A piece from the Insight Art and Design issue:
While street art is increasingly presented as a vital part of our city's creative geography, the council are removing legal places for graffiti artists, young and old, to practice their craft. Charlie Jones writes some wrongs
"It's gonna be a rough summer, properly." David Samuel is smoking a cigarette outside his Trafalgar Street gallery, RareKind. The artist and gallery director, who has been painting since he was 13, is discussing the impact of the recent closures of tolerated graffiti zones. Most notable of these was Tarner Park, which was pulled by the council after nearly after nearly twenty years of legal writing at the end of January. The closure has met with no small controversy. Environment councilor Geoffrey Theobald said that "Managing graffiti in Tarner Park hasn't worked and some local people have told us that they avoid the area," as a result of which "[action was taken] to reclaim this park for local residents." However, the closures are appearing to have the opposite effect. "You can already see more tags on the streets around the centre, which is what [places like Tarner Park] kept down, and it's only be two or three weeks. And it's only going to get worse."
Brighton has always had a strange relationship with street art. With a large art student and hip-hop community, Brighton is a prime location for a flowering of urban art, and the existence of large, professional city-centre murals are examples of the council's active funding of the graffiti writing community, encouragement that has lead to worldwide acclaim and a surge in regional pride. At the same time as these developments were being sprayed, the legal parks where the crews learnt their craft were being closed. The legal – or at least tolerated – areas of Davingdor, Blackrock. The Level and Tarner Park have been shut down. "The public are in two minds about graffiti – they love the quirky, fun stuff, but can't stand certain images, or artists who aren't as strong or developed," argues Snub, a graphic designer and street artist. "Councilors wanted a Banksy-style mural, but you can't order something like that. There's this '100 broken windows' idea – as soon you allow a bit of mess into an area, it goes down the pan. But the opposite is true – they act as a pressure valve." DarkDaze, a prolific photograher, has something to say about the regenerative effect of graffit. “The Kensington Street walls have definitely opened up a street that people used to stay away from – it was grimey, stank of piss and had tags and throw ups all over it. Now it’s the most photographed street in Brighton and brings in more tourists, has been featured on calendars, talked about in magazines and has even made money for Brighton traders who sell prints and postcards of the walls.” Places like Tarner Park act a community base, he argues. “Every time I used to go up there kids would come up to the writers and ask questions and seemed to love what was going on. Writers used the park as much as anyone and were aware that it was also a kid’s playground. Many of the artists I know have kids of their own.”
David Samuel agrees. "The public have this idea about that any young person doing graffiti will take be taking drugs and robbing anyone who walks past. I'm not saying that every writer is a saint, and I don't like seeing tagging everywhere as much as the next person. Parks are training grounds, places where the older heads can show younger writers where not to paint – and how to paint well. The people who painted dubs outside of the parks were by and large from out of town and they didn't know the rules about where and how to paint. To take away all our parks because of a few tags outside is like giving the whole class detention when one kid acts up."
Five years trading graffiti goods to the writers (as graff artists call themselves) and art to the buyers of Brighton makes Samuel something of an authority on the state of graffiti art in our fair city. "With less paint being used, less people are buying it. I know two people who've had to close down because no one was buying their paint, and I can't afford for my takings to go down." I ask him what would have happened to him without such parks. "I learnt my craft there! When I was a kid I didn't give a fuck about myself," he says frankly. "But being able to go to these parks made me see what an incredible tool graff can be. 14 years later and I'm running this place and doing what I love. Something as simple as drawing in notebook and then creating something beautiful that's 14-foot-high – it makes you realise that anything in your life is possible."
rarekind.co.uk
snub23.com
darkdaze.com
BOX OUTS:
Graff glossary
Graffiti – for purists, graff means spraypainting outside areas, (often in contravention of the law) not stickers, stencils or gallery works.
Writers – Those who paint graffiti
Produtions – Large-scale murals. Also called "pieces", short for masterpieces
Tags – Small, basic stylised signatures, often in permanent marker
Dubs – Simplistic two-colour paintings
Halls of Fame – Places with many pieces, usually from several different writers or crews
Jams – A one or two-day event that brings many writers together to paint, often from around the country or world
Places to see graffiti art in Brighton
RareKind – The country's only commercial gallery dedicated to graffiti. Check out the wall above the two story shop as well.
Kensington Street – Some stunning murals from Paul Barlow, Alex Young and the Heavy Artillery crew, amongst others.
New England Quarter – Over 500m long, this is the longest single piece of graffiti in country
AliCats – Snub, Mishfit and Bringa got on the case and revamped the inside of this Brighton institution
Prince Regents Swimming Pool – Some great hoardings from the RareKind boys
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