish i was around during the devolution of the Bronx, from an enclave of Eastern Europe into the place which a large Dominican and Black community called home. This transition in the 80's resulted in the appearance of extensive graffiti. To some it was vile and a commemoration of the decline of the Bronx, and to others it was the voice of the people, the people that felt oppressed and neglected. Martha Cooper captured these images well aware that soon these buildings would be tumbling down, and the subway cars derailed so the public could no longer see this beauty. Preservation of FREE ART (free for the masses to see as these trains pulled in from the trainyard to their predetermined destination, free transportation to spread the message of their art). A huge canvas that demonstrated so much more than the ghetto.

She plans to do this for her hometown of Baltimore, and I look forward to see what she captures in the Wire.

check it: The art of tagging