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Before we begin, "Steven Free" is a far better name than "Girafa." It's action-packed! But since male artists love, love, love using stage names, he obviously had to get a new one; after all, he was committing illegal acts of painting. We digress.
Yesterday morning, San Jose police announced the arrest one of "the most prolific graffiti artists in the Bay Area," Steven Free, 30, most commonly known as Girafa. Free was nabbed on a $100,000 warrant, charged with "10 felony cases in San Jose involving $40,000 in damages."
CoCo Times reports, "During a search of his San Francisco home, officers discovered thousands of pictures of graffiti with the "Girafa" moniker and cartoon characters of giraffes on several of his social Web sites."
San Jose police officer Jermaine Thomas said that Free "was just causing a lot of vandalism around the Bay Area, anywhere he would find a spot, he would use this moniker." (What's wrong with a little, or a lot, of branding? Sheesh. The fuzz are a bunch of squares.)
Criminal mischief aside, his stuff looked nifty. What I'm Seeing interviewed him earlier this year. When asked why people loved/hated him so mich, Free responded, "I don’t know for sure. I try not to pay attention to it on both sides. It makes me laugh. You can’t escape it. Its part of graffiti [...] It’s not my job to try and change other people’s feelings about me. My job is to do what I do regardless of an audience and what they think."
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Free Free!
Isn't 30 a little too old to be doing this?
"My job is to do what I do regardless of an audience and what they think."
I wonder what his salary is.
I don't know about the job part but at least he his honest. He makes it clear that he is just a self-centered narcissist who cares only about himself. It will be interesting to see how that attitude works going forward.
narcissists don't have a self.
"Isn't 30 a little too old to be doing this?"
Is there an age limit on creative artistic expression?
No, but isn't he a little old to be doing this?
I had a dream last night that I ran over a tagger with a car. I didn't feel too bad about it.
Of course, it was just a dream. In real life, I wouldn't hit anyone; I'd just chase them in a car.
too bad, i really liked his stuff.
Let's call a spade a spade, so to speak. This is not a graffiti "artists" he's a graffiti vandal. I'm sick and tired of spending my Sunday mornings painting over crap from these 30 year old "kids" (30, and still a common vandal?). I'm glad to see San Jose cares about vandalism. It would be nice if San Francisco followed suit, but with Kamala Harris in office, I won't hold my breath.
Take a chill pill marco. He isn't tagging. This is really good stuff. If we didn't have graffiti artists like Girafa, we wouldn't have any nice public art. I'm really glad to see that businesses in the lower haight are actually open to having their storefronts (or sides) painted/sprayed.
No, sorry, you don't get to reframe vandalism here.
It's entirely appropriate to frame this in whatever way seems appropriate and accurate. To me, Girafa is a creative artist whose work is consistently impressive and enjoyable. He's certainly not somebody who should be behind bars.
No, sorry, you don't get to reframe vandalism here.
So sorry, but I believe I just did. As this discussion plainly demonstrates, one person's vandalism is another's artistic expression.
Thank goodness for creative, brave souls like Girafa.
Regardless of the discussion here, it's still considered vandalism, for better or for worse, under the current law of our society.
Of course graffiti is considered vandalism under current law. For some people, that's all that matters. Under current law, marijuana is illegal. For some people, that's all that matters. Under current law, gay marriage is illegal. For some people, that's all that matters.
Girafa's graffiti is obviously, in part, vandalism. It is also, just as obviously, creative art and expression and appreciated by many. Any honest "framing" of Girafa must include both concepts.
Fair enough, have at it in the long run (although please spare us any Prop 8 comparisons), but the fact remains that in this particular case at this particular time, he is a vandal.
And yeah, that is all that matters.
Hi fandj,
Thank you for volunteering to pay the property owners for cleaning up this art.
Also, I did not see where you posted your home address so people can use your home as a "canvas."
Looking forward to hearing from you, I'll be buy as soon as I stop off at the paint store!
Haight Street Whole Foods repainted their mural a couple weeks ago
It was tagged up like crazy in the last week or so and looks like shit. Sucks.
Why did it get tagged? because the too-hip-for-the-room "artists" were pretending to replace what was pretty good street art with less than stellar work - that's one of the reasons it got tagged.
Chiquita Banana had been up for quite a while without incident.
There are plenty of more prolific taggers, such as JAST, and his shit isn't in the same league as Girafa, and it certainly won't put a smile on your face.
um...are you trying to justify vandalism? Really? You think it's OK that the property owner and the artists have their work ruined because it's no longer Chiquita Banana?
