Somebody Please Take the Spray Can Away from Annie Preece

Apparently, Annie Preece is upset about her lack of coverage, and the tone of the coverage she has received on M&F.  So we thought we would take a minute to spell it out and explain what it takes to be a street artist, and what this blog looks to give positive coverage to.

Annie showed up out of nowhere a few weeks ago claiming to be a recovering drug addict and saying that she has been getting up on the streets for 15 years.  Those of us who have been on the streets just look puzzled in response.  If Annie had been on the streets for 15 years, we would have heard of her, yet nobody has.  Perhaps what is most ironic is that if the best artists are supposed to represent the voice of a generation, clearly, Annie is just convincing us that her's is a voice we don't want to listen to.

In all fairness, Annie has done a couple of murals that seem child-like, but we did enjoy the bright colors on a couple of them, and mentioned as much on the blog.  But aside from the murals, Annie has crapped up the area with horrendous tags--these tags are extremely bad for many reasons, and here's why.

First of all, the basic rule of street art that any street artist should be asking themselves, is 'does this art make the city better?'.  Some hardcore graffiti artists might argue that any vandalism is a good thing, but for the rest of the street artists, and society in general, little crummy tags with no placement or handstyle are a fail.  Senseless, vandalistic, no-style tags don't make the streets better, instead it is an entry level behavior that most graffiti artists grow out of by 14, or stylisticly develop beyond after a few weeks, or get busted by the cops for not getting up properly. This is the worst part of art on the streets.  Its not art, its littering on the streets.

Let us be clear--tags in general are one of our favorite elements of the streets, and some graffiti and street artists have developed a basic handstyle that looks simple yet works.  But most of these artists are conscious of what they are doing and familiar with the dialoge on the streets.  Annie's affront is not just the no-style frantic manner that she flops tags around the street with and where she puts them, it is also what she says.   Writing 'I Was Here' is the absolute lowest tag there is.  It is what any non-street artist imbecile might put on the wall.  It is stupid, because if you understand the nature of tagging, it is already assumed that you were 'here'.  It is something written by idiots who have nothing else to say--and who don't understand the streets.

Intention is everything, and it is clear when artists are engaging with the streets, or simply harvesting the streets for publicity.  Engaging with the streets is what makes street art special and what the goal should be.  But all too often, when folks use the streets for publicity, they end up abusing the streets, like with what Annie has been doing.   The fact that Annie is signing her real name while destroying real property of real businesses that are still in business seems beyond ridiculous to any real graffiti writer.

Annie starts at the bottom by littering tags on the streets and her level of street conversation just erodes from there.  She writes things that are inane and annoying at the same time, like "This is really nice wood.  What is this, pine?", "I'm sleeping with a really hot guy right now.  And he's nice. SCORE!!!", and "My butt itches".   Please.  Spare us your painfully unwitty witticisms. Its great that you finally have a cute guy to sleep with Annie, but by writing it on a wall you just convince the rest of us that what you have to say, is not worth saying.  The crux is since its written on the wall, we are kind of forced to look at it.  It does not make the streets better, but worse.  We tried to ignore it for a long time and because we could not say anything nice, we tried not to say anything at all.  But you keep crapping up Melrose and we feel forced to tell you how it is, even if it is mean.  The truth is, dialoging with Annie's tags is like having a one-way conversation with a retard.

For those wondering how to get up the right way and receive positive coverage in general, it is very easy to follow a simple street recipe to get up the right way.  Have something worth saying and people will want to listen.  Package it in a way that looks good and people will want to see it.  Treat not only other artists, but also the streets themselves with respect, and you will get respect in return.   If anyone gets up and treats the streets the right way, people will notice and you will most likely receive positive coverage on M&F.

Annie, you might write on the streets but you are no street artist.  Like a child writing on walls, hope you enjoyed scribbling on the streets for a few weeks.  Meanwhile, the city is hoping you get bored with this quickly, so the streets will look better.