LIES Street Art Highlights (#6)

More details from the latest version of the LIES Brand large scale paste up installations.

Living Across the Street

I’ve written before about where I live in Atlanta. It’s fast becoming a street art destination. I’d like to think I did a small part to spark the activity happening here. When I started working here, the Atlanta Beltline was yet to be constructed and the graffiti here had not been updated in along time. Today, there is constant action. New street art being added on a regular basis. That was not the case with this location (a metal, ridged wall) in 2016, when I started pasting up here. You can see pictures of that artwork here, here, and here.

Living across the street from your artwork has its perks. Not only am I on top of it in regard to my “principles of street art” battle (haha), I also get to see people stop and photograph themselves in front of my work. It’s uniquely rewarding.

On more than one occasion I’ve seen people film a scene for a music video right in front of my artwork. The video below is one example of this.

My Response

Here is my response to the message sent to me in the previous post. You might not agree with my point of view, but my guess is that most will. Regardless, I hope it provides context to why I would bother to respond in the first place.

You also might not agree with my sharp language, however I feel it is absolutely appropriate for this environment. For context, the Forward Warrior murals I refer to are spaces given to artists to make their work, a specific work. They are making art for the public space. For everyone. Taggers, at least the ones that are assholes, will often tag those pieces of art. These murals are art in a public gallery given to the community for all to enjoy. It is wrong to tag this work.

The space where I am working is public domain. No one can claim it. No one can dictate what type of media can be used either. Taggers can go ahead and tag it. They can do their thing, but don’t tell me I can’t be here. “The entitled tagger?” Makes me laugh out loud, because it’s super lame.

I’m not hiding or running away. I put my name to my words. I stand behind everything I wrote and posted.

Open Letter to Graffiti Artists (AKA Taggers)

It shouldn’t have to be said, yet here we are. You do not own the wall on Wylie Street, CSX does. Don’t be bitches when other artists use paper and paste instead of spray paint to communicate their message. Until CSX declares this wall to be for “graffiti only” you’ve got nothing to say. Tag it, that’s the nature of the beast. However, don’t declare it “graffiti only.” It’s laughable for a street artist to make such a suggestion.

I’ve been pasting up my art on this Wylie Street wall for over 5 years. In 2016, I had 150 feet of this wall covered at once. At the time, this was a stagnant location filled with old, weathered graffiti and lame ass tags. I was tired of looking at the same old stale shit. Graffiti artists have been tagging over my pasted up street art for years.
Now there’s an unwritten rule that this particular wall is only for graffiti? What a joke. Street artists intentionally avoid the structured gallery system and their rules. Now some want to subject others to their own version of arbitrary gallery rules within the public space???! Sounds like a bunch of bitchy establishment bullshit to me and any street artist worth their salt would know better than to utter such nonsense. Only the Forward Warrior murals are off limits. I do not paste on those, nor should anyone else. Yet that still doesn’t stop taggers from pissing spray paint on them too.
Pick up your damn trash! I regularly throw away empty spray cans tossed aside by street artists as I clean up as much of my mess as I can.

Spray paint artists and paste up artists, and slap (sticker) artists can and should co-exist in a public space such as this one right here.

Don’t be a street art gatekeeper.

Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown

Located a few minutes southeast of downtown, these two adjacent neighborhoods have long and storied roles in Atlanta history. Both are small in size, but large in historical significance.

Today, these are two of the quirkiest neighborhoods in Atlanta. I lived in Reynoldstown from 2014-2021, a block from the border with Cabbagetown. I enjoyed most everything about living in the area, including the collective sense of humor of its residents (see image below). My Instagram page is filled with dozens of pictures of my morning walks through these two neighborhoods.

A Temporary Thing

Bring an artist is one of the toughest things anyone can do. For a variety of reasons. Almost everyone would admit this too, regardless of their big picture view of the art world itself. The last two years I’ve made street art. I went into this eyes wide open, so I expected my work to be tagged, weathered and painted over. I still think the solution to the art “problem” is weak. Check out these images of the location where my art once was.

What Is Old Is New Again (God Machine)

Yesterday was a big day. I finally installed another large scale paste up installation. This time I was assisted by my colleague and friend Mike Brown and SCAD-Atlanta students Daniel Byrd, Sally Burns, Carmen Reyes and Ruby Chen. All students in Mike’s Street Art class.

I decided against using the wall on Wylie Street I used last year. It’s location is perfect, however it’s ridged surface was too difficult to work with. The weather was able to get behind the work which made it deteriorate too quickly. Those three works lasted about 8 months before complete deterioration. Therefore, I needed to find a flat wall so my work could be viewed for a longer period of time.

The students asked me what this work, titled “What Is Old Is New Again (God Machine)” is about. I can sum it up in one sentence. It’s about the business of religion.

The work is located in Reynoldstown, on Fulton Terrace, near the intersection with Chester Avenue.