Nope it is vandalism and it is great that he will get punished.
Right, and the thanks they get for that is another "graffiti artist" tagging over the work.
I hate taggers as much as the next person, but this guy is NOT a tagger.
If he painted a random concrete wall somewhere, I wouldn't call it vandalism, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if it made the property go *up* in value.
Graffiti is interesting in that it loses its artistic cred if it isn't just a tiny bit naughty/illegal.
as an apartment building manager, i know what it is to deal with artless scribbles in places they don't belong. but, i also know girafa. he's a nice guy and actually really talented and creative. i've always appreciated his range of stylization. i'm not saying it's right what he does, or that it was wrong to arrest him. he knows the risks. he willingly participates in an (arguably artistic and culturally significant) activity that has the possibility of being caught and getting in major trouble. he had a good run.
It's a crime, do the time.
If he wants to be an artist, get permission from the building owner first. That way there isn't $40,000 in damages.
Very simple.
Damages are subjective.
And the property owner gets to decide what they consider vandalism.
You know, being the actual owner of the property and all.
It would be nice if that were truly the case
http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/site/graffiti_page.asp?id=263#prohibit
(above was in reply to Robin's Comment)
So what if damages are "subjective". What is not in dispute is that this guy broke the law. He could have asked permission to paint where he did, but he couldn't be bothered to do that. So for all his artistic pretensions (and he is more pretentious than artistic), he is just a graffiti vandal. A stiff prison sentence for him would be a good deterrent to other wannabes.
On a personal level, I like the guys work as I'm a big fan of giraffes and well planned graffiti art. If anyone here has ever seen some of the work of the underground crews in NYC you would understand. But as Pete pointed out, the property owner is ultimately liable for cleanup of the graffiti or faces a fine.
Therein lies the gray area.
As a property owner, if I decide that a borderline art piece (like many of the cultural pieces done in the Mission) is not graffiti but an art piece because *I* like it and it isn't offensive or just retarded, gang related tagging then that is my decision.
This guy has enough talent AND street cred that if he approached local businesses with something tailored for them, he might be able to push his art out there AND make decent money. Legally.
Hell, even Ecko got to tag Air Force One.
I wish I could have ten minutes alone with this guy along with a can of spray paint and three magic markers. When I'm done i'll exhibit my work in Brolores Park for all to admire.
Huh. So I flipped through some pics of his work, and it looks like he painted over a bunch of shitty tags with some sweet looking art.
Good on the cops if this means they're actually going to bust all the taggers, but what I'm guessing is there'll just be this one arrest, and everyone can keep tagging their Norteno and "pussy juice" bullshit all over childrens' parks.
Also: wow, I didn't realize his stuff was self-portrait.
dude I know, girafa looks like girafa!
Look, if graffiti is vandalism, it's vandalism. It's a prosecutable crime, no two ways about it. I'm open to a debate over what constitutes vandalism and what constitutes public art - it seems to be a subject of much discussion these days - but if the majority of the public really thinks that guys like Steven Free shouldn't be prosecuted for what they do, then the majority of the public should find a way to change the laws. Until then, I think it's safe to assume that most people, outside of young, open-minded SFist commenters, don't like tags on public property, period.
Either way, maybe Free's case, or one like his in the future, can serve as a Scopes Monkey Trial to determine in the public mind what constitutes allowable public art and what constitutes a juvenile nuisance.
This is the best break-down I've read yet. There is no way around the fact that this is illegal. You can argue that the laws needs to be changed, but, until they are, this kind of "art" is vandalism and prosecutable. This part of the discussion is objective and unassailable.
Now, is it art? This is a subjective discussion and, in my opinion, not part of the true matter at hand. Free broke the law regardless of whether or not we think his spray paint shenanigans cool or interesting.
Is it assault if your cool friend punches someone you don't like in the face? Legally, of course it is. But artistically, you've got his back. No one liked the punchee anyway.
But if your cool friend slugged your well-mannered neighbor?
NIMBY, of course. It usually comes back to this sooner or later.
30-year-old graffiti artist = loser
"search of his San Francisco home" probably needs to be corrected to "search of the basement of his parent's San Francisco home"
I always liked those crazy-eyed giraffes better than the artless tags and tattered billboards they were painted over.
