OUT
Concrete canvases
The craft of street stenciling
Cloaked in the darkness of twilight, two stencil pirates walk nonchalantly across the deserted parking lot toward their shadowed canvas: a slab of upright concrete.The coast is clear.One continues to stand guard while the other pulls out a stencil cut from a pizza box and holds
It at arm's length against the wall. Arming himself with a can of blue spray paint, he holds down the nozzle and waves his arm across the template. As he carefully pulls the stiff board away, Colonel Sanders stares back at him, grimacing.
Across campus, multiple images of Colonel Sanders, as well as other stenciled art, mark spaces in public view. Painted spiders crawl along Jayhawk Boulevard.
WHAT IS A STENCIL PIRATE?
As far as he knows, Josh MacPhee, author of Stencil Pirates: A Global Survey of Street Stencilling, is the first to use the term. MacPhee says that a stencil pirate is an artist capturing a public space to express his or her own message.
along Jaykaw booth hall, meandering between buildings and into women's restrooms. Sidewalks near Haworth Hall echo the message "1 More Dead" beneath a mass grave of bodies, bloodied with spattered red paint. In front of the Art and Design Building, Sanders' silhouette still marks the entrance, but the paint has been removed — evidence that not everyone accepts these images as legitimate art.
by Charissa Young
Stenciling is one of the oldest forms of art, dating to about 2000 B.C., says Josh MacPhee, author of Stencil Pirates: A Global Survey of Street Stenciling and a street stencil artist himself. People made prints in caves by chewing pigmented berries and spitting the color out around their hands. Artists now use stenciling as a form of self-expression.
According to Lawrence ordinance 6782, "Any person who writes, prints, marks, sprays, scratches, scrawls, paints, draws, etches or other affixes graffiti upon any property, publicly owned or privately owned, without the consent of the property owner shall
"Today, artists are putting art on the street to contest the privatization of public spaces, and universities are removing it without asking the public their opinion on the matter. Instead of wasting time and energy removing graffiti and street stencils, the money could be better spent going towards your education," MacPhee says.
One of the Colonel Sanders creators, a 21-year-old Lawrence resident, defends his exhibition as a contribution to the public.
"There's stencil art all over Lawrence. In adding my own, I'm just doing my part to beautify the city," he says.
Because street art is not profitable, he says he is driven by the exposure of his art to the world.
"How many people actually go into galleries? By forcing my art into part of the urban environment, people don't have to go out of their way to see it. It's right out there for everyone," he says.
The Colonel Sanders duo and other stencil street artists paint coverty because this medium is illegal.
be guilty of a municipal offense." The maximum punishment upon conviction includes a $1,000 fine and a six-month imprisonment.
"I try to be respectful of private property, and I won't paint on expensive buildings. I try to be sensitive to the surroundings, so I'm not going to go stencil on Grandpa Joe's family farm," the 21-year-old artist says.
Some stencil artists put
their work in galleries to avoid criminal activity.
Local artist Dave Loewenstein is recognized for his vibrant murals, such as The Hobbs Mural Project on $11^{\mathrm{th}}$ and Delaware streets, but he has developed an affinity for stencil art. Loewenstein: recently had an exhibition of stencil art, entitled SNAFU, Situation Normal All Fucked Up. The paper stencils were displayed at The Olive Gallery, 15 E. Eighth Street.
A popular piece in the show, "October Surprise," featured George W. Bush and Dick Cheney making a big revelation before the November election,unmasking themselves to show morbid skulls beneath.
Stencils appeal to Loewenstein because of the ease of producing multiples of the same image to present his own messages to the public.
"We're so bombarded with political messages from those in power and advertisers, but where's the voice of the rest of us? I'm not saying that artists are the voice of the rest of us, but we're at least someone,"Loewenstein says.
The message behind stencil street art is more difficult to decipher because the viewer can't contact the artist. The Colonel Sanders image that greets you in numerous places on campus is underlined with the message "Father Figure." It could be a comment on current politics, the fast food industry or family relations, but the artist is not letting on to any specifics.
"I try not to be overtly political or too over the top in the message. I'm subtle. I basically want to ignite people and their thoughts. I'm not supposed to tell you the whole story. It's like a mystery or a fun game for people to try and figure it out," he says.
IS STREET STENCILING ART?
"Being from a different culture, it does not really represent art to me. It's disrespectful to paint on the wall like that."
Nabil Cherif international graduate student
"It's just a trend to tag. These seem purposefully trying to find something odd to catch people's attention."
— Jake Schultz,
Lawrence High
School junior
"It looks like a random act of someone who drank a little too much. If the artist made his own stencils, then yeah, I guess it could be art. Here, I think the artist uses the colonel to represent good chicken."
Erick Walker, Houston freshman
"Yeah, I think it's art. I like the red and blue stencils that look like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and that chicken guy. Didn't they both just die? Maybe the artist is paying homage to race car drivers and chicken makers."
- Drew Cohorst, Topeka freshman
"Yes, it's art. It's mad spontaneous.Whoever painted these is letting out feelings about something. I really like the hot dog art because it makes me think about Nathan's big of' hot dogs back home."
- Sophronia Sallard, New York freshman
02. 23.2006 JAYPLAY <15
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