Arts & Entertainment
 

Graf writers turn vandalism into works of art

Since '92, Aerosol Warfare has used Houston's blank walls, artistic vision to turn local art scene upside down

On the scenes

Dusti Rhodes
 

Mickey Phoenix was in the beginning stages of fixing up an old school house she was planning on calling home. As she returned from the lumber store she discovered that she was not the only one with redecorating plans. 

She pulled up in her driveway and found two guys with a trunk full of Krylon cans ready to resurface her building.

"I got into to kinda of a tiff with them like ‘hey what are you doing, this is my building, you can't paint here.' And they're going "well hey, we do graffiti can we paint somewhere,' so I told them they could go behind that building," Mickey said, motioning to a wall on the other side of her shop where a building that has been demolished since once stood.

She added, "I thought they were just goofy little kids ... I thought ‘oh they don't know what they're doing,' well they painted and it blew me away, I mean it absolutely blew me away."

Over ten years later the two boys, now grown men, are still creating the writing on the walls. In the backyard of Mickey's schoolhouse sits "the wall of fame," a safe haven for some of Houston's most misunderstood artists: graffiti writers.

Gonzo247, Merge, NME Bezerk, Color, Speed Merge, Bristle, Monk Caps Witness, Jester, and the Reverend Butter, along with Mickey may sound like a list of characters from some sort of urban version of Snow White, but in reality they are the members of Aerosol Warfare, a local graffiti crew trying to create a happy ending for graf writers everywhere.

Aerosol had its first art show in 1992, and began having at least one art show a year after that.

"It took us a whole year's worth of planning and we wasted a lot of money ... now we have ‘em like every other month. The scene is better, there are more places out there that are open to us, the exposure that we do have helps us get more gallery space," said NME, Christian Azul, at the 2003 Art Crawl, which featured "the wall of fame."

Although many see graffiti as a selfish art form in which the artist's main goal is to get their name where everyone can see it, the members of Aerosol quickly diminish any notion that graf is all about the writer. The crew aims to share their art with the people and help out other local artists as well.

The crew's latest addition to the line up, Jester, uses the skills he learned as a graf writer to tag his hard drive with designs on the group's Web site.

Tim Jester was born in New Jersey but moved to Houston when he was in high school. He began writing graffiti when he was a teenager. 

He said that after skateboarding he and a friend would just paint anarchy symbols and a rat's skull and crossbones, a signature of the Powell Skate Company. He became more serious about the art after seeing a friend's sketchbook and has used graffiti as his artistic outlet ever since.

You might not think a 38-year-old man with a child's car seat in his trunk would be involved with a graffiti crew, but Jester said that he used his artistic abilities and graf work to earn him a degree and a career. 

Jester was stationed in Germany for the Army from ‘85 to ‘89, but he kept up with graffiti and gained the admiration of the locals.

"These girls I used to hang out with knew that I wrote and said ‘hey can you paint my car,'" said Jester.

Jester added, "when they went back to school they said all the kids wanted their cars painted but they said they wouldn't tell them who it was because they wanted to be the only ones."

When he got home he enrolled at UH and graduated with a degree in graphic design. These days the alumnus works for Continental Airlines. 

About a year ago he became a member of the crew when he started doing Web and flyer designs for Aerosol. 

He features his own art pieces at Aerosol events and continues to design the crew's Web site. His most recent showing was in China at a Paul Frank sponsored event. 

Jester said if graffiti is going to be taken seriously today, then kids need to concentrate more on developing their skill and less on getting famous.

He said that crews like Aerosol are doing what is needed to bring the art form the respect it deserves by showing it in a positive light and not just as vandalism.

As of now Aerosol Warfare is on a break and trying to spend more time planning their shows and elevating their efforts.

Jester says that Aerosol is hoping to expand out of Houston and eventually do national and international tours. 

For more information on Aerosol Warfare and to check out Jester's "graphiti" go to www.aerosolwarfare.com.

Rhodes writes a weekly column about local arts & entertainment. 
Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu.