Ars: časopis Ústavu Dejín Umenia Slovenskej Akadémie Vied (43.2010)

7. Gf<A<aK37 La/A?'??.' 17%/z'Ag 200& PAňt* c/ G. L%/z^.

in a sometimes-anonymous relational exchange that
spanned the entirety of the greater New York City
metropolitan area.
Out of this cultural development came a sériés
of styles, progressions, and, most importantly, dif-
fering groups or conglomérâtes of individuals that
attempted to claim as much of the space of the city
as possible in order to be read anywhere and every-
where. That this development cornes on the heels
of the origins of mass media and billboard culture,
what Debord called the "WYTy 0/ is
no accident. These were people, specihcally youth,
who had become tired of being told what to like and
who they shouid look like. Many youths rebelled and
created a cultural expression that has now become
a worldwide mode of expression that is as varied as
it is controllcd.
Landin comments that he believes the tags that
are rampant within many urban centers, Montréal
included, are destructive and do nothing for the
average person. Nonetheless, the artist States that

hc personally loves graffiti and critiques the script
value of each artisťs composition. But because of the
very nature of graffiti, its inherent reliance on skill
and style, he wished to create work outside of the
insular world of the writer. As such, Tandin argues
that by creating something within the environment
that people are going to accept and enjoy, a moment
is offered where creativity and communal bond may
supersede the consistent label of vandalism associ-
ated to Street art practicesA
Landin is représentative of a growing number
of artists who do not want anythmg to do with
graffiti and do not want to be associated with it.
Regardless of his disassociation from the practice,
he nonetheless recognizes the induence of writing
as a prominent one from his youth. For Landin,
freedom of expression is the principal empowerment
apparent within writing or graffiti, but because it is
accomplished for themselves and the other writers
who look at their work — which is very similar to
the upper échelons of the elitist contemporary art
world, also centered within New York City -, they
are artists who are représentative of another kind
of urban public sphere(s) or, potentially, an entirely
separate 'Art World".
Regardless, the principal and inRuential aspect of
graffiti and its carryover into other Street art practices
is the way in which graffiti acts as a microcosm of
the public realm. Rather than being anti-capitalist or
subversive of the dominant order, I would argue these
practices are a direct correlate and logical descendent
of spectacle based capital. Graffiti is représentative of
the moment where agents become active contribu-
tors to their environments, as opposed to passive
récipients. Their own private interests become public
spectacle, mirroring the elitism of civic authority.
By creating expressions that are sanctioned by their
own conglomérâtes, policing their own zones, and
actively dehning greater society, New York City graf-
fiti artists are représentative of the initial explosions
of guerilla and viral marketing tactics that currendy
pcrsonify contemporary advertising practices. These
were artists who understood the capitalist economy
of spectacle to such a degree that they created their
own private spectacle, activated in the public realm.

35 LANDIN 2008 (see m note 2).

78