I love this guy. He is an artist. I don't like bs tagging and have yelled at and reported vandals, but this guy is an artist. I always wondered what he looked like now I see he looks like his pictures. I feel like the toothe fairy was just revealed. Steven Free is a modern artist and I hope to see these Giraffes on T-shirts or other inside art in the future.Long Neck for Life....
I gotta admit, without prejudice to the case or issue itself, that I actually think those giraffes are pretty ugly.
I don't know if you folks are easily impressed or looking for urban hardness points or what. Yeah, they look better than a tattered billboard or a cracked concrete wall and certainly better than a bunch of shitty tags, but what doesn't.
Other lesson: if you're a "prominent street artist" (cf. Banksy), don't get caught.
1. Where do we send money for his defense?
2. Everyone who disapproves because he "broke the law" : There are way too many laws. You have recently broken one, and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent
3. Internet tough guys: Fuck you. Do something or shut up. Everyone is sick of your online posturing and your offline vacuum of an existence.
- Sal
Internet tough guys: Fuck you. Do something or shut up. Everyone is sick of your online posturing and your offline vacuum of an existence.
Haha, the thing is, this here is the "toughest" talk in the entire thread, Captain Badass.
I mean, regardless of whether you consider it primarily art or vandalism (and it can be both), we are talking here about people who only do what they do under cover of darkness. "Tough" doesn't come into it.
I was responding to this internet tough guy comment with #3:
[13] | GlenParker
"I wish I could have ten minutes alone with this guy along with a can of spray paint and three magic markers. When I'm done i'll exhibit my work in Brolores Park for all to admire." OCTOBER 30, 2009 12:01 PM
I was responding to comments like this one from you, with #2:
Joel replied to comment from fandj
"Regardless of the discussion here, it's still considered vandalism, for better or for worse, under the current law of our society."OCTOBER 30, 2009 3:38 PM
Well, yeah, here's the thing: I think you're right, there are too many laws. Whether this one is a good one or not is up for debate, but what's not up for debate in this case is that the current law was broken. Not sure what you were trying to get at with the meaningless "everyone's broken some laws" red herring, but the fact remains, he's the one who got caught breaking the law. All the internet moaning in the world about what someone considers art and someone doesn't won't change that. Art and beauty have no relation to vandalism as a law and vice versa.
As for the root of it, I don't think graffiti laws are going anywhere any time soon. And again, when it comes down to it, a third party's opinion as to whether something is beautiful or not that a second party painted on a first party's property without permission is pretty worthless to the issue at hand.
Hi sal,
You seem to have forgotten to post your home address so these "artists" can come and decorate for you, can you go ahead and post that?
Someone this well known will never escape jail time.
There is a new program that coordinates among the SFPD, the DA,DPW AND the courts. A single judge hears all of the major graffiti cases be they tagging or "art". Alerts also go out to the public giving date time of the sentencing so people can testify before the judge about how damaging the vandalism is.
This is exactly the kind of case the program is meant to aggressively prosecute. Bye bye baby.See you in a year or so.
Awesome.
If they ever bring up the dudes tagging my house and the others in my hood, you KNOW I'll be there. Jail time never sounded so good.
This conversation is ridiculously hilarious. you might well as argue the particular merits and irregularities of the old and new testaments. And still surprisingly accomplishing nothing.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=166548346556&v=wall&ref=ts
Join the group! FREE Girafa!
if you dipshits dont understand ANY form of art,then dont LOOK AT IT !
who gives a shit if you have to paint over it?youre the ones who are looking like dumbasses painting over something creative over and over again,we're gunna keep on going,punk is dead right?!?!?!well obviously this "vandalism" you and the dipshit of a world call it wont ever die,so get over it.
FREE GIRAFA! all the way.
Thank you for your well thought out and articulate comments.
Please let me know your address so I can arrange to have your home decorated with some art.
Thank you.
757 York St, San Francisco, CA 94110. my names Zane, looking forward to seeing you. cops have way too much they should be worried about besides an artist putting giraffes everywhere. people are too uptight and most of you people are probably the ones cheating on your wives with tranny hookers and beating your kids... lets see anyone of you talking down on this guy pick up a can of paint and try something even close to what he does and in the short amount of time he has to do it. this guy has talent, FREE GIRRAFA!!
A world without art of all expressions is meaningless. Vandalism is in the eye of the beholder, I see it as wonderful street art and expression, not vandalism. If you'd like to have someone come paint my house I'd be glad to allow you to do that slappydafrog. Free Girafa!