Points
Through the end of Week 3 we’ve had a total of 175 points available. Here’s how many points you should have on BeachBored now to be on track for each grade level:
175 points = 100% = “A+” – 33 peeps
157 points = 90% = “A” – 62 peeps – 62+33 = 95
140 points = 80% = “B” – 14 peeps
122 points = 70% = “C” – 7 peeps
105 points = 60% = “D” – 9 peeps
104 points & below = “F” – 3 peeps
Based on these projected grades, the current overall class GPA is 3.46 – pretty good, but I’m sure we can do even better! 🙂
Extra Credit
1. Venice Beach
+40 EC
The best place to paint is at the Venice Beach Legal Art Walls. Just about everyone who has ever gone has had a great time. Yes it’s far. Yes, I know you hate to drive. Just paint at home for full credit, or go to the Venice Beach Legal Art Walls to paint for +40 EC. Include pix of you with your painting at the Venice Art Walls.
2. Wall Writers
+40 EC
Attend Screening – ask a question – write a blog post about the film and the Director’s talk.
Film screening of Wall Writers, directed by Roger Gastman. The Director will be there to talk about the film and answer questions afterward.
Tuesday February 9th, 5pm – UT 108 (University Theater)
Film Synopsis:
Before artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey became household names, there were graffiti pioneers who were responsible for adding such things as the first ever crown or arrow to their moniker beginning the evolution of style.
Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence is a documentary film and 350+ page companion book. Both film and book were conceived and directed by Roger Gastman. Legendary filmmaker John Waters narrates the documentary and the book’s forward is written by acclaimed artist Barry McGee.
Graffiti and street art today are largely considered the rock n’ roll of visual art, and Wall Writers is the story of its birth from Philadelphia and New York City during 1967 to 1973. Wall Writers is an exclusive account of the beginnings of the largest art movement of the Twentieth Century. No one has been able to tell this story until now, because no one could get complete access to the full cast of the movement’s originators featured in this film. Most of these artists have given their first ever on-camera interviews for this project. Wall Writers offers a once-in-a-lifetime look at the origin of graffiti and street art that continues to capture the imaginations of young people the world over.
Wall Writers explores graffiti’s eruption into the mainstream society during a period of social turmoil in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, and takes a closer look not only at early graffiti’s place on the wall but its place in the culture of the time. Featuring unprecedented access to and exclusive interviews with graffiti’s originators CORNBREAD, TAKI 183, LSD OM, and more than a two-dozen others.Testimonies from journalists, historians and politicians who bore witness to the wall-writing revolution are also included in the film.
More comprehensive than anything on this subject, Wall Writers explores not only early graffiti writing itself but the writers creating it and the culture that drove them to write — be it a need to rebel against the government, to pass a message, or simply be recognized by society. The film’s exclusive interviews are coupled with rare photographs and archival footage, most of which have never been seen on screen before and serve as historical reference points as well as evidence of early graffiti that was buffed away decades ago.
From graffiti’s humble beginnings in 1967 to the first painting being sold in 1973, Wall Writers reveals the context of the start of a movement that would eventually grow to transform city life, public transit, public art, and ultimately visual art the world over.
Roger Gastman Bio:
No stranger to ambitious art initiatives, Gastman is perhaps best known for co-curating Art in the Streets at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2011, the first national comprehensive survey of graffiti and street art with an attendance of over 250,000. Connecting cultures and further aiding the advancement of contemporary art led to his involvement in the acclaimed film by Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop.
Gastman went on to produce multiple books and films and in 2013 he curated PUMP ME UP: D.C. subculture of the 1980s, an exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. in conjunction with the release of The Legend of COOL “DISCO” DAN, the feature documentary he co-directed. His recent exhibition, Cruel Summer in New York City, was featured in two gallery locations and included an electrifying cast of artists, from contemporaries such as Shepard Fairey, Maya Hayuk and HuskMitNavn to graffiti legends Blade and Haze.
