InsideOut Gallery features on the wall art

By Carol South
Special to the Record-Eagle

May 14, 2008 04:00 am

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Vandalism or art?

Rooted in urban despair, graffiti has evolved over the decades into an art form that has renowned practitioners, a technical vocabulary and an enthusiastic subculture.

The warehouse district of Traverse City will be an epicenter of the genre Saturday during the Street Art Jam: The Art of Spray Paint event. A gathering featuring graffiti artists from the area, European spray paint and vinyl canvases, the fair begins at noon and runs until enthusiasm wanes.

Organizer Alan Newton, who helped create the first Street Art Jam two years ago, wants to both share the art form and provide an acceptable outlet for artists. When he approached InsideOut Gallery owner Mike Curths, he received was instant green light for an event that will also feature a pig roast, a DJ, break dancing and skateboarding demos

"You like the stuff but people are messing up people's space so the idea is let's get this out where we can enjoy it, make it legitimate," said Newton. "What happened is a lot of these kids really love to do this and they want to make money doing this."

Generally graffiti artists are self-taught and while some have gone mainstream -- branching out into other art forms -- most remain in the shadows.

"What's exciting to me is always the energy from the art," added Newton, an area photographer. "I like naive art, untrained art -- there's an energy to it that comes through from the artists."

Newton will have seven oversized vinyl canvases mounted outside the gallery for artists to create on using paints provided. One canvas will be set aside for the public to try their hand at the form.

The informal, fluid format is intended to nurture creative energy.

"If we need more space, we'll cut one off and duct tape it to the building and put up another," said Newton.

Artist Steve Cattin of Traverse City has already made his mark at the InsideOut Gallery -- literally.

He and friend Lee Anderson, who together comprise the artistic partnership Cover Up, generated an oversize mural on an external wall. Featuring stylized letters spelling out the gallery's name, Anderson's specialty, and creatures spawned in Cattin's imagination, the mural will be the backdrop to the Street Art Jam.

Cattin lived in Switzerland until he was 19 and was captivated by the pervasive graffiti in European cities.

"Every city over there has graffiti art so you're exposed to it a lot more than here," he said. "Illegal graffiti artists have come a long way and they've learned certain artistic value from it."

While the art form dates back to cave men writing on walls, the modern tradition of graffiti originated as an outlet for expressing anger or disenfranchisement. Now street artists tend to have either a political or an artistic flair to their work.

Cattin comes down firmly in the artistic camp.

"Different artists have different reasons for doing their graffiti," he noted. "I want to have it out there for people to see it -- it's more of an art form to me than a political movement."

The InsideOut Gallery is located at 229 Garland St. For more information, call 929-3254 or see their Web site at www.insideoutgallery.com.

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