Graffiti contest puts spray on display

Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada

Naoibh O'Connor

Graffiti artists' work will be protected from, well, graffiti when it's displayed as hoarding boards around a new major construction site next year.

The irony isn't lost on Eileen Mosca, president of the Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Centre, one of the sponsors of a contest at Grandview Park Saturday to demonstrate that when done legally, graffiti can be an art form. Bosa Development Corporation, which is donating sheets of plywood for the graffiti pieces, will showcase the completed works at its Citygate project.

"Before they put them up around the project, they're going to coat them with 'Goodbye Graffiti' anti-graffiti coating," Mosca said with a laugh. "I just love that. That just kills me. This work will stand un-graffitied by other graffiti artists, which is kind of cool."

Like many parts of the Vancouver, the East Side neighbourhood is plagued by graffiti taggers. Mosca hopes that the competition will help some of the artists connect with the community at large and provide the public with an opportunity to see legitimate graffiti creators at work.

"It's an art form used in advertising campaigns aimed at youth, but the graffiti style is something the general public doesn't think of as an art form," she said.

Organizers tracked down participants through graffiti websites and police contacts.

As of last week, 13 of 20 spots in the competition were filled.

"Some of these teens have talent and they're living a marginal kind of lifestyle," said Mosca, a commercial artist who creates murals and runs a silk-screening business. "Some of them maybe just need a little more direction and maybe they do have a lot of talent -- we'll see. Maybe they can use that talent -- we want to make that opening to them."

Judges will hand out $500 in prize money to the top three finishers. All participants will earn a $25 honorarium and Bosa will provide $100 for the people's choice award.

None of the graffiti artists can include nudity, political commentary, vulgarity or active tags in their work.

"It's not a silver bullet to end the problem but it's a way to bring these kids out so they're a little bit into the fold. They're part of our community too-maybe it's for us to reach a hand out," Mosca said.

She thinks passersby will be interested in watching the artists in action. They usually produce their work on dark corners in the middle of the night.

The city is providing 600 cans of spray paint, all of which must be returned at the end of the competition to ensure they're not used for illegal work afterward.

Artists will work from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Aug. 28. Then, the panel of judges will assess their efforts. Prizes for the top three will be awarded at 4 p.m. The event will also feature hip hop music by local DJ Ivan Pelen, a fundraising barbecue for the Britannia Teen Centre and informative displays by the community policing centre and the city's graffiti management team. Work will be exhibited until 6 p.m.