3. LA Art Book Fair ’16 – 11-14 Feb
+50 EC
Visit the LA Art Book Fair at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Take photos and write about your experience for +50 EC. The event is free on Feb 12-14. The Thursday night reception on Feb 11 is US$10.
4. Photo Walk Leader
+20 EC
Details in class today
Wk 4 Discuss!
- Bomb It
Group 1
- Crysta Tim
- Madison Braverman
- Daniella Garcia
- Christopher Moore
- Tiffany Tran
- Adilene Leon
Group 2
- Valerie Laslo
- Tyler Kedis
- Elizabeth Moledo
- Annie Ronning
- Kyle Shishido
- Katherine Shinno
Group 3
- John Stouras
- Jing Huan Ooi
- Sam Tan
- Aaron Satterfield
- Tiffany Van Gilder
- Ngozi Ekwedike
Group 4
- Leslie Echiveste
- Katherine Pantoja
- Jayson Fields
- Eduardo Castillo
- Destiny Farihi
- Tareena Woods
Group 5
- Symon Pallett
- RaVen Montgomery
- Nicole Chovit
- Julio Garcia
- Haley Anderson
- Florenz Francis Baltazar
Group 6
- Charles WAtson
- Amber Bolden
- Aaron Dela Rosa
- William Luna
- Shannon McGuinness
- Reuben William Dyce
Group 7
- Regan Cameron
- Rebekah Johnson
- Christopher Williams
- Christopher Chadwick
- Biance Dominguez
- Anthony Sanchez
Group 8
- Molly Poyer
- Mia Miller
- Maria Barreda
- Jamie Filosa
- Francisco Miranda
- Elida Ramirez
Group 9
- Dorothyrose McMahon
- Devon Carus
- David Brown
- Colleen Siongco
- Cassandra Topete
- Xiomara Barnes
Group 10
- Peter Bay
- Oscar Alvarez
- Leah Perez
- Jhonatan Ramos Lopez
- Hilario Saucedo
- Elihah Yee
Group 11
- Cheryl Peng
- Carlos Nava
- Nancy Tran
- Marylin Try
- Kordell Tan
- Justin Marquez
Group 12
- Jennifer Lee
- Hunter Mervosh
- Gina Householder
- Erick Diaz
- Brandon Nhem
- Natalie Guevara
Group 13
- Maison Chiu
- Christine Kim
- Catherine Chin
- Bez Middleton
- Anthony Estalilla
- Alexander Lucero
Group 14
- Lainie Le
- Helen Lee
- Carlos Cucufate
- Rosa Velazquez
- Andrew Andrade
- Jennifer Garcia
Group 15
- Glenda Castillo
- Enrique Plascencia
- Joshua Hyun
- Enrique Vega
- Alyssa Castro
- Alfonso Madrigal
Group 16
- Alanna Godinez
- Gabriela Hernandez
- Aaron Valenzuela
- Margarita Reyna
- Dominique Gomez
- Francesca Butler
Group 17
- Jazlyn Tabar
- Jesus Viramontes
- Megan Stevens
- Valentina Ramirez
- Kyu Jung Lee
- Ashley Batres
Group 18
- Lorena Rubalcava
- Cynthia Esquivias
- Martin Diaz
- Leon Phung
- Vanessa Betancourt
- Ramtin Yousefi
Group 19
- Meng Chu
- Hannah Mandias
- Jessica Addonizio
- Jonathan Behzadian
- Carlos Madrigal
- Christian Aguirre
Group 20
- Jerry Pleitz
- Shayenne Prasad
- Rejina Hernandez
- Marlon Fernandes
- Brianna Hastie
- Daniella Galindo
Group 21
- Kimberly Gutierrez
- Gregory Plantenga
- Patrick Dong
- Daniel Bursch
- Sean Hernandez
- Ciprian Robielos
- Andrew Hana
Covers different reasons for doing the graffiti – political like in South Africa or for personal expression like in Japan. The style of art has a lot of similarities but it’s different in different places; for example, in Tokyo the style was more cartoonish or like anime while in Berlin it was more focused on writing names and the French use a lot of posters. We found it surprising how dedicated artists in London were to their art because they had to disguise themselves and hide in plain sight to make their art. Although the artists were from different places, the artists all had similar drives to make graffiti: to express themselves. Over time, people’s motives for doing graffiti can change; for example the woman in Tokyo changed from hateful art to more joyous, loving art for her baby. In South Africa, graffiti started off as a political statement and later changed to be more for personal expression than for political reasons.
