Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.06.2007, Side 5

08_REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 08_007_ARTICLE/STREET ART
It’s not just the weather. Reykjavik is a grey
city. Beyond the pastel corrugated iron houses
of Skólavörðustígur and the colourful store-
fronts of Laugavegur, the drab grey apart-
ment blocks and uniform developments of
the suburb create an atmosphere of ennui
and total aesthetical boredom tantamount to
the most depressing of eastern block cities.
One very prevalent criticism of the city is that
the downtown area is so thriving with life
that everything outside of it is left without a
pulse of its own, drained of the blood and
chutzpah that should make a Reykjavik the
competent European city it is in name. When
faced with the facts, we may just have to
accept that, aside from a few blocks, this is
not a colourful town.
But an open-ended, all-inclusive under-
ground has taken up the job of beautifying
the city in a way the city government had
not intended. These artists (though not con-
ventionally recognised as such) can be seen
surreptitiously retreating from freshly-sprayed
multicoloured pieces the size of Range Rovers
all over the city. To naysayers, these works
look like some estranged southeast Asian
language scribbled onto what could have
otherwise been a pristine wall used as a clean
backdrop or a prime spot for advertising more
Blue Lagoon paraphernalia. To others, these
pieces are art in its purest form: public dis-
course through the medium of paint.
With the emerging uniform suburban
ethos in outer Reykjavik, it’s no wonder that
this underground has taken to the street and
breathed life onto the city’s walls, creating
paper transfers and post-ups of Batman and
Elvis, or colourful murals of robots, sheep,
and even a re-interpretation of Michelangelo’s
“The Creation of Adam.” Their goal, as most
of them will agree, is not only to cheer up
the lonely city walls, but also to bring public
awareness to art and boiling political tension,
especially in relation to the war in Iraq.
Documenting Urban Walls
Thordis Claessen, proprietor of the clothing
store Ósóma, has presented the Icelandic
public with a collection of pieces, tags, and
various forms of street art taken from the
walls of Reykjavik in her recently published
Icepick (Ginko Press). The photographic book
documents the different styles of graffiti
throughout the city for the past 7 years or
so, and provides English captions of Icelandic
tagging and wall discourse. The book, only
ten days on the market, has already ranked
as the second highest selling foreign book (it
is classified as such as it is published by an
American publication house) in Iceland.
It seems that the high sales are indicative
of a piquing public interest in graffiti. As
Claessen explains, graffiti offers “a different
kind of tourist” to the streets of Reykjavik.
“The young people like to see the street art.
They’re coming into my store and asking me
‘where’s all the good street art,’ not, ‘where’s
Gullfoss’ or ‘where’s the Pearl?’”
As an acknowledgment to Claessen and
her success, Reykjavík Art Museum – Kjar-
valsstaðir offered her a place in its current
exhibition on contemporary Icelandic design,
entitled “Magma”. In the city art museum is a
wall of Claessen’s work, and more importantly,
a promotional set-up for Icepick. On the idea
that graffiti (which is generally dismissed as
a lower form of art) has broken through to a
city museum, Claessen says “It’s kind of like
a little victory. Graffiti is now on the walls of
[the Reykjavík Art Museum] – Kjarvalsstaðir,
where it’s kind of accepted as art; I think it’s
pretty funny that people are giving a toast in
champagne while graffiti is there right next
to 66 North or Nikita and other respected
artists and brands.”
Mixed Messages from the City
But for many of the graffiti artists in Reykjavik
(artists whose work is included in Icepick), it
simply seems to be yet another frustrating and
contradictory statement from a city council
that simultaneously promotes and punishes
graffiti. The question, for these artists, is more
than clear: How does a city that places a zero-
tolerance ban on graffiti also show it off at
high culture venues?
While the city seems to acknowledge that
some forms of graffiti are worthy of museum
exhibition status, the artists themselves are
on the run and constantly fearing backlash
from the law. In 2003, a committee of city au-
thorities drafted a paper that would not only
ban the act of tagging, but also shut down
a legal wall by the school Vesturbæjarskólí
under the premise that graffiti breeds graffiti.
If anything, artists believe that the ban has
backfired: “There was definitely an increase
in tagging after they shut down the wall,”
says one graffiti artist, who operates under
the alias Naïve.
More confusing is the fact that even
though the city banned the legal wall, they
have since sponsored and even supplied cer-
tain artists with cans to tag walls of city struc-
tures during events like Menningarnótt and
this winter hosted two different exhibitions
of graffiti work during a large cultural event
called Winter Lights Festival, held by the City
of Reykjavík. On the ambivalence of the city
council’s acceptance of graffiti, some artists
feel that the city council isn’t sure itself, and
has difficultly defining the difference between
art and vandalism. “It’s a mixed message that
they’re sending out,” says Naïve. “There is no
official policy, except that graffiti is ‘bad’. I
don’t think it’s a question they have answered
in there own minds.”
What’s That Guy’s Number?
In recent years, the city council has upped its
ante with talk of banning spray cans to those
under the age of 20 and increasing the graffiti
clean-up budget to 300 million ISK per year. In
preparation to this article, The Grapevine tried
to meet with members of the city council who
control graffiti clean-up repeatedly without
success. Our attempts to get a response from
city officials ended up in a wild run-around
goose chase with fingers pointing to 5 or 6
people who all claimed they weren’t in charge.
Eventually, it got to the point where every
time the Grapevine attempted to call City
Hall, they would get dead end line transfers
and even a few hang-ups.
Though Claessen claims that there was no
political motive behind assembling Icepick, the
book seems to have come at a tense moment
of contradictory perspectives on graffiti within
the city government. Both Claessen and Naïve
acknowledge that public interest in street
art is increasing, and older generations who
once dismissed the genre as “vandalism” are
now accepting the idea that graffiti can be
high art. Claessen even claims that she’s had
private business owners in their 50’s ask her
for the phone numbers of artists who would
be willing to decorate their business walls.
In the increasingly apparent tension be-
tween public interest in graffiti and tight city
policies, many graffiti artists feel that solution
could be as simple as opening up a forum
for discussion on graffiti, or even creating
another legal wall. “I don’t think it will cost
a lot of money to put up some legal walls,”
concludes Claessen, “It would be like a new
gallery all the time, and it would certainly
make Reykjavik feel like a big, up-to-date-
city.”
Street Art: Accepted in Galleries, Banned in the Streets
Text by Chandler Fredrick Photo by Páll Hilmarsson
While the city seems to
acknowledge that some
forms of graffiti are
worthy of museum exhi-
bition status, the artists
themselves are on the
run and constantly fear-
ing backlash from the
law.
Special offer
Booking phone: Tel: (+354) 562 1011 www.re.is e-mail: main@re.is
Our brochure is available
at all major hotels and
guesthouses.
Discounts on day tours
5% discount for 1 daytour
10% discount for 2 daytours
15% discount for 3 daytours
Tours must be purchased at Reykjavik Excursions
sales offices: BSI Bus Terminal, Radisson SAS Hotel Saga,
Icelandair Hotel Nordica, Icelandair Hotel Loftleidir.
ÍS
L
E
N
S
K
A
S
IA
.I
S
K
Y
N
3
56
67
0
1.
2
0
0
7