Clogged Caps 5 Aerosol Art Fest

The semi-annual Clogged Caps Aerosol Arts Festival took place this Friday through Sunday at the Nolan St. bridge in downtown San Antonio. Already in its fifth incarnation, the live graffiti showcase was bigger and more popular than ever, and attracted hundreds of artists and appreciators.

“It used to be mostly just us and our friends,” said veteran organizer/artist CN63 of the local Prhymemates hip-hop collective and the L.A.W.S. (Life After Wild Style) graffiti crew. Humble beginnings have progressed into a nationally-respected event that draws writers from places as far as Chicago, San Francisco, New York, with names like Duo, Neon, and Vega.

Haldun Morgan , an artist/filmmaker who was part of a documentary on the festival, explained the graffiti impulse: “People have been writing on walls since the beginning of humankind, it’s some of the earliest evidence of our existence as rational beings, yet you throw in private and public property laws and then an instinct as old as throwing an arrow to get some food now becomes a criminalized activity. We are artists, wherever it may be, especially in the confines of the concrete jungles that most urban areas do represent today.”

But while some writers admit to being chased by S.A.P.D. during late night “bombing sessions” outside the event, for at least one weekend each year, the police work for them.

“This year,” according to CN63, “The city’s been able to help us out.”

The mayor’s blessing translated into police security, a closed-off block, and a cavernous railroad underpass for a canvas. On Friday, the underpass was blank, but come Sunday it was a kaleidoscopic patchwork of vibrant hieroglyphs and cryptic neon imagery. The vibe was one of camaraderie, and with the uniformed officers present, the only fighting that took place was the spontaneous break dancing battle that broke out under the train tracks, where several members of a local b-boy troupe performed impromptu moves against all comers on a makeshift cardboard mat to the beats of DJ Scuba Gooding, Jr. As onlooker Kat Russell described it, “It was krunk as ****, yo!”

The festivities kicked-off with a pre-party on the Riverwalk’s Travis 151 bar, which doubled as an art gallery and hosted a hip hop show featuring several local and guest MC’s. The following day’s carnival atmosphere was a clash of old and new, be it school of style, type of paint, or age of the attendees, and by the end of the first day, proceedings had taken on a surreal hue. Every time a train rumbled by overhead, many could be seen craning their necks to check out the graffiti on the sides of the freight cars. One artist, who preferred to remain anonymous, pointed proudly as one of his pieces rolled by. The constant buffet of eye candy was further cluttered with the swarms of butterflies that descended on the city this weekend, and skateboarding kids mingled with gas mask-sporting artists and pet pit bulls until a downpour in the midst of ninety-degree heat cut Saturday’s celebration short. Everything was quickly up and running the next day, though.

“This is great, I’m glad they’re letting us do this,” said Liz Conner, here to see her son Sean’s work. Added her husband Bruce , “Let’s keep it up, San Antonio, please, for the kids!”

So what was new this year? “Sponsors,” Sean Conner laughed. “It’s better. They provide the music, the paint, and a lot of wall space.”

Others were more wary of the inevitable commercialization.

“On the good side, it gets it out there more, and a lot of people start realizing that its not just a bunch of vandals tagging things,” offered 5-year veteran Soup. “But, let’s face it, [graffiti] used to be underground, now its mainstream.”

This was evident in the Red Bull tent across the street from this year’s event on one side, rivaling the mom and pop funnel cake van parked all the way on the other side, like the little angel and the devil on the festival’s shoulders.

“I hate using the word ‘graffiti’ because I’m not a graffiti writer, I do images. I’ve never done illegals, I don’t tag,” Soup continued. “But I really like the way graffiti’s going right now.”

-Andy Gately