Group 3:
John Stouras
Jing Huan Ooi
Sam Tan
Aaron Satterfield
Tiffany Van Gilder
Ngozi Ekwedike
Group 15
Glenda Castillo
Enrique Plascencia
Joshua Hyun
Enrique Vega
Alyssa Castro
Alfonso Madrigal
Graffiti is seen as a negative performance throughout a lot of cultures, however it gives certain people a chance to express themselves. Graffiti gives a voice to those that cannot be heard, however, some people use graffiti in negative ways. Therefore, the art of graffiti depends on one’s perspective. Some might see it as vandalism, while others might see it as a way to express yourself. We believe that graffiti should be controlled, and there should be certain areas that are used specifically for graffiti. This way there will be no issue with vandalism.
Group 4:
After watching the Bomb It video, our group agreed that in all of the countries, most of their work revolved around political arguments. For example, in Amsterdam it revolved around no personal privacy in public places and they had to do their tagging in secret to revolve around the government. In Paris, most of their work revolved around poverty and the separation of races. We also found it very interesting to see the different types of art in the various countries but they all tagged for the same reason. Most of the artists felt like they didn’t care about the consequences from the law, they felt the statement from their art was more important then a fine or 2-3 years in prison. As a group, we agree that tagging is a beautiful form of art and if there were more places to do it legally, less people would go out of their way to break the law.
Leslie Echiveste
Jayson Fields
Eduardo Castillo
Destiny Farihi
Tareena Woods
group 18
vanessa betancourt
Martin Diaz
Leon Phung
Lorena Rubalcava
although different locations, each art expressed an emotion. some pieces more angry than others while some very joyful.Most artists felt that putting graffiti in a gallery would be the death of graffiti. The guy in France said there’s places where graffiti fits in and places where it doesn’t. Capetown had more hip hop style of graffiti, in France the work was more full of anger, and in Tokyo the art style was very much as anime would be. In cape town the graffiti was seen as art where as in other locations graffiti is sometimes seen as vandalism. Most government want to keep their city clean they tried in many way to stop graffiti, the punishment are various like 2-3 years in jail or a lot of money charge.
Group 21
Kimberly Gutierrez
Gregory Plantenga
Patrick Dong
Daniel Bursch
Sean Hernandez
Ciprian Robielos
Andrew Hana
Hi! My name is Patrick. After watching the document of graffiti, my group and I agree with the fact, as stated in the video, that many people of different countries tag for various purposes/reasons. One purpose is to rant, one is to express themselves due to their abusive past where they’ve been lied to. Another reason is to pass on any specific message to the society especially politically because they feel like their lives and freedoms are restricted, although they have more freedom than those of the past generations. To us, we believe it’s one of the real forms of art and expression that can be better understood by the authority figures because nowadays, not many authority figures take action to make the lives of the people better but to achieve their own self-interests, putting the lives of the people on a worse path. Therefore, even though not many people can read graffiti, the form of graffiti can be attractive to many others.
Group 9:
The film showed diffrent ways graffiti could be used by artists. Some artists did it to make a social commentary or to make a political statement; Others artists used it as an outlet to channel their emotions. Even though the video showed different countries, they all had the same intentions. Each person makes their own political statement for their right to spray paint.
David Brown
Cassandra Topete
Xiomara Brenes
Devon Carus
Group 6
Charles Watson
Amber Bolden
Aaron Dela Rosa
William Luna
Shannon McGuinness
Reuben William Dyce
One of the most interesting things our group found in the video is the graffiti pieces with more “substance”. Specifically, rather than names or pieces that promote violation, the editor highlights several pieces/ types of people who creates art as a form of political statement/ positive attitude. For example, the residences of Cape Town, South Africa, shows a positive perspective of art despite the environment around them. They show their pieces in a deeper meaning rather than simply tagging their names on the streets.
