Okay. The coolest thing just happened. A city buffer just walked into my studio... a buffer is a municipal graffiti remover paid for by our hard working tax dollars. "They make the world a beiger place to be" has always been my personal homage to them ;) — will I ever stop writing ad headlines? ack.
My all-time favorite Banksy piece here says it all. From his 'Cans' show in London earlier this year. Photo: NY Times.
Anyway... said buffer likes my art. He was referred to me by a mutual friend and fellow aficionado of fine street art. But here's the interesting part. He also likes a lot of the street art that he's paid to destroy... um... I mean... clean up.
He likes it a lot and he takes pictures of all of it before he paints over it. I love this guy!! He showed me the pics and they're absolutely amazing. I'm going to use some of his shots in my art for definite.
So the buffer (who shall at this point remain anonymous) and I start talking about how yes, some of it is obnoxious and a destruction of property and just plain old stoopid, dumb and ugly. granted. But some of it, even here in little old Albuquerque, is freakin amazing... and all the more poetic because of it's short life expectancy.
But now here's our buffer taking pics of all this stuff because he KNOWS it's art and making a catalog because it's really bothering him that he has to destroy it to feed his family, jobs are scarcer than scarce here... and... I feel like Chili Palmer in Get Shorty pitching a screen play idea right now... and then he says to me that one night soon when he's going out on a call he's going to let me tag along and get pics and video of all this shit in like real time. this is amazing!! i'm so psyched.
Photo courtesy of Halton Chemical in Canada, those folks that bring us all that beige paint we can't get enough of. You know what scares me... Monsanto and other chemical companies don't scare us... but graffiti does. That is truly scary.
I want to do an interview series with 'The Buff' too and see if we can get it published. An art book of destroyed modern masterpieces... have buffers from all over the country shoot stuff with their cell cams before they buff it. I'd put some resources behind that project. Maybe even a 'Buff-umentary' if you will... what? too much? If not a 'Spinal Tap' reference here, then where?
I'll post it all here first so stay tuned. I've been out with the artists/writers and it's always a blast... but always on legally appropriated walls so don't even start :) but this is like the other side of the coin and to find a storm trooper (he's well aware that this is how he's viewed) with empathy is almost too good to be true.
The Buff is an amazingly compassionate and interesting person and I can't wait to do this series of articles and photo exposés with him. And we'll see where it leads. Maybe we can open some minds on both sides of the issue.
