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"Tag
the Land (Collector's Rental Car)" R-print
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"Tag
the Land (Port-a-Potty)," R-print |
"Tag
the Land (Propane Tank, Catered Lunch Tent)," R-print
"Tag
the Land (Bench for Viewing Public Art)," R-print
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Tag
the Land (Mission School Alter-Ego)
2003
Photographs
documenting sight-specific placement of contact paper "Syjuco"
graffiti, Nevada City, California
BACKGROUND
In May of 2003, a three-day inaugural event was held to celebrate
the beginning of the For-Site project, a nonprofit artist-in-residence
program founded by Cheryl
Haines Gallery. Located in the hilly forests of Nevada City,
California, the event guests included over 100 prominent Bay Area
collectors, gallerists, and museum curators and administrators.
Haines Gallery artists were invited to create site-specific works
to compliment the landscape.
PROJECT STATEMENT
Graffiti,
or "tagging" is a part of the urban landscape, and can
be perceived as a visual nuisance or a form of personal expression.
The rise of recognition of graffiti work by the larger artworld
(especially in San Francisco, where some of the more popular artists
of the newly-dubbed "Mission School" started off addressing urban
spaces with murals and tags) is an interesting, if sometimes problematic,
crossover. With "Signature Pieces," I wanted to address the odd
push-pull of tensions that exists between the intersections of
these "high" and "low" art worlds--what does it mean when artwork
that starts off being "transgressive" starts becoming lauded,
collected, and recognized by the "high" art world? Does that defeat
or amplify the message?
Far from being spray-painted marks, "Signature Pieces" are meticulously-cut
contact paper shapes of my last name. I downloaded a pre-designed
graffiti font from the internet and used it to create the "tag"
style. By placing my "tags" throughout the space of the inaugural
event, I'm littering the area with my own mark (literally trying
to make my presence known and being a bad girl), but in a way
that could be considered almost painfully self-conscious since
I was never a graffiti artist. Also, the contact paper is easily
removable, and can be repositioned and replaced. At the same time,
it could be read as if I'm "signing" my name to the readymade
objects that they cover, like the words "R. Mutt" on a urinal.
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