Writing Project #2

Art has been a part of every society since the beginning of time. Pictures were found carved into walls of caves by primitive beings, some cultures such as Egypt used art as their form of communication, and countries like Italy express their art in every angle that you look. But the topic of art is a very vague idea. Who is to be the one to determine what art is and what it isn’t? Typically thought of, art is when an artist sits down with their blank canvas and adds to it. He continually adds and adds layers of paint to the picture until the masterpiece is complete. But is art only addition? What if art was created by the idea of subtraction instead?

The piece of artwork pictured above, “All we are is dust in the wind…,” shows the artist Alex Orion working away at his creation in a subway tunnel in Sao Palo, Brazil. To create this masterpiece, Orion has taken water, sponges, a variety of scraping tools, and GreenWorks, an organic cleaner to clean his creation out many layers of the dirt and suit that have covered the walls. The black walls that surround him are covered in years of grime that no one has bothered to clean off, until now. But Orion is only one of many who follow this tradition of the Reverse Graffiti Project, which is believed to be originated by Paul “Moose” Curtis. Curtis started this project in San Francisco after he had spent many years working in very dirty restaurant cleaning pots and pans. One day he leaned over to clean a dirt spot in the wall and after he wiped it up he realized that the clean spot he had left was much more noticeable than the dirt to begin with. His statement for why he works so hard to create these clean creations is that he wants people to realize the matter at hand. When trying to explain his occupation he struggles. “I’ve never found that easy way to explain what I do. I tell a person that I make pictures by cleaning…the whole core of what I do is based around drawing in pollution and writing in nature.” ("The Reverse Graffiti Project") Many of his creations depict settings of the ancient types of trees that used to be planted there before these tunnels were created. His idea is trying to remove the dirt to reveal the past.

Alex Orion, on the other hand, took a much more morbid approach to the mission. Instead of creating images of life that used to inhabit the area where the tunnels are, he has created a mural of what will be there in the future if people don’t learn to respect the earth or each other. His title for the creation represents the irony of the ideas that when our bodies decay, we return to the dust state, but dust is also represented to be dirt which is the original problem. By naming this piece, “All we are is dust in the wind…” Orion is sort of stating that we are the only ones to blame for our own future. This photograph instantly calls to the reader’s pathos from the simple image of a skull. People relate skulls to death and that is a topic that most people tend to be sensitive with. The skulls seem to bring a shocking factor to the problem of pollution. The audience’s pathos were also considered because of the large amount of dirt. Most people tend to care enough about the world to realize that that’s pretty bad and guilt is one of the strongest pathos that hit humans. On the other side, a person’s pathos are called to because many people appreciate the art of taking something ugly and turning it into something beautiful. The process of erasing and cleaning symbolizes a new life and a second chance. In turn, this creates a contradiction. The skulls bring up the idea of death and the ultimate end but the cleaning reminds the audience of rebirth, hope, and that there’s still time to change.

The ethos of the picture are very well put together. Each of the skulls display a very bright white that creates a contrast from the black suit. This drastic contrast is very esthetically pleasing to the eye and makes the skulls really stand out. Each of the other murals that were created from the grime look like a great amount of time was taken to be sure that the images appeared as clean as possible. In fact, many people walking past the murals have said that they don’t realize that these images are wiped away until they get up close and personal with the shapes. This technique creates an optical illusion that offers the idea that the white images were added on top of the black, not the black being pulled away to reveal the white.

Finally, this portrait calls to the audience’s logos because it offers straight facts that make them realize what this world has come to. These tunnels are obvious pieces of evidence of how horridly our planet is polluted. There is no better proof than standing in front of these murals and realizing how white these walls used to be. The cleansing process shows people the steps to fix the problem at hand. Many people have called this work urban graffiti but it offers a totally different element. Graffiti has always been considered as “markings, as initials, slogans, or drawings, written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, wall of a building or public areas.” Graffiti has also been coined as a derogatory statement of a group of people defacing public property. But are these grime artists really hurting any property? If an image is viewed as offensive, could it not just be washed off? Maybe this is what it will take for the city to learn to clean itself. If someone put up an image that people found offensive, the city would send a crew over to erase it and ultimately clean the tunnel and solve the initial problem of the pollution.

