False Static

Buford Youthward
[email protected]

This years' myths are passing fancies. The regurgitation of the past is the main constant when one considers how often old myths dressed in today's fashion become the bossa nova. But implication and simplification are constants as well.

Let's take a look at the latter and examine how it relates to the designated medium.

If getting to the essence of experience is all that matters, the process mandates simplification. Effective simplification requires clarification of the essential. It all goes hand in hand.

Graffiti as a medium for the everyman may appear as the camouflaged trivialization of deep issues but, at closer inspection, a multi-layered assault on the status quo can be detected. The what-when-where-how and who we are.

No, graff makes no gestures at the coup detat or overthrow, for all movements with that at aim in mind are false. Graffiti acts as the liberator of property, more specifically the borders of property.

Two mindsets: 1) Property is freed when individuals are empowered. 2) Individuals are freed when property is empowered. Revolutions are never televised they are merely fodder for broadcast.

Broadcast companies broadcast images, we as consumers, invest the meaning. How different is that from a viewer blitzed by a liberated wall?

Media has no investment in us, we invest in our media. The medium may very well be the message but the message is always about the process.

The world divides our perception of the process; it is up to the individual to multiply the process, examine limitations and extract what is essential. The media we consume shapes the way we think. Thoughts breed actions. Actions define individuals. This is the only revolution that matters.

The best that any medium has to offer is the ability for an individual to create a conversation with the world. It is up to the individual to make this dialogue special. Graffiti, like all existential documents, offers the perception that the dialogue is static, but nothing can be further from the truth.

Be conscious of your medium. "Choose your medium as you choose your lover," is an oft heard quote in some circles.

It's just a necessary step, for how can you enjoy the dance of the flames without feeling the heat?

Read more in Byline

Art Crimes Front Page