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Graffiti blurs line between art and vandalism

Calgary’s art community views its city as colourless, says David Brunning (aka thekidbelo) renowned graffiti artist who will be speaking about his work at ACAD this month.

Brunning, a respected visual artist based out of Calgary, said only naked walls are seen in Calgary’s downtown core. He would like to see more graffiti writing and other forms of urban art around the city in an effort to bring creativity to what many artists view as a bland urban-scape. “There’s something about graffiti that makes you see landscape and structure different,” said Brunning.

Last summer he paired with the city to launch a regulated graffiti wall at Shaw Millennium Park, but the eruption of expression went wild, said Brunning.

Bill Bruce, director of animal and bylaw services for the City of Calgary, said there was a lot of confusion surrounding the project. He said the wall was designated space for specific talented graffiti artists to display their work, but was not intended as a free-for-all.

“Someone like thekidbelo, that is art. But spray paint all over a building, that is not art,” said Bruce. “From what I saw, there was a lot of disrespect for his work (on the Millennium Park wall).”

Brunning and Bruce agree the difference between vandalism and graffiti writing is a thin line, perhaps a blurred one.

“(If I) went up to your face and sprayed your face with spray-paint, or went up to your parents’ house and did a bomb across the front of (their) house, you wouldn’t be too stoked,” said Brunning, adding anyone who sets out to destroy property has an attitude problem.

Brunning said allowing free-walls could help overcome “uncontrolled” graffiti writing, saying it’s worked for other cities, such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Bruce said the City of Calgary looked at the option of free walls in major cities across Canada and all of them were failures. He said the free walls just extended to the rest of the city and got out of hand.

“Graffiti is vandalism that costs citizens of Calgary millions of dollars a year,” said Bruce. He said according to a community census, graffiti was the number one reason Calgary citizens said they felt unsafe.

Bruce said the city is working towards a creative outlet for graffiti artists, but a free-wall is not it.

Brunning’s work is showcased across Canada. View it online at thekidbelo.com, or come hear him speak at ACAD on Feb. 9.

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