PHOTO COURTESY SKECZH
Street artist Skeczh’s business-card-sized stickers join the other labels that layer street signs and poles around campus, a display of creativity that the College of Communication sophomore said reflects more than Boston’s gritty urban environment.
Skeczh, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a part of the increasingly popular street art movement, she said. Part of the reason she decided to attend BU was because of Boston’s very “young” street art scene.
While it has been around for a while, Skeczh said the trend has recently gained a huge amount of popularity, partly because of Banksy’s Oscar-nominated film “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”
Skeczh, who began dabbling in street art at 14, said she finds that she can reach more people with the practice.
“Art has the power to inspire,” she says. “The fact that I could inspire hundreds of people is what excites me.”
College of Fine Arts sophomore Mia Cross said she has dabbled in street art herself and considers the exposure it gives an artist empowering.
“It’s a powerful tool for young people,” Cross said.
However, higher levels of exposure may come at the cost of high levels of danger, Skeczh said. Not only is street art illegal, but “getting up,” as she calls it, involves advanced skill, challenging even the most dedicated guerilla artist.
Skeczh said she has used various methods, including “wheatpasting,” “tagging” and stenciling. Wheatpasting involves using flour, water and sugar to paste pre-made posters to surfaces, she said, which makes the end product nearly permanent. The art typically does not come off without a power washer, she said.
Tagging is the easiest, she said, and includes the stylized signatures of street artists, sprayed or drawn quickly in one color. Stenciling involves calculated attention to detail. Skeczh said she uses cut poster board as a stencil, spraying paint right over it.
After she finishes, Skeczh said she runs from the site to avoid getting arrested. One street artist she knows hung around too long after spraying a piece in an alleyway and was discovered by police, she said.
The Massachusetts legislature’s website said that anyone who willfully paints or otherwise marks the property of another” can face up to three years in prison.
CFA sophomore Lena McCarthy said she learned about the police’s approach to street art this summer through a First Year Student Outreach Project issue area that focused on urban renewal. Her group painted murals on walls near Boston elementary schools that were consistently covered in “nonsensical” obscenities, she said.
“There were literally little kids running around a preschool playground covered in black spray paint,” McCarthy said.
Getting rid of graffiti is a never-ending cycle for the Boston Police Department, she said. The murals, one of which had an “under the sea theme,” will hopefully break the cycle of police and kids painting over each other.
Skeczh said that the prospect of getting arrested does not intimidate her.
“The sheer fact that street art is illegal is stupid. It’s another form of expression,” Skeczh said.
One of her friends, COM sophomore Michaela Smith, said she sees Skeczh as “fearless.”
“There’s a righteousness behind it for her. She feels completely justified in doing it,” Smith said.
“You shouldn’t have to be a famous artist for people to see your art,” Skeczh said.
Alex Smallridge, a COM sophomore, said he interviewed her for a documentary about street artists worldwide. Her work, he said, is “absolutely gorgeous.”
Skeczh said she has formed a collective of streets artist, built on the idea that they “have something important to say to the world, and will try to tell the world, no matter what.”
JR, a street artist Skeczh said inspires communities, recently won a $100,000 grant from a TED organization in New York to help reduce poverty, according to a New York Times article published in February. JR visits slums around the world and paints colossal portraits of the people he sees, she said.
“Street art can inspire change, inspire hope,” Skeczh said.
I’ve never seen this girl up.
Perhaps this fearless artist shopuld bring her art to herown residence. Graffiti the outside of her home, her parent shome and all of those who support her alledged art. For the rest of us leave the city alone. You come here as a visitor, go to school , get an education and try to leave a better person. Along with that try to leave the city as you found it. Graffiti is not art, it is vandalism.
cool. another banksy wannabe.
^ exactly.
^ Let’s see some of your work Graff1! You appear to be quite knowledgeable of who is up in Boston. I work primarily with Skeczh Collective, which is based in LA (the article did not mention this). Considering I’m going to be in a documentary with 20 other artists from around the world sponsored by Montana Spray Paint and Juxtapoz magazine, many people would say quite the contrary to what you have stated. Nonetheless, I’d love to see some of your work!
