The art of graffiti
In today’s world, one can go days without seeing any colors besides dull grays and murky browns, days without vibrant, beautifully colored art. For Christian Berntsen, Chin for short, this colorless state is unacceptable, and that’s why he’s taken on the mission of correcting it.
Chin is an artist. His tool of choice is a “rattle can,” better known as spray-paint, and it has been his mission to beautify the world since the tender age of 15. Chin began learning graffiti from a friend after moving from the west coast to North Carolina. Chin and his friend, Derek, spent their days and money on spray paint, their art and skateboards during the time Chin spent in North Carolina.
“He was really into graffiti and he ended up teaching me the art and what it was all about,” Chin said. “I remember my first piece. We were sitting behind this hotel next to this huge rusty air vent — it was as big as my room and had a really pretty teal color on it — and Derek started talking about how much better it would look if someone filled in the rusted spots with something, and that was my first graffiti piece. After that I was obsessed. I’d practice drawing graffiti in my notebook every day at school.”
Chin didn’t start to seriously develop his graffiti skills, though, until he returned to the west coast and began an intensive practice routine with pen and paper. His favorite piece, however, is still among his earliest work in North Carolina.
“It was my sixth piece, and it was in a church parking lot,” he said. “Derek and I loved riding our skateboards in that parking lot and every day — even though we weren’t hurting anything — we would get yelled at by people who worked there for skating in the parking lot. We didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, though, until they constructed a gargantuan sign with ‘No Skateboarding’ emblazoned across it.
“The sign was hideous and looked so unwelcoming in this church parking lot; Derek and I decided we had to do something about it. We ended up spending six hours on the piece. It was beautiful and it said ‘Skate Here.’ But that’s not really what graffiti is about. It was a bit of a vengeful piece and, really, I just liked to turn something ugly into something beautiful.
“I’ve gotten much better since then.”
For many graffiti artists, there is a difference between graffiti and vandalism. According to Chin, the difference is in “how you put it down.” In other words, graffiti is taking an old heinous back alley and turning it into a piece of art for people to enjoy.
Graffiti is not: ruining someone’s store front, scribbling your name on a wall or marring the beauty of a location — that is vandalism.
“I never messed up somebody’s store front or business; I made ugly back allies look beautiful,” he said. “I guess I don’t care as much about the graffiti as I do about making it look good for other people.”
I admire Chin and other graffiti artists like him because of their goal to make the world — which grows drearier every day — a more attractive place to live even though practicing the art of graffiti as it was meant to be practiced (with spray-paint on city streets) is incredibly illegal. The difference between a “rattle can” and a pen or pencil is drastic for most graffiti artists.
“It’s like going from roller-blades to roller-skates — it’s just not the same,” Chin said. “Graffiti is not meant to be put on paper.”
Unlike most artists, graffiti artists don’t usually get recognition for their work, and if they do they’re usually rewarded with a fine and a few charges. These artists go out and risk their freedom in the dead of night just to improve the quality of life for people they don’t even know — people like me — and I find that admirable. Their mission to make the world more colorful, to brighten up someone’s day, to express themselves should be appreciated.
“I can make a rusty spot or a moldy brick look brilliant with the paint I’ll rain down on it,” Chin said.
And for that, I thank him, because while I’m not sure about the rest of society, I know that I appreciate a little more vibrance than the grays of my beloved cement jungle.
No related posts.
