ART vs. TRANSIT

Last night powerHouse hosted an interesting evening with artists Ket, Cope 2, and Ellis G
facing off against Vandal Squad members (or former members) Ken Chiulli, Steve Mona,
and Joseph Rivera. Rivera has a recent book out about his years in the Vandal Squad.

Both sides stuck to their (presumably) figurative guns and on the whole it was a surprisingly
amiable event. Personally I’m tired of hearing arguments about whether graffiti is art or
vandalism. Is there anything mutually exclusive about those terms? Isn’t it both art AND
vandalism?? The cops don’t care what it is. Their point is that anything painted without
permission is illegal. I think graffiti thrives on being an outlaw art. That was a major reason
reason I got interested in it. The cops are somewhat necessary to the movement but the
problem comes when they overdo the punishment.