The Torch

Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Jeremy Blanchard This wall mural, part of The Art of Defiance exhibit in the Adell McMillan Gallery at the University of Oregon, was created by Zachary Wilkins-Malloy. Wilkins-Malloy is a well-recognized artist in Eugene and won the 2007 Mayor's Choice Award in the Mayor's Art Show for one of his stenciled graffiti pieces.

Media Credit: Jeremy Blanchard Tools of the trade are also showcased in The Art of Defiance. The show features three local artists with a combined 30 years of experience. They each have their own unique approach to graffiti, which is highlighted in this exhibit.

What is graffiti? Is it art or vandalism? An expression of thought or an act of rebellion? These are the questions that The Art of Defiance tries to answer.
The exhibit, hosted by the University of Oregon's Cultural Forum, represents the past and present era of graffiti art through the works of three local artists. The works of Jacob Hutchins, Zack Wilkins-Malloy and Jon Bosch are currently catching the eye of passersby in the Adell McMillan Gallery in the Erb Memorial Union.
The exhibit was created and organized by Simone Coker, the Cultural Forum's visual arts coordinator. "I wanted to put on a show that not only addressed contemporary issues, but would really interest the student body," she said. Coker posted an ad on Craigslist to find artists for the show since, as she explained, "it is really hard to find graffiti artists, unless you know them."
Coker believes that this exhibit creates a dialogue for students, as well as community members, regarding art. "It opens people up to new ideas and expressions and helps breakdown barriers."
"Graffiti is an interesting thing, but it's hard to know about it without being involved … it demands secrecy and stealth," explained Jacob Hutchins, one of the featured artists.
Hutchins, 22, has been an artist for his entire life. "I can't remember a time when I wasn't making pictures in some form or another," he said. Although he had always taken an interest in graffiti art, he didn't start to explore it until he was attending LCC right out of high school.
During a discussion in a design class, Hutchins got into an argument with his instructor about graffiti as a legitimate art form. "I went out to prove to myself that it was," he said.
"It was pretty intimidating at first," Hutchins said about first experimenting with graffiti. "I started out as any other graffiti artist … doing it illegally." Hutchins, never considering himself a tagger, had a series of underpasses that he would hit on late-night bike rides.
He became involved with The Art of Defiance through "something akin to random chance," he explained how one morning he was awakened by a phone call from someone who saw the ad on Craigslist and mentioned it to him.
The pieces Hutchins created for the show are characteristic of his style. Also an illustrator, Hutchins' graffiti tends to depict scenes and pictures. "I like random weird stuff that doesn't necessarily make sense," he said.
Zack Wilkins-Malloy is also striving to create his own style of graffiti. He works with stencils, which can be seen by the wall-sized feature at The Art of Defiance. He claims to be a product of his environment, the San Francisco Bay area in California.
Wilkins-Malloy began tagging, or writing, when he was 13. He claims that he's "not that talented of an artist," but has an eye for what looks good and can trigger a thought. "While it might not be technically the best stuff, it has substance and the power to provoke a reaction based on it's content," he said.
Wilkins-Malloy moved to Eugene only last July and has already become prominent in the art community and won the Mayor's Choice Award at the 2007 Mayor's Art Show. His piece, entitled "Homeless," was a life-sized stencil graffiti style piece of a homeless man sleeping on the ground.
The Art of Defiance, for Wilkins-Malloy, is important to see because it gives viewers the chance to interact with a genre from which many normally shy away. If people become comfortable with graffiti in this environment, Wilkins-Malloy believes they can question what makes them feel uncomfortable seeing it on the street.
"I like the exhibit because each of us brought a different type of flavor or style, which I feel shows the variance within a medium that is often pigeon-holed as one thing or the other. We showed many different types of what graffiti can be and is," Wilkins-Malloy said.
The Art of Defiance will be in the Adell McMillan Gallery until April 26. For additional information on the exhibit or the artists, visit www.culturalforum.uoregon.edu.

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