Dynamic Street Art

By J.W.

On the section of the bike path betwixt and between Willamette and Danebo, there is a plethora of canvases in which to choose from. Technically, but no formally, this section of Eugene is basically the industrial side. It’s easiest to find the back of buildings that no one would notice, or perhaps care to notice. There is also what could be called a “free yard” along the bike path where many hone their skills, a liminal space in which you are safe to create.
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Folklorist Joseph Martin O’Connell just sent in this large-eyed view of graffiti in Indiana, which begs the question: does such graffiti operate within the same symbol systems and reference points as urban graffiti — the mediated context? Likely not, yet there still may be equal parts authorship, appropriation, agency, and autonomy imbedded not-so-latently in the work. Are these writers also “hiding in the light,” offering visual “booby-traps,” and creating DIY media? Perhaps re-colonized storehouses turned into bulletin boards of love and aspiration? Are they working within an alternative system of prestige, attempting to disseminate a sense of self and desire?