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demonizing that is fueled and perpetuated or Dali's expressionism baffled the society. What is the impact of the loss of the
through media that anything done with People thought that art was too abstract, Belmont yard?
aerosol paint is graffiti and vandalism; i.e., with its own structure, theory and unique A major one. I personally cannot de-
every time there is a gang-related crime school of thought. scribe how I feel having lost the tunnel.
they show images of graffiti art along with It saddens me when I think of it. It didn’t
gang writing and therefore many fail to What was the significance of the Belmont only have an impact on us graffiti artists
learn the distinction between the two. The yard over other popular spaces for working? but on the community surrounding it as
recent bombing of our street murals also The Belmont Tunnel was the hotbed for well. It is as if they took the only canvas
plays a significant role which has also lead graffiti artists. It was where some of the that unified us, and stripped us of our
to the city doling out harsher sentences for first graffiti works or pieces in L.A. were core, our beginning, our roots.
graffiti writers who write illegally. done and possibly seen. It held a histori-
cal factor amongst the graffiti community How do you think the city should address
And because graffiti and tagging are not in L.A. Some of the pioneers of the graf- the issue of public space, in regard to the
as commercialized and we are not in a fiti movement in L.A. graced the walls presentation of the work of graffiti artists?
politically drenched society like Europe or of the Belmont Tunnel. The Belmont Well the city is always finding ways to
Latin America, where people write political Tunnel was also recognized globally as attempt to eradicate graffiti. And although
statements and paint anti-government one of the “must-paint” spots to paint. recently they have been a bit more sup-
statements, people don’t understand graf- Everyone, when coming to L.A., had to portive here and there they still fail to
fiti is urban art. It is very much how cubism paint at the tunnel. allow it as public art. Instead of fighting
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