Photo by Joe Lamport/Horizon
Graffiti artists Joe Rodriguez, "Abe" and "Pase" pose with their work that decorates the wall of Success Counseling at 162nd Street and Ogden Avenue.

Graffiti art brightens neighborhood

By Joe Lamport
Managing editor

On a recent sunny Saturday afternoon, the "BT" crew was putting the finishing touches on a scene from the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! cartoon. The characters, painted in bright colors, looked boldly out from the wall of Success Counseling on Ogden Avenue and 163rd Street, adding a glow to the vacant lot the wall shades.

"That's the point," said Pase, one of the Big Time artists, who preferred to be called by his artist name. "It's gotta grab you somehow."

Pase, Joe Rodriguez and Abe, the artists on the scene that day, used about 100 cans of spray paint and took about two weeks to make the characters seem to jump out of the wall. The wall is just one of 30 to 40 in the Bronx the men have transformed into public art.

By day, each of the artists works a more traditional job - security guard, office manager, hotel worker. They use their free time to paint walls. In the past, graffiti art may have attracted the attention of the police, but these days, the men said, the police leave them alone. They get more attention from appreciative observers.

"Years ago it was about the name," said Pase. "Now it's about the art and the technicality, attention to detail, how many things you draw that will make people look at it again and again."

The crew discusses the project with the wall's owner first. The Ogden Avenue wall's owner, a substance abuse counseling agency, wanted something children-friendly.

"You can do what you want to an extent," said Abe of the limits the owners often place on the artists. Still, the fact that their work is sought after reflects how attitudes toward graffiti have changed.

"Some people assume graffiti is vandalism," said Abe. "We show the art and they say, 'These guys are the real deal.'"

Years ago, Abe said he honed his skills "bombing" - vandalizing property with spray paint. But he has given up that to pursue his artistic side, he said.

That includes developing art for a variety of walls around the Bronx, from comic book-oriented scenes to tributes to street scenes. Beyond the artistic vision, the artists have fine technical skills - creating elaborate three-dimensional scenes that are highly detailed. And they follow closely other technical aspects of their work. They know that German companies, for example, are producing the best spray paints - higher quality and more colors - than American companies.

The vision and technique comes together on the walls like the one on Ogden Avenue. As the men were adding lines here and color there, kids and their parents, young people and old, gave the work positive reviews.

"Isn't that cool?" said one mother to her young son as they passed.

"It looks like it could bite you," said artist Joe Rodriguez. "But it's just paint on the wall."