ON THE
FRINGE Graffiti artist Mehow stands in front of Leeside tunnel, surrounded by local tags.
The Unwanted Mark
Local artists are seen as Michelangelo by some and vandals by others. And that doesn’t stop them. b y C O N O R H A M M O N D
“T
here’s a specific kind of person, somebody who wants everyone to know who they are but to remain completely anonymous at the same time.” —Ryan McGinley, New York graffiti artist. “Some people think it’s chaos, but it is really organized chaos,” says graffiti artist Mehow as he leads me through the fog at Empire Field into a surprisingly brightly lit tunnel. Immediately, my eyes are transfixed on a vast array of colouring in the form of graffiti tags. Alongside the spray-painted
6 unspoken
MAY 2022
bold lettering is an eerily detailed portrait of Chucky from the Child’s Play horror movies. The tunnel, Leeside Skatepark in East Vancouver, was named in tribute to skateboarder and graffiti artist Lee Matasi, who was murdered outside the Red Room bar in Gastown in 2005. For the first few years of its existence, the City of Vancouver fenced off the area to prevent artists from painting it. Only through the diligent work of the graffiti and skateboarding community cleaning up the area has it now become a haven for art-
ists who want to come down and paint without the fear of being caught and arrested. While graffiti and painting on walls has been a part of existence since humans lived in caves, the origin of the alternative art form that is modern-day graffiti can be traced back to the 1970s in New York City. Spray painting teamed up with other underground movements like the hip-hop and punk scenes. New York City was the ideal environment for this edgier type of art, as the streets at the time were overrun with crime and chaos, and artists
captured the mood of the city with aerosol spray-paint cans and the walls of buildings. Only recently have artists been able to go mainstream with their tags for major corporations. Notable L.A. artist David Chou was hired by Facebook in 2005 to paint their office, receiving his payment in company shares from the soon-to-be social media giant. A profitable decision like that one receives mixed feelings from the graffiti community, says Mehow. “I personally think that if somebody can change this into a positive, so be it,” he says. “However, a lot of people think when you are working for big corporations and making money off of it, then PHOTO: CONOR HAMMOND
