Swatch1 Interview

Part 5

AC: Do you have any insights about showing graf in galleries or museums? Are there dues that one has to pay before showing in that kind of setting?
SW1: Personally, I have my own opinion that the gallery crew of Futura, Crash, Daze, Lee, Dondi, Pink and all the others have the lock on the p.r. and gallery scene that makes it hard for other artists to showcase their work. I'm not trying to put them down, I admire them, but every show by any major gallery has been the same guys for years. Maybe they did pay their dues, but they really are monsters created by Henry Chalfant and others like him. But the day will come when no gallery owner wants to sponsor a graffiti exhibit, because it won't sell or it's not hip enough, or maybe out of style. And how can anybody get the chance when that happens?...

AC: Do you want to talk about some of the other art related things that you're involved in outside of graffiti?
SW1: Right now I'm working on throwing a graffiti party, and printing a FLY id mag, strictly NY flava., but I'm also into computers and just getting the word out.

It's sad that graffiti is so demonized and outlawed, but when big corporations see the dollar signs, they can use graffiti images in their advertising and billboards. How can you stop vandalism when kids see graffiti Nike ads?

Graffiti art is truly a freedom of speech issue, try to outlaw graffiti in advertising and the big companies and their lawyers will cry, "Free speech!" They know that it appeals to the younger generation and the inner city. So when they use graff, it's a pure business and marketing decision. Politicians should follow their example and realize that if it has a meaning to young people then the possiblity for good to come out of it is there.

My partner CLARK, works with a group that puts AIDS murals around town. Thats a good thing and to hear him talk about AIDS in a logical way and attack the myth that it's a gay disease and can strike anybody is a big, big improvement. So lots of other people can be informed about issues that are important through graffiti.

Graffiti doesn't spell out crime or drugs, it spells out that the artist is one of them, in the street and real. Dealing with the same things the viewer deals with,

most mass media is public relations and targeted towards consumers. So for a big company to go out of their way and change perceptions is a waste of their precious ad dollars. Benetton brought a lot of issues to light, but bringing them to light was also part of a whole marketing campaign to shock and get publicity. Another writer I should give props to is Smith (& Sane rip). They talk about drugs & AIDS and things like that. I remember a big SANE 182, high up on the ledge of a building in downtown manhattan, SANE 182, Koch & Crew lie to You. Also EZO, he did a wall that said LIVE FROM DEATH ROW with a picture of Mumia Abu-Jamal. If you don't know what he's talking about find out. It's the name of a book. Educate yourself, find knowledge outside of what you are fed in school, in the newspapers and on t.v. Fight injustice in any way you can, even if it means just knowing about it, and hooking it up in your work.

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