The Graffiti walls of the Arts District have been an on-going topic for local residents and community groups trying to confirm agreements between graf artists and property owners. The wall space is a few feet short of circling the block and has an array of names and images "thrown up", always painting over previous work as art crews compete for wall space.  VFaL has learned the wall is under a form of street rule protocol with some graf crews in direct contact with owners, and through time have assigned themselves as the contact point for others to paint on the space.  This project was being worked on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon as part of a four- city collaboration with Pacific Arts Collective and 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco and was considered "official" after a complicated process to confirm it.  Most of the time residents find out that graf artists, even if established , don't like to be asked who gave permission to write on a wall.

First, graf artists are often clumped together,  so here's a very simplified hierarchy. First are  taggers that mark turf, mostly to communicate to other gangs to stay away. Second are graffiti artists making real aesthetic effort,  mostly through large broad statements of a name that have an added value if seen as innovative street art.  Third, and at the higher end, are graf artists who receive commissioned pieces, own their own studio or gallery, or collaborate with others under corporate sponsorships. Those identities can overlap.

Rebellious behavior by "graffers" is often displayed to add more edge in a competitive field of  the proudly notorious and that image is not only a sense of self, but an underground marketing strategy to advance branding placement on behalf of themselves and sponsoring galleries.  Plus it helps to secure territorial ownership of the valued space that has high visibility and room for scaffolding.

Like most artists, graffiti artists consider any resistance to their work a nuisance.  The thieves of thought are those who dare question the artistic integrity of graf or worse, asking if permission was granted by the owner of the actual property and it's felt you can easily scare away unwanted inquiries with a look or a threat.

Being part of a group with a notorious reputation has it's privileges.

In the neighborhood filled with empathy for the misunderstood, residents watch official and unofficial crews tagging and painting over work. A few months ago, a 30-something graf artist working at gaining legitimacy was being interviewed by a film crew who followed him as he gave the story of the wall. Later in the week, he returned to the site to prep a spot for a future piece,  while all during the week Arts District Neighborhood watch was active in reporting tagging occurring in random hours of the night and day.  One local resident was working out of his ground floor space saw the prep work and went to ask the artist if he had permission.  Rather than answer, the graf artist postured defiance.

The resident was defiant as well, but retreated. Later in e-mails, the neighborhood-at-large was instructed by Neighborhood Watch and LAPD not to confront someone who poses a threat, but encouraged reporting it.

This particular set of walls in the Arts District needs some kind of system to confirm consent since there is nothing in place to clarify permissions. When it was learned that at one owner did commission work a few years back as part of an art collective, and that consent  has since passed on to a new owner of the building, it has since gone forth as an urban "gentleman's agreement", aka street rules. 

Just last month, a gallery invited 22 European artists to use the wall as a sign of international street art solidarity. Ironically,  portions of it were painted over within 48 hours by those in charge of the wall.

Tuesday afternoon,  an organized group with scaffolding were early in new graffiti art at 2nd and Garey and  the crew leader bristled when asked what the process of permission was to paint on this section of wall.

"I own the wall." he says, when in fact that corner has an off-site property owner.

Explaining that there are neighborhood questions how permission is granted, he repeatedly insisted that he owned the wall and has so for seven years.

Then it got ugly. 

One can wonder if street rules dictating the  use of graf space is similar to film crews or homeless claiming ownership of the streets due to a previous abandonment of urban space. In this case, the resistance had an offer to be introduced to a more traditional street negotiation that included, and it's a quote, "I'll <blank> you over, right here."

With the changes in the neighborhood, maybe the cooperation between the actual owners of the buildings and graf artists should extend to Arts District residences and businesses. It is a neighborhood that has some who appreciate the art form and live vicariously through the subversive art party.

More importantly, in today's climate, no threat should be considered just a baring of teeth.