From our understanding, graffiti is a form of art. Although it can lead to potential complications, one solution to the occurring problem is to have every city to open a section of “public” graffiti for the public. The art can show deep meaning when presented for peace/ in a public sector rather then done illegally as it can be assumed as menacing. From places like abandoned buildings or open walls, having designated places is better than having open access to pollute the area with spray paint.
We thought that graffiti is a sensitive subject. We think that people who are wanting to send a message against oppression represent the good part of graffiti art. Those who deface national monuments or use vulgar language, misuse graffiti art. It was interesting to see how the environment around the artists changed the artist’s art over time. It was also interesting to see how graffiti is used as an outlet for people who are suffering. So often we hear such bad things about it, but it can actually be used in a positive way to unite suffering people. The first guy in paris was especially interesting because he shed a positive light on graffiti as an art. He was respectful in asking the homeless if they would mind if he put up his art, and he used his stencils to bring awareness to the poverty in paris. The people in Germany were on the other side of the graffiti controversy because they used graffiti out of anger. All in all graffiti isn’t black and white, there are arguments for both sides of the story.
Group 5
Symon Pallett
RaVen Montgomery
Nicole Chovit
Julio Garcia
Haley Anderson
Florenz Francis Baltazar
We found the video “Bomb it” interesting as it explored various cultures and cities around the world that used graffiti art. Some cities like Cape Town employed this art form to make political statements against the oppression of the Birtish government. We thought it was interesting how one graffiti artist from London made statements about how public spaces were invaded by the surveillance. Some individuals use this art form to spread their name and reputation. We observed how there was a wide range of motivations among the graffiti artists whether it was for the aesthetics, political statements, or for increasing personal reputation. We realized that spray paint is a difficult medium in which control would be harder to achieve because of its aerosol quality. Along with this observation we discussed how graffiti art can have tendencies to isolate and be exclusive because certain images or word may not be understood by everyone. And how they say “Earth without ART is EH”.
Lainie Le
Helen Lee
Carlos Cucufate
Rosa Velazquez
Andrew Andrade
Jennifer Garcia
GROUP 12
We as a group see graffiti as an art form. We believe that there should be designated places for artists to graffiti on like in Venice beach. It was interesting to see how the graffiti in the U.S has spread across the sea and evolved into its own art style. As for the film, we liked Tokyo’s presentation of graffiti and the woman’s story of how graffiti changed her life once going through cancer and having a child. We also liked Cape Town’s presentation where the artists, gave the town a nice touch by adding their art that the locals have never seen themselves.
Jennifer Lee
Hunter Mervosh
Gina Householder
Erick Diaz
Brandon Nhem
Natalie Guevara
Group 13
Maison Chiu
Christine Kim
Catherine Chin
Bez Middleton
Anthony Estalilla
Alexander Lucero
Graffiti is a threat to the system, when used as propaganda. We believe that aside from the assumption that graffiti is gang-affiliated, graffiti is made illegal because of the impact it could have on society. Graffiti a powerful and the government is intimidated by it. If we lived in a world filled with graffiti as a form of expression, our world would be chaotic. Two of the group members have personally gone out and painted. Each member had a different experience but both people did not harm anyone in the process of putting up their art.
After watching the clip about graffiti from many different countries, we came to a conclusion that graffiti was more an extension of an artist’s life, rather than a form of expression. Most of the government in other countries saw graffiti as an illegal crime and people were judged and had to be on the down low. The artist could be fined or jailed for 2-3 years if they were caught. The graffiti artist from Japan used to graffiti a lot of art dealing with hate, but after she had her son she changed. Her artwork were more bubbly, joyful, and animated. She said she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t graffiti. A lot of these artists are pulled to a position where it becomes a part of them, as a lot of them come from a place where tagging was the only thing that provided an emotional outlet to which they can let out their feeling.
