Future Worker Girl works over the ghosts of Judson Candy Company
Posted by justin on 19 Jan 2007 at 05:34 pm | Tagged as: art paparazzi, graffiti, video/film
If you drive down South Flores on the edge of Southtown, you’ve seen it. Covered in graffiti and the citys answer to it (the subconcious art of graffiti removal) .. The Old Judson Candy Company sits high on the horizon near the intersection of Guadalupe and South Flores. (a few blocks down from South Alamo) . For years, this building was left virtually wide open to the world while it fell into disrepair, Lots of people & animals passed through it, including a large number of graffiti artists from all over the country (remember clogged caps 1,2,3, and 4?). As a result the walls inside are literally teeming with life .. About 6 months back, I introduced Future Worker Girl of Potter-Belmar Labs to the site, by showing her a random assortment of photos I had taken traipsing through the candy house early one morning. While I took the photos during a time that the building was literally wide open from the front, back, and sides.. It has since been carefully sealed off from all unwanted intruders. As a result of her new interest in the site, she proclaimed a gathering of data towards a renegade video projection onto the building. After last nights Bozo Texino film screening she popped the question on us, would we accompany her down to the sight of the old candy factory to view a projection of a melding of photos of the inside of the now sealed building on the outside? Of course.
The results were beautiful.
Future Worker Girl:
her “Something out of ghost-busters” vehicle.
Andy Benavides, Mike Casey. and visiting resident artist to UTSA, Chris Kubick view the projection from the bus stop benches.
fwg’s projection was quite successful, despite being more automated than any other performance i’ve seen her do.
but i’m also kind of interested in the nature of this graffiti removal movie. i think it’s great that someone made a serious attempt to document the buffs.. but… did they intend for the movie to compensate for the unconscious nature of the work by being ultra-conscious? in what sense does graffiti removal have its “roots in abstract expressionism, minimalism, and russian constructivism”? are they seriously claiming that the dude that buffs graffiti off of the pizza hut is unconsciously referencing rothko and malevich?
i also can’t help but wonder whether the strength of a lot of the work comes from the framing that is done by the camera. if they just shot the entire physical surface on which the buff resides… would the same works be strong compositions?
as i said, i think it’s good to document this stuff.. but it seems a half-assed attempt to force the work to fit into a framework of modernist art criticism… at least, i feel that way after watching a 6 minute clip…
at least, i feel that way after watching a 6 minute clip…
update: i just watched the whole thing and i wanted to respond to myself here. i was completely wrong about this film. ‘the subconscious art of graffiti removal’ is very tongue-in-cheek and i totally missed it. i retract my rant.