N O RT H BAY B O H E M I A N | JA N UA RY 3 0 - F E B R UA RY 5, 2 0 1 3 | B O H E M I A N.COM
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The NEW Spreckels Theatre Company Presents
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart
FEBRUARY 8 - 17
Spreckels Performing Arts Center 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park 6SUHFNHOV %R[ 2I¿FH ‡ VSUHFNHOVRQOLQH FRP 6SUHFNHOV %R[ 2I¿FH H VSUHFNHOVRQQOLQH FRP
Ricky Watts ( 23 sign painter and woodworker, was raised in Petaluma, where he drew comics for himself in elementary school. When he was 13, he discovered graffiti. “I [found] a graffiti magazine, and that’s when I saw the real artistic, colorful murals that people were doing,â€? he says. “That’s what blew my mind. I thought, ‘I’m not really good at this vandalism part.’ You know? I would feel guilty about doing it. But I thought how cool it would be to create these big, colorful murals with spray paint.â€? Soon, Watts teamed up with his friend Jared Powell, with whom he still works and collaborates, and the two became late-night spray-paint partners. “And we had no idea what we were doing,â€? he explains of those teen years. “It was all very trial-and-error. It’s very different now. There are these websites that will literally teach you how to build up a complex piece of graffiti; it shows you the step-by-step process. And we were doing it completely backwards.â€? A breakthrough came when Watts was 16 and Tom Gaffey let him paint a mural inside the Phoenix Theater, legally and on his own time. “It really helped build that foundation of learning different techniques,â€? Watts says. Those techniques eventually led Watts to a long-running abstract stage in his art—lots of swirling patterns that laterally resemble oceanic eels or muscle tissue. But a recent series of 10 line illustrations based on the 19th-century architecture of Petaluma—which, unlike Santa Rosa, was unaffected by the 1969 earthquakes—opened him back up to the ďŹ ne-tip pen. “I’m very drawn to the history of Petaluma, and that could be something I get from my mom, who’s kind of a Petaluma historian,â€? Watts notes. The series included the McNear’s building, the Masonic building and its iconic clock tower, and a street scene looking east on Washington Street, including Volpi’s, the Petaluma Hotel and the California Theater. In one, a large chicken
stomps along Petaluma Boulevard, destroying the town that over time has lost its title as the chicken capital of America.
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t’s uncommon for graffiti artists to morph into renowned names in the ďŹ ne art world, though there is a growing number of examples. Barry McGee, the San Francisco legend once known as Twist, has substantial pieces in the SFMOMA’s permanent collection and last year put together a massive retrospective for the Berkeley Museum of Art. His current style—most widely known by small faces painted on glass bottles—is starkly different from his late-1980s tags and murals. Stephen Powers, a Philadelphia graffiti artist known as ESPO, began expanding the typography of tagging, left graffiti in 2000 and is now commissioned to paint large murals worldwide. His series A Love Letter for You covers aged buildings throughout Philadelphia with phrases like “Miss You Too Often Not To Love Youâ€? and “Your Everafter Is All I’m Afterâ€? painted in vintage billboard style. Watts’ most high-proďŹ le job came last year at the Outside Lands music festival in Golden Gate Park, which chose his Bone Shaker to use on the gigantic scrim banner of one of the stages. It wasn’t a lark; a dry-erase board in the studio shows a full slate of upcoming work, and between art and graphic design, Watts is paying the bills. Watts plans to move back to Petaluma this year, and in another sort of coming home, has been asked by the Petaluma Arts Center to paint the south wall of the Phoenix Theater—a massive, 50by-40-foot urban canvas. “It’s always been a dream of mine to paint that wall,â€? he says, cracking a sly smile of his former graffiti-artist self. “It’ll easily be the largest wall I’ve ever painted.â€?
‘Destination Unknown’ runs Feb. 2–28 at Boomerang Gallery inside Heebe Jeebe. Opening reception, Feb. 2, 6–9pm. 46 Kentucky St., Petaluma. 707.773.3222.