Group 11:
Nancy Tran
Marylin Try
Kordell Tan
Cheryl Peng
Justin Marquez
Group 10:
Elijah Yee
Jonathan Ramos
Hilario Saucedo
Leah Perez
Our group is conflicted as some of us believe that graffiti is a necessary art that should be displayed while others believe that it should be kept away from public areas. From the movie, we like seeing how graffiti is an art that is actually taking place all over the world. Graffiti is a self-expressing, rebellious art that serves to deliver a message. Although some messages are positive, others can be taken as hateful and discomforting for the public.
Group 2
Valerie Laslo
Tyler Kedis
Elizabeth Moledo
Annie Ronning
Kyle Shishido
Katherine Shinno
We found it interesting that each country had it's own way of interpreting what graffiti art meant. Come countries such as France saw it as a way of letting their voices be heard. The young bombers in France said that they never get a voice which seems unlike our country where the youth has voice, or at least, we feel like what we say and do is important. The graffiti bombers in Tokyo seemed to do it more for fun. One young man said that he did it because it was fun to expose the "holes in the system." Each had different views but none of them saw graffiti as a bad thing. When we think bad, we think of something like gang-related tagging to mark territory. Personally, none of us think that any of the graffiti represented in the video was a "bad" thing. It was appropriate. We discussed how as long there's good intention (ex: political stance against corruption or expressing emotion) we feel that it is appropriate. Every form of art has it's own reason and audience for existing. Sometimes we don't understand art, and that's fine. But there's an audience for graffiti art and it means something to them.
GROUP 12
We as a group see graffiti as an art form. We believe that there should be designated places for artists to graffiti on like in Venice beach. It was interesting to see how the graffiti in the U.S has spread across the sea and evolved into its own art style. As for the film, we liked Tokyo’s presentation of graffiti and the woman’s story of how graffiti changed her life once going through cancer and having a child. We also liked Cape Town’s presentation where the artists, gave the town a nice touch by adding their art that the locals have never seen themselves.
Jennifer Lee
Hunter Mervosh
Gina Householder
Erick Diaz
Brandon Nhem
Natalie Guevara
We found that it was interesting that when people are shown picture of other countries, they don’t show you that side of it, the graffiti side. We learned that graffiti to the people who do it means a way to break free to fight the government or show a politcal. Each country had its own theme and style that was shown. Japan had like an animated syle and Africa had like a war/ politcal style. In Paris and Africa the graffiti was for the poor and homeless people to give them something to hold on too. Mostly everyone seems ok with graffiti, but the only people who have a problem with it seems to be the government. But sometime graffiti gives a neighborhood a sketchy vibe. We think graffiti is fine, it expresses something to the artist and can express something to the individual person, but there should be limits; like not at an active schools, churches, historical places, or grave yards.
Group 8
Molly Poyer
Mia Miller
Maria Barreda
Jamie Filosa
Francisco Miranda
Elida Ramirez
We observed in the video the recurring idea that each artist used the graffiti to express themselves. Despite it being illegal they felt that it was a necessary action to take to explore their liberties and rights. One artist in particular touched on the fact that the graffiti is used for social purposes rather than political. All of the artist from other parts of the world had the commonality that they used the graffiti to represent their cultures at that time. Some artists use their at work to show social issues that are going on that not many people know about so they try to inform the public of what’s going on behind close doors. Some pieces of work could show how issues could be resolved and other just show how the issues are getting bigger and bigger while no one is doing anything about it.
Group 16 :
Gabriela Hernandez
Aaron Valenzuela
Margarita Reyna
Dominique Gomez
Francesca Butler
GROUP 1:
Madison Braverman
Daniella Garcia
Christopher Moore
Tiffany Tran
Adilene Leon
Although graffiti has been a controversial issue in the world, we conversed about how we think graffiti should be allowed in many areas such as down town cities, open alleys or billboards, but not in residential suburban areas. For countless people graffiti is a way they express their creativity.We believe there is a place and a time for everything. Graffiti can be extremely beautiful as well as viewed as damaging to ones property. In London, we discussed how the citizens truly pushed the boundaries of what the government wanted and added graffiti in a positive way and we loved that. Graffiti is an art form that can truly enhance an area with beautiful images and unique designs. Although, in most places graffiti is illegal, we think there should be more areas where people can use their graffiti dexterity, as it is a way people add positive art to different areas.
