Reading Explorer 3, Unit 11: Urban Art 

 

Narrator: Urban art is all about innovation . . . 

 

From using buckets on a busy street . . . 

 

To filling an art gallery with local graffiti . . . 

 

To mixing jazz with spoken word—inviting us to listen with new ears . . . 

 

To look with new eyes. 

 

Wander down this train tunnel in Washington D.C., and you’ll discover the bold colors of urban graffiti artists. It is Washington’s Wall of Fame, and Nick Posada’s work is here. 

 

But unfortunately the art he’s created has been covered by other people’s graffiti. 

 

Nick Posada: “This is what happens when nobody respects any type of work that someone spent their paint and their time on. This is what the Wall of Fame in D.C. has come to.” 

 

Narrator: Although the Wall of Fame is open to everyone, Posada cautions there are rules to be followed in the world of graffiti—rules that not everyone appreciates. He says that real graffiti artists understand how to use color and how to make their work distinctive. 

 

Nick Posada: “So you would use colors that contrast one another. Ah, my piece is still there. I did this in, like, ’99.” 

 

Narrator: Nick’s work is also highlighted here at the Govinda Gallery in Georgetown. 

 

Chris Murray: “Graffiti art has certainly brought to public art a whole new dimension.” 

 

Narrator: According to Chris Murray, graffiti art is special because it’s fast, uninhibited, and always inventive. Murray is convinced that graffiti is just one more step in the evolution of pop art. The works have sold well—to young people and to collectors of pop art. In the gallery, people can appreciate the art in a traditional setting—and they like it. It’s good for the artists, too. 

 

Chris Murray:  “It was a real reversal for them because they’re used to being vilified and now they’re being enjoyed, and that’s a good thing.” 

Narrator: People are beginning to appreciate the talents of Jafar Barron, too. The 28-year-old trumpeter grew up in this neighborhood north of Philadelphia. Both his parents are jazz musicians. But Jafar chose to mix more traditional, classical forms of jazz with the rap and hip-hop music of his own generation. His first CD is an innovative mix of both worlds. 

 

Jafar Barron: “I like to think that the whole of creation is all about music, to me, you know what I’m saying? I believe that the Most High is a musician. I guess it came from my exposure to hip-hop, and the poetry that comes from that, and from some friends of mine.” 

 

Narrator: Jafar now plays in clubs in the city where he grew up. He also now has a deal with a major recording company. The stories of how these two artists developed—  one musical, one visual— are not surprising to art history professor Don Kimes. 

 

Don Kimes: “It’s about sort of taking what it is that you come from, what you emerge from, what’s authentic for you and pushing it to the edge of its envelope, to the edge of its boundaries, its limits, and taking one more step.” 

 

Narrator: Kimes says artists need to build on their own cultural background—as anything else would be false. It is said that art is fundamentally about exploration and discovery. Urban artists—whether musicians or painters—can take us to places we’ve never been before . . . Even if it’s as close as a nearby city street.