ARTnews, October 2003
"ARTtalk"

"Talking Trash"

Putting spray cans to canvas, rather than walls, is one approach to cleaning up the city being tried this month in Brooklyn by graffiti artists Futura, Stash and KAWS. Alongside Chris Johansen, Ryan McGinnes, and Constance Brady, their art is on display until the 12th of this month in the Prospect Park Tennis House, as part of a benefit for Renewable Brooklyn intended to bring attention to the borough's ecological health (or lack thereof). Founded by former fashion designer Barri Schlosser Franklin, the organization is also sponsoring a late-afternoon festival and concert on the fourth in the park. (Advisory-board members range from Governor George Pataki to actor John Leguizamo.) Brooklyn artist Mark Dean Veca's Woodsy (2003) portrays the famed "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" sloganeer as a superhero flying through a danger-ridden landscape, which also resembles moldering wallpaper in an unkempt house -- a metaphor, perhaps, for Brooklyn's current landscape and the effort needed to get it into fighting shape. --Carly Berwick

Back to PRESS