Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.08.2013, Side 27

Urban Canvasses:
Örn Tönsberg
Where some see blank urban walls, Örn Töns-
berg sees canvases. “I want to see a lively city,”
he says. “That’s why I love doing these murals
and meeting people and getting their stories.”
The work of the Reykjavík native and Muses
member appears all over the city, from the
nooks and crannies of city buildings to the
walls of shops and boutiques and even the
park Hjartagarðurinn.
Örn is trying to make graffiti more acces-
sible as well. In May 2012, Örn and several fel-
low graffiti artists were awarded 6,300 euros
from Youth in Action, an organisation that
helps Europeans between the ages of 13– 30
to fund programmes directed at young people.
He says the grant will allow him and other art-
ists to create several large murals in the city,
and eventually they will compile a print publi-
cation showcasing graffiti and other artwork.
Although Örn himself doesn’t have a for-
mal background in art, he has been doing
graffiti for the last decade. Upon returning to
Reykjavík in 2011 after spending four years in
Denmark, he started to receive more commis-
sioned projects from downtown shops.
While the city formally had a “zero-toler-
ance” policy toward graffiti of any kind, he says
the success and popularity of spaces like the
Hjartagarðurinn ("The Heart Park") are changing
attitudes and perceptions about street art. He
hopes to see more places in the city specifically
designated for graffiti. “What you see at Hjart-
agarðurinn is really nice art, and it doesn’t poi-
son the environment,” he says. “Something has
been accomplished there, and I think the city will
see that.”
At some point in the future he wants to take
things a step further by opening a youth cen-
tre to host graffiti and music workshops, which
would give young people more creative outlets.
“People tend to think graffiti is destruc-
tive, and everyone who turns to graffiti is like a
troubled kid or something,” he says. “To some
extent that’s right because those who seek to
do graffiti are thrill seekers, but typically I’ve
seen graffiti help people, especially kids who
come from bad situations. It becomes the
most positive thing about their life—they are
at least doing art.”
Street Art Glossary
By Kirsten O’Brien
"Urban art" can be a wide variety of art in any
public space, street art, graffiti and writing.
While the difference between graffiti and
street art is becoming harder to recognise,
graffiti focuses more on letters and mostly
uses spray paint. Street art is more figurative,
and uses more diverse mediums (so, things
like Theresa Himmer's sequin art is a good ex-
ample of street art in Reykjavík)
Chulo says graffiti revolves mostly around
lettering and creating an individual style.
There are three kinds:
Tagging: purely letters or a symbol/icon.
This is usually the artist’s name. When people
complain about graffiti, they are usually talk-
ing about tags and figurative tagging.
Throw-ups: Typically, simple lettering with
one colour as an outline and one colour as a
fill.
Piece: Derived from "masterpiece," this is
a full colour piece that uses three or more co-
lours.
Good examples of the various terms/individ-
ual artists' work:
The "Tag by Quick" is a good example of an
elaborate tag.
"Sequins and Mural" is a good example of The-
resa Himmer's street art.
"Cultivate your garden" is a mural done by
Sara Riel right outside a kindergarten.
The "Zombie Clowns" is a good example of
Chulo's work in Heart Park.
Caught By The Fuzz?
By Kaisu Nevasalmi
When young artists are busy decorating a pub-
lic wall in 101 Reykjavík, it isn’t the city council
they worry about. Nope, it’s the cops. We called
them up to get their take on that whole street
art thing.
“There is no bad blood between the police
and street artists. Not at least that I know of,”
says Snorri Árnason from the Department of
Information and Planning for Reykjavík Police.
Snorri explains that the police usually don’t
chase down the people who make street art, al-
though he does refer to it as “vandalism.” “The
police have not taken real pro-active action
with these types of crime. Usually, the cases
are reported by people who feel like their prop-
erty has been vandalised,” he continues.
According to Snorri, graffiti artist arrests
aren’t commonplace. He says that there are
about four or five cases per month that concern
graffiti in Reykjavík, while hesitating to cite
exact numbers. He says he imagines that the
people who charge in these cases are usually
disgruntled home owners, and notes that the
police don’t differentiate between tagging and
graffiti art, as there is no classification system.
Describing the police procedures, Snorri
says that if the police see that someone is van-
dalising property, like painting graffiti, they
would arrest the individual caught in the act.
“If we have a suspect from the one who is rais-
ing charges, or a person who has been caught,
then they will have to compensate for the dam-
ages. Usually this means cleaning the graffiti,
or paying the owner.”
All in all it seems like the police in Reykjavík
are not very concerned about graffiti in gen-
eral. Snorri ends the conversation by claiming
that there only will be a case if someone raises
charges, and that is how the police work. It is as
simple as that.
Simon Steel