Grafitti - art or vandalism? (From Your Local Guardian)

Grafitti - art or vandalism?

5:02pm Saturday 26th July 2008 in

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The work of a convicted graffiti gang is being exhibited at a New York art gallery this week - but many of the artists will be unable to witness it because they are behind bars.

Members of the DPM crew were sentenced earlier this month for tagging and painting trains and stations across southwest London, resulting in a £1m clean-up operation for the rail networks.

However, the group is being hailed as artists across the pond with the opening of a new exhibition.

Titled DPM - Exhibit A, the exhibition in trendy Soho, New York, will display pictures of the crew’s work along with copies of their charge sheets, questioning whether the young men are criminals or artists.

Battersea’s Andrew Gillman, the 25-year-old “ringleader” of DPM, was jailed for two years.

He says exhibitions celebrating graffiti like the recent Cans Festival organised y the Tate send out mixed messages about the urban art form.

Before his sentencing he said: “If you can make money from illegal graff or a gallery does it off your back, then it's okay.

"It's in advertising and fashion as well. There is graffiti on trainers, hoodies, hats, t-shirts, everything you can think of.

“People want to wear illegal graffiti that is on the trains and the street.

"How come you can wear it and buy it, use it in advertising, marketing, music and every album cover and as soon as you do it you're f***ed, so where's the message? If they don't want people to be involved, don't popularise it."

Gillman, of St John’s Hill, was even commissioned by the BBC to ‘tag’ the EastEnders set at one stage.

He added: “They knew I was a writer. I said to them, the tags I am putting up, are the tags I see in London so it's realistic. And they said 'great, realistic tags, just what we want’.”

The members of DPM have vowed never to pick up a spray can again since their conviction.

"It was more about friendship than graffiti," Gillman said. "We knew what we were doing was wrong but when you are painting a piece, all your worries just fall away.

"Trains were like a moving canvass - it goes underground, it goes over bridges. And if you're standing there amongst the crowd and you see everyone looking at it, it gives you a huge feeling of gratification.

"We tried to create something that was artistic, made people look, something that's thought provoking, makes commuters look up from their paper.

"But I don't think I could call myself an artist. I'm a vandal, I've admitted that."

Another member of the gang, West Dulwich-based Alex McClelland was sentenced to nine months jail suspended for 12 months. He added: “I am not trying to excuse mine or any of the other defendants' actions.

“Each one of us has gone through two years of hell and remorse for our actions, the impact of this case has been far-reaching in all of our lives.

“But I do have very strong opinions on the level of prosecution we faced, being treated on a par with major organised drug-dealing rackets etc, as well as the hypocrisy of the police - witchhunting us yet leaving populist artists like Banksy alone.

“It’s selective prosecution in my mind.”

• What do you think? Is grafitti art or simply vandalism? Let us know in the comments section below.