Issue date: 9/30/08 Section: Culture

Media Credit: Gabbi Campos / Daily Lobo Joe Sullivan tags a wall Monday at Central Avenue and Morningside Drive.

Only lawyers and painters can change black to white, attorney Joseph Sullivan said.

He said attorneys change their arguments from case to case, just like graffiti artists can change their medium from wall to canvas.

Sullivan will be among several artists featured at Bomb the Canvas, an art exposition designed to illustrate hip-hop culture through graffiti. There will also be DJs and break dancing. The exhibit will open at the North Fourth Art Center at 4904 Fourth St. on Friday and run through Oct. 26.

Sullivan, who helped organize the event, said graffiti is a stigmatized form of artistic expression. But artists in the community are working to educate society on graffiti's artistic value.

Featured artist Helin "Mooxie" Montgomery said she is tired of hearing people's disdain for graffiti artists.

Montgomery said she hopes the event will alter the way the art form is seen in the community but doubts opinions will shift overnight.

"I don't think that it is going to change, but I think that everyone is getting more exposed to it," Montgomery said. "I think that every time you do something, an event or write about it, it does change it a little bit. It gets a little more appreciated every time."

Sullivan never went to art school but said art teachers inspired him to see beauty in everything around him. They saw something in graffiti, and that inspired Sullivan to host events like Bomb the Canvas.

"When I'm standing here in an alleyway and the police are walking by and the crackheads are walking by and people want to talk - that is why you do this," he said.

Sullivan said graffiti is a way for artists to immerse themselves in the urban environment. The drawback of an event like Bomb the Canvas is it takes graffiti art out of its natural habitat, he said.

"If I'm doing this on my canvas, I don't get to meet any of the police officers, and I don't get to meet any of the crackheads," he said. "I don't get to meet anyone in this neighborhood and explain to them why this is important."

Bomb the Canvas may be the product of a subculture catering to the demands of the community, but it is a way to document the progression of an artist. Artists who have seen their work painted over by city street teams or dragged away on boxcars have a method of preserving their work and documenting the progression of their style, Sullivan said.

As an attorney and artist Sullivan said he knows the reputation of graffiti art overshadows graffiti artists' skills.

"Graffiti artists are bad. Graffiti artists are very, very bad," he said, jokingly. "They don't pay attention to rules, and they push the envelope, and they change black to white. I'm an upstanding member of the community, and I believe we need to find means to control them. It is like herding cats."


Bomb the Canvas

Thursday
Pre-party at the Stove
8 p.m.-2 a.m.

Friday
Gallery Reception
North Fourth Art Center
4904 Fourth St.
5 p.m.-8 p.m.

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