graffiti

july 31 - september 19th, 2009
mainspace @ artspace

Artspace continues to bring cutting edge art exhibitions to northwest Louisiana, like its current exhibit, Graffiti. 

Graffiti, open through Sept. 19, is a dramatic display of Graffiti Art that will cover not only the interior of Artspace, but also spread outside with huge vinyls adorning the buildings and sidewalks in the 700 block of Texas Street in downtown Shreveport. The pieces will be created by professional graffiti artists, ELSE from Los Angeles and PUBERT from Arizona, who will work with a selected team of local artists and art students. 

The exhibition also will include a collection of art borrowed from ?Full Time Artists;' photography of Graffiti by Mike Silva; Will Tuft's photographic images of the famously anonymous Banksy's work in New Orleans; and a documentary of local graffiti and its impact on our community by artist Robert Trudeau. 

Graffiti is a dramatic display of Graffiti art that will cover not only the interior of artspace but spread outside with huge vinyls adorning the outside walls of artspace and sidewalks in the 700 block of Texas Street. The centerpieces were created by professional Graffiti artists, ELSE from California and PUBERT from Phoenix , who will work with a selected team of local artists and students.

"Graffiti is probably the most controversial exhibit artspace has undertaken... there are many who consider graffiti to be vandalism and can't imagine it as art... this exhibition will offer people the chance to see graffiti in a different light." Steve Ross, Exhibition Chairman.

Professional graffiti artists, ELSE and PUBERT take up residency in Shreveport for two weeks from Saturday, July 18th through Friday, July 31st.

ELSE was born in New York and moved to LA at an early age. He began drawing simple bubble letters and by 5th grade was drawing graffiti, copying Hip Hop album covers. Later, having become embroiled in the LA Gang culture ELSE spent a number of years in prison. He went away for his first prison term at the age of eighteen, yet throughout, his graffiti career kept growing. There were times ELSE thought he would be lost to prison and gang life forever, but with determination he kept painting and building an ever-growing fan base. ELSE realized that Graffiti was not only an opportunity for him to get out of the gang life but it was also an opportunity to reach out and help kids like himself to have an easier time in life, or maybe learn from his mistakes. ELSE now works with non-profit organizations; reaching out to "at risk youths" and active gang members to try and help them transition into a healthy lifestyle. He continues to paint, now having worldwide recognition and fan base, and plans on never stopping and trying his best to always push the boundaries of graffiti and help legitimize graffiti as an industry. ELSE's credits include: Disney's corporate office "House of Mouse"; a large mural for DJ Collette for House Bunny; LA'S Sharpie show featuring Craola Simkins and collaborative works with Zoo York. In addition he has painted various murals and assists with outreach programs and legal graffiti yards.

Influenced by the infamous SEEN among other historic Graffiti artists, Sam Rivas, aka "PUBERT," is devoted to the art of graffiti. He has 21 years of experience painting in the areas of Los Angeles and Phoenix .