{"id":577501,"date":"2014-02-12T22:39:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=577501"},"modified":"2014-02-12T22:39:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T14:39:00","slug":"street-arts-natural-high-in-cavite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/577501\/street-arts-natural-high-in-cavite","title":{"rendered":"Street art\u2019s natural high in Cavite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Call them vandals, and they wouldn\u2019t mind. In fact, they refer to themselves as \u201cCavity\u201d\u2014a play on Cavite province\u2014for they regard themselves more as the streets\u2019 dental caries.<\/p><\/div>\n

Call them vandals, and they wouldn\u2019t mind. In fact, they refer to themselves as \u201cCavity\u201d\u2014a play on Cavite province\u2014for they regard themselves more as the streets\u2019 dental caries.<\/p>\n\n

The subculture of street painting and graffiti carries no political undertones, no themes but purely visual expressions in public space.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cLike any visual art in a gallery, we know that ours is subject to criticisms. Yes, some people call it vandalism,\u201d says Rai Cruz, a 28-year-old multimedia arts instructor at Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila.<\/p>\n\n

Cruz is one of the founders of Cavity Collective, a \u201ccrew\u201d (group) of Cavite-based street artists and graffiti writers. With him in the core are visual artists, who want themselves to be called Blic, 28, and Lamok Skito, 30, and 18 others.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt was Blic\u2019s idea that we paint together one day. He contacted us for a \u2018sesh\u2019 (session),\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n\n

That was how Cavity started in 2010 and has since done over a hundred street art and graffiti works one could hardly miss on a building fa\u00e7ade, an abandoned structure or a public footbridge in Cavite and Manila.<\/p>\n\n

The collective has 80 to 100 other members who are less active and part of what they called the Cavity Community.<\/p>\n\n

Cavity does \u201ccommissioned\u201d works, too, in Laguna and in as far as Pangasinan, Iloilo and Davao.<\/p>\n\n

A thin line separates street artists and graffiti writers, Cruz said. The artists use paintbrush while the writers are masters of the spray paint. After all, graffiti is also a form of \u201ccalligraphy,\u201d a stylized way of painting a person\u2019s name, he said.<\/p>\n\n

What brings the two together? \u201cBoth are done where it is visible to the largest crowd possible,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cIt\u2019s like reclaiming an urban space. It\u2019s communicating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u2018Work-picture-go\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

What they do and what they get out of it, many do not understand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u201cEVERYTHING Could Change\u201d photo:CAVITY COLLECTIVE\/CONTRIBUTOR<\/p><\/div>\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a natural high,\u201d says Lamok, who dreams of painting the stretch of Edsa to be seen by thousands of commuters every day.<\/p>\n\n

Cruz said that as much as possible, the group asks for permission to paint fa\u00e7ades, especially of privately owned structures.<\/p>\n\n

But some walls are just too elusive. \u201cSo we\u2019ve learned to come up with stories like it\u2019s a school project, or that it\u2019s part of community service,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSometimes, we say we\u2019re joining an art competition or that we wanted their wall featured in a magazine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

What if none of those worked? They resort to \u201cbombing,\u201d which sometimes ends up in a shouting match with the building owners or being accosted by village patrolmen.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cVandalism or bombing is another subject. We do that but don\u2019t often talk about it,\u201d says Juanito \u201cQuiccs\u201d Maiquez, 32.<\/p>\n\n

Maiquez, a toy designer, is a member of another crew, Pilipinas Street Plan, but also joins Cavity\u2019s sesh. It\u2019s like part of an artist\u2019s \u201cvanity\u201d to leave his mark all over, he said.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWork-picture-go, that\u2019s it. We don\u2019t mind if they repaint it. Anyway that\u2019s the sense (of a public space), it\u2019s free for all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

As part of a loose code of ethics, graffiti writers and street artists do not paint over fresh work.<\/p>\n\n

Cruz explains a \u201ctag\u201d as a simple scribble on the wall, the \u201cthrow-up\u201d or those measuring 4- to 5-foot tall, and the \u201cpiece\u201d for the larger one. \u201cYou never tag over a piece,\u201d he said, a rule that only they can understand.<\/p>\n\n

Reception<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Usually, it takes two hours to finish a \u201cpiece\u201d and sometimes days, depending on the design.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always the risk that either someone paints over it or the structure later gets torn down. So we know (the artwork) is just temporary,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n\n

But what they try to preserve is that very \u201cmoment\u201d that they take a photograph of a finished job. What is also more important is for people to see and start thinking.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe hope to prompt questions like \u2018what those drawings are\u2019 or for to make people wonder \u2018how in the world did they get to paint that side of a bridge,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n\n

If the public is not totally receptive yet, Cruz believed that street art had drawn more public awareness. He thought about an instance when an armed policeman approached him, only to inquire about the spray paint for he was also into graffiti.<\/p>\n\n

Another instance was a sesh near a private bank.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe security guard tried to drive us away when in fact the wall was no longer part of bank property,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cThe people in the community started coming out to tell us: \u2018Go ahead, paint that wall.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Call them vandals, and they wouldn\u2019t mind. In fact, they refer to themselves as \u201cCavity\u201d\u2014a play on Cavite province\u2014for they regard themselves more as the streets\u2019 dental caries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":577506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,39],"tags":[794,1291,41955,206081,125216],"byline":[288],"source":[],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStreet art\u2019s natural high in Cavite | Inquirer 黑料社<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Call them vandals, and they wouldn\u2019t mind. 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