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Local bar takes lead in graffiti art movement
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Photo by STEVE LEWIS/Herald photos
Corey Chavez adds his interpretation to a community painting during the Graffiti Art Opening & Halloween Party on Oct. 28 at Pongas.
Click image to enlarge
“Grintyreve,” by Durango Youth Coalition members Trent Taylor and Nathan Chismar, is on display at Pongas.
Call it what you will - graffiti or street art - but the brightly colored images created almost exclusively by youthful artists are moving from buildings and buses to more traditional venues. In the process, the art also is moving quickly toward legitimacy in the art world.
"If you can get these guys to understand what's right and what's wrong, that's huge. To do it under a legal umbrella as protection, their lives will work out better for them," said Miki Spies, owner of Pongas.
Inspired by the work of the Durango Youth Coalition, which is campaigning for one or more legal public graffiti walls in town, Spies opened her bar to an all-ages crowd Oct. 28 for a street art celebration. About 20 artists, ages 15 to 30, attended and created new works, and Spies now displays and offers for sale eight of them in a permanent but rotating ad-hoc exhibit.
Most of the pieces, painted on 4-by-8-foot plywood sheets, sell for between $200 and $400, and Spies isn't charging commission to help the budding artists with sales.
Spies said she wants to instill in young artists and young lovers of art the same appreciation that has taken her years to achieve. She cited an early purchase of a painting that cost her $200 in a coffee shop that now is worth tens of thousands of dollars as an example of the more tangible side of art appreciation, but that's not what drove her to redecorate the interior of the downtown bar and pool hall.
"You never know with these artists. A lot of them are really talented, and if I can get young people excited about art and buying art, I will have accomplished my goal," she said.
"I have so much square footage and available space, so these artists can display their work and get a reputation in the art community." Spies is one of the first business owners to get seriously involved with the youth coalition, which was created to bridge the gap between young, local artists and musicians and foster more involvement by young people in local politics and social causes.
Coalition founder Riley Neugebauer, who assembled the artists for the Pongas event, said she hopes others will follow Spies' lead.
"This (was) not only an art show, but an opportunity for a conversation about local art and public space," Neugebauer said.
"Young people do not always feel that they are granted freedom to express themselves in the community through an avenue like graffiti art. This is why we are working with young people to promote the idea of a legal graffiti wall." As to the future of such a wall or space, the coalition has encountered the same obstacles as many other groups and individuals in Durango: affordable real estate in town is expensive, and donors are in short supply.
Sheri Dugdale, the city's staff representative on the Public Art Commission, said the commission has not received a formal proposal from the Durango Youth Coalition, but once one is received, the topic will be added to a future agenda for one of the commission's monthly meetings.
ted@durangoherald.com
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