Artists James Powderly and Evan Roth recently went on a daring graffiti mission. The goal? Tagging New York’s Brooklyn Bridge. They waited for rush hour to die down and tried to be as incognito as people milling around bridges can be in this post-Sept. 11 world. Then, the duo fixed their crosshairs firmly on the bridge’s underside, and started etching out dozens — maybe hundreds — of tags on one of its massive supports. They held still as a police boat floated under the bridge. Later, they allowed passersby to pick up the equipment and try it for themselves. Yet, the next morning, there was nary a sign that Powderly or Roth — nor their towering graffiti art — had ever been there
While most graffiti crews use spray paint to mark buildings and urban infrastructure, Roth and Powderly, the artists behind the Graffiti Research Lab, have perfected a unique form of temporary high-tech graffiti they call laser tagging that utilizes a laser pointer in lieu of paint, a projector in place of a spray. Instead of hitting dark subway tunnels and back alleys, they turn their attention to public places such as skyscrapers and monuments. A growing legion of fans turn out regularly to witness live demonstrations of their light shows (see video of their latest graffiti missions), but most log on en masse to watch videos of the events on such sites as YouTube and GraffitiResearchLab.com. A few hundred have even downloaded the needed computer code and instructions — something the “open-source” artists encourage people to do — to replicate Powderly and Roth’s art in cities around the world. As a result of their soaring online popularity, the two artists have been sought out by a number of prominent curators in the art world — most recently by those at the Museum of Modern Art in New York — who see in their digital etchings a convergence of street art, graffiti art and urban cinema. Read the rest of this entry »
