Graffiti at Tubs - vandalism or art?

Is it art? Tubs graffiti - 3/12/09. Image copyright E. Pachaud.

Yesterday afternoon while driving through the University District, I saw something that made me pull over, park my car, and take about a gazillion pictures. Someone had painted dynamic and colorful graffiti over the entire exterior of the old Tubs building on the corner of 50th and Roosevelt. Out front, there is a sign: Notice of Proposed Land Use Action: the Tubs building is slated for demolition, to make way for a 60-unit mixed retail and residential building.

Tubs has a long and sordid history as a bathhouse, though several years ago it was converted to a spa. Even then, it couldn't shake its sleazy, strip club vibe. That the building has no windows beyond the dark, canopied entrance didn't help. The graffiti is an obvious improvement.

Civic bodies aren't usually so tolerant. Graffiti is considered it vandalism, and thus a symptom of societal decline. Some cities have ordinances requiring prompt removal of graffiti; the hope is that this will discourage taggers and "beautify" the city scape. Others are shrill enough to insist that graffiti signals a neighborhood's decline, as it accompanies increasing crime and urban decay.

We have an uneasy relationship with street art. When the Obama campaign used Fairey's image -- after he had already been tagging LA streets with it -- they effectively legitimized this kind of outsider art. Fairey's image of Obama, I would argue, had a direct impact on the success of Obama's campaign, as it made him seem even more like a man of the people. When street artists publicly support a politician through their art, this is the ultimate form of grass roots campaigning. (How many people saw Obama murals that were copies of Fairey's design?) This public recognition has not changed everyone's opinion or Fairey, or his tagging. Just last week, Shepherd Fairey - who created the iconic red and blue Obama posters - ran into legal trouble in Boston for illegally postering parts of the the city with his OBEY GIANT posters. The city was not amused, and treated this as blatant vandalism, pressing charges against Fairey.  

Banksy, a UK street artist, is well-known for stunts where he sneaks his own works of art in various world museums, hanging them alongside grand masters. His street graffiti is often similarly pointed, using pointed vignettes to comment on various political issues. Banksy has gained fame and acclaim; in 2007 Sotheby's held an auction of his work -- walls which were disassembled and made collectible. You can even buy a book which celebrates Banksy's street art. Both Fairey and Banksy have become famous by directly and publicly challenging the notion that graffiti is vandalism.

I think the most interesting feature of graffiti is that it is entirely ephemeral. The Tubs paintings will be up only until another street artist paints them over, or until the building is torn down. In 1993, Rachel Whiteread created House, a mold of the inside of a great old brick row house in London that was already slated for demolition. She had intended from the very beginning to destroy her sculpture after the viewing period, as the owners of the property had plans to erect a new building on the site. Though Whiteread proceeded with public permission, the planned demolition of her sculpture underscored the impermanence of building-based artworks. Graffiti is no different.

All that said, I'm not sure that the Tubs paintings are anything more than spectacular decoration. They are certainly wondrous, but without a larger message - beyond trite phrases like "...end the war in Iraq," and the personal tag of BHIVE - it will only be remembered as a cool attack on an ugly building. This was a former bathhouse, in a neighborhood that has stumbled (repeatedly) on the path to gentrification. Surely there is something to this? Will the condos that replace this building improve the quality of the neighborhood? With a canvas this big, I want to embrace this work as something more substantial.

Fortunately, the artists who painted the Tubs building may have another chance. Affordable Brake and Tire has just been boarded up, less than a block away, and the plywood is still bare.