The Reverse Graffiti Project helps create a variety of visual rhetoric that helps open the eyes of the public to the problems that are all around them. These images also help motivate the people to make a change and realize that life is more enjoyable when one is surrounded by beauty instead of dirt. The cleaning of the tunnels help people learn to take pride in the cities where they live because it’s part of their home too. As the creator, Curtis, states in defense of the environment, “Nature’s voice, if you like, is written in dirt as if it were written in blood.” ("The Reverse Graffiti Project")



Works Cited:

Lithgow, Michael. "Reverse graffiti turns city grime into art." Art Threat. 17 Nov. 2008. http://artthreat.net/

"The Reverse Graffiti Project." The Reverse Graffiti Project. 2008. Oil Factory Inc. Production Company. 19 Nov. 2008. http://www.reversegraffitiproject.com/

****There were a couple of complications with creating the correct style of MLA formatting. The blog wouldn't allow me to put in any underlining so I replaced it with italics. Also, the taps are off because when I made them on the regular page, they got all screwed up on the actual blog. Finally, I couldn't put the website address in the "<>" because every time I did, the website address wouldn't show up on my blog at all. If there is any trick to fix it, please let me know.

Writing Project #2 - Rough Draft

Many artists have created pieces of work that focus on the idea of love and passion. In fact, the kiss is considered the most universal and obvious signs of love. But no artist has depicted this kind of passion and this much tension all in one picture. Political cartoonist, Ben Heine’s picture, “I Love You, But…” offers the viewer a somewhat Romeo and Juliet type setting. Shown in the loving embrace is a young woman with her hear draped in the national flag for Israel, and a young man whose head is covered by the national flag of Palestine. The material covering each of their lips doesn’t stop their kiss but we quickly learn that they plan to betray each other as well. Hiding behind each of the lovers back is a grenade about to be set off. This irony displayed in the picture as well as the name “I Love You, but…” shows the struggle of the constant war between Palestine and Israel.

The war between the two countries burst into action closely following the end of World War 1 when the United Nations gave land back to Palestine. In around 1946, Palestine received most of her original land except one chunk, referred to as the West Bank and Gaza strip, which the United Nations decided would be best to stay with Israel. To Palestine, this was one of the most important pieces of her original lands because the land contained the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a major city to the Jewish faith because it is the center of where the whole religion began. Because many of the Palestine people practice the Jewish faith, they felt robbed that they weren’t being returned their precious city. However, Israel offers Jerusalem the same respect as the Palestinians because they name it as their “eternal city.” Palestine was furious that they weren’t granted all of their original lands and began a war so that they might gain hope in retrieving it. Palestine continually harasses Israel with constant terroristic acts and eventually Israel becomes sick of it and retaliates, which fuels the war. To help prevent these fights, the United Nations proposed that Jerusalem be an independent zone so no country owned it but soon enough Israel captured it even though many Arabs believe that it should be a the capital for a Palestinian state. After many years of feuding, Israel agreed to give back part of the land that Palestine lost but refuses to remove their troops from the area. Recently, Israel also decided that they wanted to put up a wall between Palestine and Israel to keep their people separated. That separation creates the romantic scene that Heine depicts here.

Romeo and Juliet were separated by their family’s deep hatred for each other; much like this couple’s love would be because they are from feuding counties. The biggest difference between each of these stories is that in Heine’s picture, we see that the lovers are also willing to betray each other for their country. The clever title, “I Love You, But…” shows that each of the character’s loyalty lies with their country first and not with their love. Unfortunately that is the truth for many people who are struggling through this war. Many families who lived on the border between the countries are being torn apart because an Israel woman came together with a Palestine man and their countries no longer wanted them to have any contact.

The fact that the artist decided to cover the faces of the lovers has made them unidentifiable. The fact that the lovers have no face makes it easier for them to represent each and every person in those countries who are begging for peace and an end to the war. The armies of Israel who occupy the West Bank and Gaza strip are ordered by Israeli officials to make any Palestine’s live as hard and horrible as possible. They raid houses and plunder villages for whatever they want.

As I looked through Heine’s work, I noticed that he had taken a great interest in this war. He was very pro-peace and said it loud and clear through his drawings. I could tell that he mourned for the people who struggled through this difficult life every day. Because of his passion, I thought that he might be from one of the battling countries. After looking awhile I learned that he is actually from Abidjan, Ivory Coast in Belgium.

But the more that I study this drawing, the more that I wonder and the more I try to view it from other sides. Possibly this is the Romeo and Juliet story and they have decided that if they can’t live together, they don’t want to live at all. Perhaps the fact that Heine decided to put them in a silhouette of light is supposed to symbolizes some hope in their otherwise dark world. The drawing can be seen from a peace angle or a statement of trust with each of their countries.

This drawing screams out the idea that the war isn’t over and it’s going to take a lot for the people to learn to get over the land and start learning how to get along with their neighbors. Yes, Jerusalem is very important to the Jewish faith because it is where it all originated but much blood has been shed just for the sake of land. We need to learn to put down the grenades and just get lost in the joy that being together and being peaceful can bring us.