An illegible tag scrawled upon the facade of a local business might be viewed as an act of vandalism by some. While to others, it may be seen as a welcome installation of artistic expression tinting our urban landscape.
Downtown Fort Wayne and surrounding neighborhoods have witnessed an upsurge of visible graffiti within the last year, and some local business owners have expressed their opinions regarding what delineates art and vandalism.
Morrison Agen, owner of Neat Neat Neat Records, is among the business community who criticized, “I think that it’s destructive and cheapens our community. It makes us feel like we are less in control of our community.”
Having had his shop window tagged a couple of months ago, Agen did not think highly of the tagger’s quality of work. “It definitely wasn’t artistic,” he stated. “It looked like somebody was signing their name in some very stylized format.”
Speculating on possible meanings of property defacement, Agen said, “I don’t necessarily think it’s gang related. But it does let the door open for more visible gang activity to occur. When we allow a couple of people to ‘ghettofy’ our city, it gives permission for all these other outside groups who really do mean to cause detriment to come in and lay claim to it.”
Kathy Choka is the General Manager of Coney Island. She spoke of the graffiti that is currently visible above her downtown location: “It makes me unhappy. It shows a disregard for other people’s property.”
Due to her property’s proximity to the Republican headquarters, Choka felt that graffiti could have some political commentary. “One time a few years ago someone vandalized the building next door with the line: ‘We will be herd,’ and they spelled it h-e-r-d. I thought, ‘learn how to read and write if you want to be heard!’”
Jes Farris, Owner of Studio 13 Downtown, generally enjoys street art. “Some of the stuff I see pop up is art, some of it is just vandalism. That’s where we run into that fine line, what is art to me and what is art to another local business owner?”
To Farris, art is “anything created that appeals to my likes and interests.” He noted, “A quick handstyle on the window of a locally owned business is vandalism. A nicely done piece on a vacant or abandoned building can be artwork.”
However, Farris would like to see more respect paid to local business owners. “There are a lot of empty buildings in our area; most of them don’t welcome affordable shops. So, some of those walls would be a great place to see color brought into our downtown area.”
Like any other shop owner, Farris certainly does not want to take time or potential customers away from his business by having to clean graffiti from his building.
Part of Studio 13′s operations include an art gallery, which Farris and his associates have been using to embrace more contemporary styles of art. By promoting this avenue, Farris hopes to “provide an outlet to make sure that street artists are recognized as artists versus being vandals.”
Continuum Art Gallery is also working to benefit more nontraditional art forms. With their recent and successful “Tag the Walls” event, the gallery hosted community members and street artists who wanted to show off their handiwork in a welcoming environment.
Al Martin and Veronica Gabet, curators for the gallery, remarked that “street artists are trying to find a way to do their artwork without it being considered vandalism. Most street artists are law abiding citizens. They are just trying to express themselves.”
The curators pointed out that most traditional galleries are hesitant to accept graffiti as a valid art form, which may contribute to the rise in subversive and illegal acts.
Continuum plans to host another “Tag the Walls” event on a larger scale in the near future.
Choka agreed that not all graffiti is vandalism: “I think it can be art.” She said, “Some of these people have real talent!” Though she is in favor of graffiti exhibited in more positive ways.
By accommodating graffiti museums, more inclusive galleries, public spaces or even merit-based scholarships, Choka believes that the city could support the art form while encouraging bright futures for those interested in street art.
“Of course there is room to celebrate street art,” Agen asserted. “There are places and times where it can be displayed appropriately. But the vast majority of crap that I’ve seen around the city―is not street art; it seems like tagging for the sake of tagging.”
To be sure, many local business owners are not dismissive of street art’s potential to add to the canvas of our city. Still, most would rather see it done more constructively. According to Agen, “Whether that be on public or donated walls, fine … just not on my building, thank you.”
