USC : Project Is Positive Sign for Graffiti

Standing against a backdrop of pale white and brick buildings at USC, Robert Moreno smiles at the contrast of a wall of bright green, orange and black aerosol paintings nestled in a small campus courtyard.

“People associate graffiti with drugs, violence and gangs and that’s not true,” said Moreno, 27, who attends USC’s Graduate School of Architecture. “There’s a difference between the scrawling on the side of the freeway and this work, which involves composition and technique.”

Moreno began the project last May, after spending hours walking along the railroad yards along the Los Angeles River. After seeing block after block of graffiti-covered walls, Moreno began to think of ways to incorporate graffiti into architecture--and a master’s thesis.

“I started asking some of the kids what prompted them to do (graffiti) and they said it was a way to express themselves,” Moreno said.

Moreno decided to use his knowledge as an architect to create a model train station that included a graffiti art center.

That led Moreno to build a wall where artists could express their visions. Nearly 76 spray-paint cans later, the first part of Moreno’s project has taken shape with the help of five young artists.

The 6-by-24-foot wall that serves as a canvas for Man, Krash, Precise, Acme and Vile reveals images of Los Angeles from the perspective of its youths. A man falling out of a toppled skyline, and a face emerging from a spray-paint can are two of the scenes they’ve cast.

But Moreno is anxious to work on the second phase of the project, which would include converting an abandoned East 4th Street warehouse into a light-rail station and community center where local youths could practice their art.

It’s that vision that attracted Krash, a 21-year-old art student at Cal State L.A. whose work is part of the wall. “This gives an alternative to the youth and a way to get into art,” said Krash, who began painting near the Santa Fe Railroad yards in the early 1980s and is among the artists taking part in an urban design exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles beginning May 15.

“Teen-agers in these areas today can’t associate with Michelangelo or Picasso,” he said, “but they can associate with our art. And 20 years from now graffiti will be recognized as an art form.”

Moreno said that he remains optimistic that others will adopt some part of the project into a design scheme.

“I think what he’s is doing is great,” said Maya Emsden, manager of ART, a Metropolitan Transportation Agency-sponsored public-arts program. “The interest is to create an alternative for young artists, whether that be in oil, watercolors or aerosol.”

The wall at USC has already attracted the attention of Felix Padron, a public-art adviser who is trying to have the wall placed in Pacoima. Padron, a graduate student at USC, is developing a mural project for graffiti artists in the Valley. Moreno admits that his concept may not appeal to some who see graffiti as nothing more than vandalism. But Moreno said that after spending millions of dollars trying to make the images disappear, creating a place for youths to come and spray paint might help reduce signs of discontent.