In the film “Bomb It”, we were introduced to the interesting world of “bombing”. We gathered that the act of bombing or tagging was much more than just messing up a wall for the hell of it. Bombing happens all over the world in many different countries dealing with their own complicated social and political issues. Many of the artists view their art as an act of resistance against racial inequality or governmental injustice. We think that it also may stem from a much deeper internal motivation that resonates within the artists childhood or upbringing. One of the artists featured in the film mentioned that members of his group were like his family, and that he would do anything to protect them and to make sure their voices were heard. On the aspect of the morality and legality of defacing property, we think that it is dependent on the appropriateness of the situation and the meaning behind the tags. For example,we believe that gang-related tagging would not be acceptable, however, tagging that promotes a sense of equality or social reform in effort to bring upon change would be a great example of the power that tagging and bombing has for a better cause.
Group 7
Rebekah Johnson
Bianca Dominguez
Regan K. Cameron
Christopher Chadwick
Anthony Sanchez
Chris Williams
Group 17
Various parts of the world give different perspectives, experiences, and symbols, however the graffiti itself had similar fonts (bubbly, characters, initials, etc) around the world. Graffiti is subjective, depending on who is doing it. The reason, we think, graffiti is happening is because people have found a new medium of expression, to express and share the varied takes on opinions, political views, expression of feelings towards something important, or to some people graffiti art is life. We think graffiti should remain illegal because it gives more meaning and value to the art, since there is that “restraint”, the air of rebelling, from going against people who think they can control everything.
Graffiti is a more accessible expression compared to other mediums as well since there is no right or structured way to express yourself with it. The art varies from spray paint, to liquid paint, to stenciling, and goes beyond using walls but also making signs and other city installations.
Kyu Lee
Jazlyn Tabar
Ashley Batres
Valentina Ramirez
Jesus Viramontes
Megan Stevens
We were all really inspired by the graffiti artist’s and their work. Jess personally supports their cause, and we agreed that the authorities shouldn’t be able to restrict art expression in public places. Our favorite locations from the film were Tokyo and Capetown. The graffiti artist from Tokyo who was inspired by her son for her artwork was especially inspiring to our group. We thought how her work went from hate and angst to joy and love was especially powerful and beautiful. The power of artwork was especially strong when she discussed how graffiti saved her life, and continued to help her power through the struggles of her life. Cape Town also had some powerful emotions about how it is important to be able to express yourself and send positive messages. To fight against the authorities that try to control the way things are, and how we should think. We think graffiti is a positive way of getting messages out and supporting causes, as long as it is positive and not negative. Graffiti also depends on audience, it’s just Ike music, most people love pop songs but there is also groups who like heavy metal music. No one should negate graffiti just because they dont like it.
Hannah Mandias
Jessica Addonizio
Meng Chu
^ forgot to mention that our group is 19
GROUP 20
Jerry Pleitz
Shayenne Prasad
Rejina Hernandez
Marlon Fernandes
Brianna Hastie
Daniella Galindo
The world that we live in today has condemned the world of graffiti. our group thought that graffiti is not usually gang related, more so artist inspired. originally only thought of as used in the ghettoes the video brought to light that graffiti is everywhere no matter how rich or poor the neighborhood. Blank spaces to an artist is like a blank board waiting to be filled with color. to some graffiti artist this way of expression helps release a certain stress, maybe it the fear of being caught doing what you love. we think that graffiti is in-fact beautiful art with the obvious restriction that its not conveying the wrong kind of idea, this art normally brings alive a space that would otherwise be a blank boring space. Finally, some graffiti is hard to understand, maybe that is not meant for a certain audience, what we are trying to get to here is that this could be a type of code that was only meant for a certain group of people.