By day, Mary J. is a normal college student, worrying about tests and homework. By night, Mary dawns a respirator, pulls out her spray cans and heads into the darkness to bring renegade art to Austin. Mary chose to remain anonymous for this article.

words: bill bowman

photos: ricky velour

For Mary, art is all about expression, colors, love, freedom of speech, spreading beauty around the world and making a connection with others. All forms of art require imagination and creativity, but no type of art involves a higher risk than graffiti. Graffiti is not typically respected as a form of art by the establishment but Mary sees the art as an amazing venue for expression and the spread of ideas.

There is a lot of controversy around about the difference between street art and graffiti. Mary argues that these are one and the same – graffiti is street art and street art is graffiti. For the past five years, Mary has gone against the mainstream and made graffiti her passion.

Picking Up The Spray Can

Mary got introduced to the culture while in High School. A classmate had a black book and Mary was drawn to his designs and patterns. She began going with him and watching his work. Her initial interest as a spectator soon turned to writing graffiti herself.

“Eventually I got so interested in the art that I began trying to do it myself. I practiced on fences and sides of buildings where no one could see them. I found walls in the middle of the woods and went out there to work on my can control, movement, color schemes, and speed. Then I met another close friend of mine. He changed my life. He took the time to teach me things step by step and really took me under his wing. We would sneak out with each other and go around Austin and put our art up all over the place. We were a great team. We watched each other’s backs and did a lot of collaborations.”

Since first starting writing, Mary has achieved notoriety for a number of reasons. She is one of a few women in the scene to write and has become known for her bright colors, strong voice, positive message and quality.

The Art

For some, graffiti is all about stealing your supplies and writing on anything you can get your hands on. For Mary, graffiti is about her love for the style of the art. It’s about the way it looks and feels – the motion of the piece. Mary feels that graffiti writers who go around town tagging their name all over buildings and people’s property are the ones who give graffiti a bad name.

Art has the power to brighten someone’s day and even influence their political views. Mary focuses on the positive message by adding brightness to an otherwise drab urban landscape. Mary takes a methodical approach when choosing the spots to hit “I choose to hit spots that are highly visible and will reach the largest number of people. I also want pick spots that will also stay up the longest without getting buffed. I will never put up graffiti on a church, school, or privately owned building.”

Mary sees graffiti as constantly evolving. It changes every day and every time a kid goes out and paints. Austin is also evolving. She believes that graffiti artists around Austin are making the city more beautiful – at least the ones who are putting up good quality ideas and images.

The graffiti that Mary does illicitly around Austin has helped her at school in more practical ways. “I have learned so much about color, layout, being artistic, and creating new forms of art while doing graffiti. Graff is about the love of the art, and it has taught me the importance of just relaxing and letting the art come through you. I have been inspired by many graffiti artists and projects, and they all add to my creativity. When I am in school and I need to do a creative project I think of different experiences I have had and different graffiti pieces that I am drawn to for inspiration and ideas. All artists feed off of other people’s work. I chose to be stimulated by other graffiti artists.”

Bombin’

Going out and Bombin’ or tagging is a natural high for Mary. “There is something about being on top of a building, sneaking around late at night, chasing after trains, and painting on things that you shouldn’t that gives me a total physical and spiritual rush.”

Mary goes out and gets that rush in some very conspicuous and dangerous places. One night of bombin’ led her to Lady Bird Lake.

“One night, a friend of mine and I decided to send a message to Austin. We took a canoe out under the moonlight to do some artwork. Painting while standing in a canoe was no joke – I almost fell out twice. While painting, we were in plain sight. Knowing at every moment that someone could see us was exciting. A few people even walked right by us. They had no idea we were even there. It was like we became invisible to the human eye. That is how blind people really are to graffiti.”

Tagging in high visibility locations can create excitement, but sneaking past barbed wire and guard dogs is another issue altogether.

“A while back, my best friend and I noticed it was a full moon out, so we decided to meet up to paint. We drove over to the east side and parked at a friend’s house. Then we headed in the direction of the local train tracks. When we finally got to the train, we quickly set up and picked out the train we wanted to paint on. We divided the car into two even sections and started painting. We said nothing and communicated only in signs and gestures. While painting we were completely focused and free, but still paid close attention to our surroundings. This was only my second time painting on a train, so I was absolutely scared out of my mind. At the same time I was more excited than I’ve ever been in my life. We were only there for about an hour, but it felt like eternity. When we finished redecorating the train, we stepped back to take a look at the final product. I felt accomplished and stoked for all the people who would see my art as they sit and wait for the train to roll by. We packed up our stuff and snuck back towards the neighborhood.

Just as we felt like we had completed the night’s mission, a cop cruised by us and flashed us with his spot light. My friend and I ran as fast as possible in the opposite direction. We ended up hopping a fence and camping out in someone’s backyard for a while until the coast was clear. We eventually make our way back to our friend’s house and pass out from the hardcore adrenaline rush. “

Regardless of run-ins with the law and other risks involved, Mary sees graffiti as a valuable part of city life and culture and has no plans to slow down.

Risky Business

The possibility of getting caught by the authorities is what adds much of the excitement and thrill to painting graffiti. The punishments for getting caught writing graffiti vary depending on the type of graffiti, the city and the judge. Austin Defense Attorney, Betty Blackwell, detailed some of the punishments for getting nabbed by the police.

If the prosecution believes that the graffiti is gang related, those caught will likely receive jail time.  It can be up to 6 months in jail, even if the loss is less than $500. The conviction can be felony if the graffiti is on a school or place of worship, regardless of the amount of damage. If the amount of damage is over $1500, it will also likely result in a felony conviction. If the graffiti can be easily removed, the case will likely get dismissed.

If the property-owner pays to remove the graffiti, the person charged with the offense will have to re-pay what the owner paid.  If the convicted person cannot repay the money prior to the court date, they may have to do probation while paying the cost of removal through the probation department.  Typical misdemeanor probation is one year.  Felony probation is usually 3 to 5 years.  These punishments are for Travis County, but in many smaller counties in Texas, courts are much harsher on graffiti.

Bettie Blackwell represented one artist and successfully showed that his work had true artistic merit and had even been featured in a local paper. The judge ended up dismissing the case. Successfully showing artistic talent may be the most promising route for talented graffiti writers in Austin.

Compromise

Mary believes that compromise between street artists and cities fighting vandals and gangs tagging turf could be helped by adding legal walls for graffiti. Legal walls have been used in cities across the US and the world.

“If we have no legal places to paint, where are we supposed to go? We are artists, we’re not going to stop doing art because we have nowhere to put it, we are going to go make places to put it. If Austin wants graffiti crimes to slow down, they are going to have to give a little to get a little.”

Tony Casarez, Programming Coordinator for the City of Austin’s public art department detailed Austin’s history with dealing with Graffiti and what he thinks of putting “free walls” into place.

“Currently there is no programming which addresses this issue. Over seven years ago we did have an artist on staff who addressed educational and mural concerns.  At the time, a number of murals were contracted and completed in city buildings, mainly in health clinics. No efforts have been made to create any free walls within the city.  There was one such wall in the UT area, and the business owner (Mojo’s Coffee Shop) lost control of the wall simply because the graffiti continued to spread throughout the area.  The owner eventually went out of business. Different cities throughout the country have tried “free walls”, but there is no evidence showing a decline in random graffiti because of the walls.”

Despite what the city of Austin thinks, Mary is hopeful that public places for murals combined with talented graffiti writers can make cities a more beautiful and humane place.