European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 7, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Story and photos by David Tarrant Brussels Bureau. Toxic Levels a Finger at a dutch youth who asks if he has Ever used an airbrush. Quot no airbrush. Never. Of on to shirts maybe. But that s a the dutch youth his eyes wide and a baseball Cap nods solemnly. To has skipped a Day of. School and hopped a train to Belgium in order to meet a this artist from the Bronx. He wants to show him his own Quot pieces Quot and learn about american Graffiti from a source. A a. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a. A a a a a a a a several hours later toxic a who was born Torrick Ablack a is still talking with the dutch youth and his two companions. With his Long charcoal Blue overcoat worn Over jeans and Bright red sneakers and his braided shoulder length hair topped by a red Black Gold and Green hat toxic is a splash of color against the drab Interior of the Brussels Brasserie. Like his pieces. F on this afternoon anyway toxic is As Good a candidate As there is to be an ambassador at Large for. American Graffiti Art which is currently on exhibit at the City s Liverpool gallery. V toxic 2.6,.discusses Graffiti like a Man communicating through a Spray can. He Waves his arms a lot and speeds along like the Lexington Avenue express zooming. Crosstown from the Bronx to Manhattan. / he has come a Long Way from the teen Ager who was chased by gun toting cops with dogs while trying to paint subway cars in new York and he has seen Many changes in the Art of Quot writers As Graffiti artists Call themselves. He has lived in Italy for almost six years and has numerous Gallety exhibits in Europe and the United states under his Art has come of age in the last several years. Alt Over the world museums have organized shows and Graffiti Art can be found in important collections. A. In fact Many artists Are making an Effort to distance themselves from the vandalism often associated with Graffiti. Some Are practically allergic to the word Graffiti preferring the term Quot aerosol a a Quot i Don t think defacing Beautiful things is Cool Quot says toxic. things like metro trains is another a in the Well lit Liverpool gallery about two dozen Well. Spaced canvasses painted by 11 Graffiti artists hang neatly on clean Walls. Strolling softly from painting to painting visitors talk in their subdued museum voices. 1 _. The exhibit stands in Stark contrast to the furtive and. Dangerous Early clays of Graffiti that toxic describes to the a dutch youths. A. A. Eleven years ago. Toxic s Canvas was the Side of a metro car. Quot i bought my first Spray can in 1980.1 wanted to do trains right away. But first i started around my. Neighbourhood. You try two colors. Then you try five colors. Then maybe 50 colors acid you say All right. I m bad Quot a Quot. A. A a. After dark he and either writers would sneak into the. Fenced off subway Yards in the Bronx. The atmosphere was charged in More than one sense of the word Quot they put dogs in the Yards and they used electric fences toxic recalls Quot but hey we d take some meat and throw. It to the dogs and then do our pieces real fast. Paint and go. Paint and go. Real the work takes its toll. One Man died of Bone cancer a from breathing Lead in the fumes of some cans of aerosol paint. Another lost an Arm and a leg while painting a subway car when he fell onto the electric wires. Plus you have to watch your step in other ways too. Painting Over another piece can get you roughed up. Maybe killed. A few years ago a Young German who used the name Webster went to new York and painted Over a Large piece. Put up by a Quot Crew Quot or gang of artists toxic says. Quot they wanted to shoot him Man. Maybe you can paint Over somebody and get away with it. But you Don t paint Over a gang piece. It s a matter of respect. He can t go Back to new York now. Maybe in 20 years he can go Back to new but Quot the number one health Hazard Quot in new York where the City has cracked Down on illegal subway a a painting is still the police toxic says. Quot i got caught once. Not for painting a train but for tagging writing my name Quot toxic recalls. He says he spent five Days in jail and paid $1,000 in fines in the 1984 incident. The charges included illegal trespassing and destruction of property. Although Are in museums the language associated with them is still from the streets. A. Quot bombing Quot is the painting of an entire Carriage. To Quot Burn Quot is to beat the Competition. Quot piece Quot is Short for masterpiece and Means a completed work. Quot to to paint Graffiti Quot tag Quot is the writer s signature and a Quot in Row up Quot is a name painted quickly one Sticky questions about Graffiti is whether it is Art or vandalism. According to the 1987 Book Quot subway arts by Henry Chalfont the Art emerged Over a period of time. A a a a a a a a �., �., in the late 1960s a Manhattan teen Ager began writing his name and Street number Taki 183 All Over the City. He soon spawned hundreds of imitators. As Competition. Increased these Graffiti writers began developing styles that would stand out from the others. This might take the pieces. A the scale and complexity of such pieces grew until an entire Side of a subway car from top to Bottom was first. Painted in 1975. Styles were associated wit different Crews. The Bubble style simply used big fat letters. There is also the 3-d style the Western style and More. Recently . A which features very Complex. Lettering that is virtually impossible to read. In the Early 1980s, both toxic and a one a another of the featured artists in the Brussels show a belonged to a Crew called Quot Ikon Klast Panzer ism Quot whose letters often looked like science fiction characters. New York style Graffiti gradually spread to Europe. \ toxic says he got his Start in Europe when an italian. up in the Bronx where he was still painting subway cars and asked him to do some work in Italy. .� toxic believes that today Paris has the Best Graffiti in Europe. But he says there Are also a lot of budding writers in Germany judging from a recent exhibition in Wiesbaden. / a a a . Quot Little 12-year-old kids were mobbing us Quot says toxic Quot their parents would come up to us and Tell us their kids Are always painting Graffiti around the House. What do you Tell them so what. Clean it off. Don t complain to me about it believes the future of Graffiti Art . He wants to build Graffiti sculptures Quot build letters in Marble a and paint them. People will a Ahe slips quickly past questions about whether he will ,. Do anymore subway cars or buildings. But As though to Quot wipe out any lingering doubts about the legitimacy of his work he adds Quot i be gone beyond the criminal act. I want to communicate and my medium is Spray the Graffiti exhibit continues at the Liverpool gallery. Avenue de Stalingrad 26. Through March 14 s stripes Magazine March 7, 1991american Graffiti finds a Home in european museums form of an unusual logo or combination of colors. Writers began using Spray cans in order to cover Large areas quickly these types of paintings were the first
