By Ian P.E.
Like it or not, graffiti based street art is the wave/genre/school of art that will be remembered, written about and studied by future generations regarding our current point in art history. Artists like Shepard Fairey (formerly of OBEY Andre the Giant stencil fame…and now – the “hope” Obama poster) have knocked down the art gallery doors previously closed to graffiti artists and busted them wide open for the masses. And it’s really a double-edged sword…an art form that is anti-establishment by nature, but at the same time – commercially viable because of its graphic roots, colorful impact and simple design…guess it’s always just a matter of time before the establishment jumps on the latest “fresh” streetwise movement and waters it down to crap.
However, Cleveland has yet to jump on the bandwagon. Most the folks out there writing graffiti do it for all the right reasons (fun, expression, and props), but outside of a few smaller galleries (Artchitecture, Lowlife, Doubting Thomas and Pop Shop) they have no stepping stones to actually take their art to the next level – financial support.
So…here’s a top-notch, local graffiti-learned artist for yous – Mike Gezze (we’ve included some quotes for further entertainment). He’s not burning down the gallery walls yet, but his work is first rate – enjoy! And if you’d like to contact him or see more, try heading to myspace.com/gezze.
“I went to Columbus college of art and design for 1 year – I pretty much failed out, hated it – I don’t like to paint neatly and they wanted me to be precise. I’m more about surface and texture. My work is always dirty. My canvases are usually trashed, and that’s the way I like them…on old canvases over old paintings, or on street signs.”
“I usually use house paints…latex, it’s cheaper.”
“I’ve slowed down on the graffiti since being arrested for writing in Portland, but I’m doing a lot of legal walls in Cleveland. I like transferring my characters from the canvas to large scale on walls.”
“Graffiti is more of an addiction than anything – you can’t help it. I wanted to stop, but after a good night of drinking and spraying on stuff…seeing it the next day feels great. It almost has a celebrity quality to it, kids come up to you and ask for your signature. It’s a good feeling.”
Multiple faces
Double eyes
Squished-in faces
Dirty
“People get too deep into their own paintings, I start with an eyeball and go from there.”
Texture
Puffy paint
Zappa on a bike
“In Oakland, the kids go crazy over putting tinfoil in the spokes of their bikes, they call them scraper bikes and write rap songs about them. It’s a craze.”
“The Saddam sun…I’ll never have an explanation.”
“I want to sound more bitter with the art world. It’s a funny world full of little girl drama.”
“My friend just got arrested last week. We all had to jump over this barbed wire fence…I slashed my hand open and was bleeding everywhere. The rest of us got away. I lost both of my shoes in the mud. I was running down the street barefoot wasted on tequila at three in the morning. Then we saw this ambulance, and thought it was for our friend, but it was for the RTA cop, he needed oxygen…they eat at Applebees, they can’t run.”
“I like doing paintings of ugly people that are happy.”