-Skeczh
Ha. LA kids? I saw your website. This isn’t CA kid. You actually have to put in work out here. I’m just sick of all these college kids coming for the summer than when winter comes around or the Vice is on them they bail. If i see new work of her’s in Jan. I will take back everything I said.
Once again, would love to see some of your work!
how the hell do you even say that name? skek-zzz-hhhuu?
“Street art can inspire change, inspire hope”?? Unsolicited street art, i.e., graffiti more often cheapens neighborhoods, looks ugly, and depresses people.
What about the fact that she could annoy, anger, frustrate and upset hundreds of people — because she’s vandalized their property and made their lives and environments less pleasant? This person isn’t an artist, she’s a spoiled brat. She thinks she owns the world.
“The sheer fact that street art is illegal is stupid. It’s another form of expression.”
— talk about being STUPID? If Skeczh has two brain cells to rub together, and I’m not sure she does, I hope she’ll figure out that many “forms of expression” are illegal because they violate property laws, the common good, and even common sense. If she believes that anyone has a right to express anything, anywhere, she has a lot to learn about living in a democracy. She also needs to learn that not everyone adores her or what she calls “art” — and what the rest of us call tacky graffiti. What she considers to be her magnificent art is just another form of garbage to the people who get stuck living with it against their wills. Except that it costs a lot of time and money to get rid of it. Garbage is nicer to deal with.
She should never try to compare herself with artists who create public art with the approval and support of the community. She’ll never get herself a TED grant with her entitled attitude and criminal acts.
Is it so great to get a rush from knowing that hundreds of people are seeing your “art” when, in fact, virtually all of them are wishing it weren’t there? And, no, you don’t have “to be a famous artist for people to see your art….” as she says. You just have to be good enough to get yourself into a legitimate public venue of some kind: a gallery, the walls of a coffeehouse, your own pandering university… If you can’t manage that, you probably suck and need more training, which may or may not help you. And guess what: there’s a “righteousness” in that. Being a lousy artist is no excuse for inflicting yourself illegally on the public. For every Shepard Fairey, there are 100,000 talentless vandals.
It’s swell she’s in a documentary with so many other artists. Maybe she will stop bothering us now that her ego’s being stoked by some poor schmucks in LA.
I hope she gets arrested soon, and that it teaches her a lesson. It shouldn’t be too hard to track her down even though it seems she’s yet another anonymous coward vandal, pretending to be an artist. If you’re really an artist, you sign your NAME! You stand up for what you create, no matter how misguided and ignorant you are, okay? If you’re tagging in my neighborhood, please include your address, too!
FreeP reporter Meg DeMouth fell into a linguistic trap by characterizing Skeczh as a “street artist.” As other commenters point out, Skeczh’s “art” is most people’s vandalism, the defacing of private or public property without permission. Only those who defend the practice would use the term “street art.” And how does the reporter know that Skeczh is “part of the increasingly popular street art movement…”? Increasingly popular with whom? A journalist should use a neutral term to describe what Skeczh does, maybe by writing something like, “Skeczh, who calls herself a street artist despite its illegal nature …. etc.” That way the reporter isn’t taking sides.
Wow these people are insane. There is a huge difference between graffiti and street art. She is not doing graffiti. I’ve seen her work in galleries, not just out in public. Both are beautiful. People are so quick to criticize something they know nothing about. Mind you the article does not go into the depth of why street artists do what they do, and the fact that street artists never vandalize homes, schools, or churches, but I think to stand up in a society to call for freedom and equality through art at the risk of being arrested is courageous. And if you think some comments on a publication’s website, that isn’t popular to begin with, is going to stop her then you are sadly mistaken. Can I just take a minute to laugh at..”For every Shepherd Fairey, there a 100,000 talentless vandals.” Shepherd Fairey was ridiculed for years for his vandalism. Funny how peoples’ attitudes change about artists once they start making a profit. Go back to watching Exit Through the Gift Shop, since that is where the extent of your knowledge about street art originated.
-Jake
Hoopla hoopla hullabaloo!
Now now Jake, don’t insult the Daily Free Press. It’s a find institution!
Wow, a closeup of an eyeball. that really is great art! Dont be a punk.