Spray Painting Joy at the Center for Creativity

The basement of the Cathedral of Learning is home to a myriad of pipes, flickering lights and, for an hour this Wednesday, a colorful cloud of paint. On Oct. 16, the Center for Creativity hosted an event called “Creating Legends,” a deep dive into the culture and art of graffiti. 

The event began with a workshop on street art, where participants learned from graffiti artists Sef.01 and REVER on the skills required to paint murals and graffiti. Participants started the workshop by drawing simple shapes, squares and lines to learn the mechanics of spray paint. They then experimented with color, cultural styles, sizing and font, playing with each and learning the ins and outs of street art under the direction of Sef.01 and REVER. 

The pale white walls of the Center for Creativity soon become blurred with color as new artists sprayed letters and shapes on a large piece of plywood. REVER explained to the group the importance of basic graffiti skills and emphasized style within the lesson. 

The artists at the event discussed style and its place in different regions of the world in the Q&A event hosted after the workshop. The speakers mentioned Germany and how Germany’s strict culture influences the country’s graffiti and street art. They also contrasted street art in European cities with street art in American cities. Philadelphia street art was described as “in your face,” while Californian street art is sharper and has more aggressive typography. 

The event attracted students and staff members with different backgrounds and experiences in street art. Undecided first-year Riya Verma came to the event to work on a class project, and came out of it with an interest in street art and more knowledge about the culture around the art form. 

“It was cool to learn about the different styles of spray painting and the different like, the impact of the culture and the way it impacted the art. Like in Germany, how [street art] is super structured and how that culture is super structured,” Verma said. 

A large part of the Q&A discussed social media and how it changed the game for artists. REVER, a street artist from France who focuses on typography and color in his work, talked about how social media has reworked the field and changed how street artists can present their work not only to their communities, but to the world. 

Prior to the internet, street artists would rarely gain national or global recognition, as their art was stationary in their respective locations. With social media photography on the rise, the art travels all over the world without leaving the wall it was painted on. REVER also touched on the negativity of social media, more specifically how artists can start creating just for fame and not for the art itself. He discussed how art from the soul stands the test of time–not art created for trends, likes and follows. 

Sef.01, a street artist from Peru, was the other featured speaker. He’s done murals and graffiti around the world, specializing in painting children and youthful ideas, and combines realism with traditional graffiti tags, or a street artist’s signature. Sef.01 started out as a skateboarder and “hated art,” but eventually pursued graffiti to keep a connection to his neighborhood. His connection to his neighborhood and his background in skateboarding fuels his work and his love for painting while inspiring him to help others. 

“I hated art before, but I loved the street,” said Sef.01. “Here is a university, people are coming … for growing. People in the street don’t have that option.” 

The artists touched on the importance of the next generation of street artists and how they act as mentors. Artist Mike 171 was also in attendance at the event, representing the original street art and graffiti movement. He spoke on the formation of the graffiti style, and how he’s gone from a self-described “kid in the streets,” to a support for the next generation. 

“We just started with our names, then we started incorporating, you know, my name and the street number, and then we started incorporating clouds or eyeballs and stuff. And that’s the evolution of where it came into Street Arts and street railroads right now.” Mike said. “So, 56 years we’ve been doing it. They called me the ghetto Pope, because I bring hope to New York City and the rest of the world. Being an innovator of culture, I’m like the spokesman of what we represent.”

The event was created by street artist Ashley Hudder, who wanted to make sure that artists today understood the role that graffiti played in the prominence of muralists and public art. 

She started forming the event after traveling to New York, where she met some of “The Boys From The Heights,” originators of graffiti culture. 

Tags of the 70s were the start of the street art and graffiti culture, and she wanted to highlight the origins of the style into the newer innovation of artists like REVER and Sef.01.