The second aspect of D.O.T.S.: FAME We as Graffiti Artists are the biggest fame whores that the world has ever seen. We get the greatest thrill when we hear a friend or peers say, "Damn, kid, your shit is everywhere." The rush of bombing is the holiest gift that the spray can can give us. The activity of being a graffiti artist is addictive from the rush of being willing to risk it all. The expression of the activity of writing my name on a wall gives me a sense of freedom and at the same time a fear of being locked up. For me, graffiti is full of these contradictions: I call myself a Graffiti Artist, but the justice system calls me a Vandal; I want people to see my art work, but I don't want them to see me doing it. We call ourselves writers, but we are really not. Activity is everything for us. Without it, we're nothing which is a stupid thing to write. But I'm a DUMFUKK; so fuk it. At some point as an artist you should ask yourself, do I have a social responsibly to the people (the public)? Our art is the most public art out there and my hope and reason for writing this shit is to influence other graffiti artists. Graffiti could be viewed as great public art against social injustices (minimum wage, housing, pigs or I mean police, racism, etc..) The action of graffiti is a direct attack against property, public & private. Within this country, property is everything. It is more valued than human life itself. From a graffiti artist being shot and killed to being mistaken as a burglar to kids getting shot in the back because they were writing on a freeway walkway overpass - all were deemed as justified homicides because there was a threat of property being damaged. In any given city there are hundreds of abandoned buildings. Within the same city there are also hundreds of homeless. The homeless are not allowed to live in these buildings. The reason is because the buildings still have value and this value is greater than human life and health because the buildings are still closed and allowed to stay empty while hundreds of people go without shelter. The protesters who are allowed to be beaten when their acts became "violent" and the police then are given permission to stop them with brutal force. The so called "violence" that the protesters cause is smashing windows and flipping over cars and maybe a fire or two. Violence against property justifies the proper authorities to let loose on the thugs to stop this "violence" by beating the shit out of any person that talks out against them (the police) or looks like they're trouble. The smashing of windows, the tagging of walls and being in a fukt up situation justifies going without a home, of getting our asses kicked and being shot in the back. All of this is done to protect what this country (society) holds most dear: property. So when a kid tags a building, abandoned or not, that act is attacking something that is more valued than their own life. Because of this, going out for Fame becomes a political statement whether the writer knows it or not. Once a writer realizes that God is a Spray Can and that we are reborn in the holy mist of the can and they gain the understanding that graffiti is larger than themselves and the people that they know who are graffiti artist too. Graffiti is public art and involves itself with everyone who ever sees it; whether someone likes it, hates it or ignores it, it still has an effect on people. As graffiti artists we need to ask ourselves, "Who is our audience? The public as a whole? The people who like it? The people who hate it? And if it is directed toward the people who hate it, is the art work done to piss them off even more? To change their minds about graffiti? To make them question their belief that graffiti is nothing but vandalism and the people who do it are nothing but criminals?" Fame is about activity, about not standing still but going forward. My hope is to give something back to graffiti by asking writers not be so concerned about what their style looks like but what they are writing (content, substance, make us think a little). I want them to become aware of the concerns that their neighborhood has or the concerns that they have with their neighborhood by sharing it by writing it on the wall. The big dream is to make graffiti a form of protest against social injustices, to become the largest public art work ever against societal injustices. I know this sounds all serious and it is. But I'm not asking you all to stop writing but to think a little before you do. You will still be going out for fame but when do, you will bring the whole fukn crew (D.O.T.S.) with you. Be aware of the activities going in your community. Invest your time in understanding all sides of a problem to find out what side you're on and then tell people how you feel about it. This is what I mean by being socially responsible. On a whole, graffiti is standing still. Graffiti is still what it was in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. "EGO" "EGO ONE TBE". It's time for graffiti to move forward and for us to understand I am not and you are not the only ones writing on the walls. It's time to involve the public directly with our art. Graffiti now is becoming another BLAH of the city. It's time for graffiti to reinvent itself to make the public notice, to make the public stand back and say "DDDAAMMM!!!!!" Yes, God is a Spray Can. Only a few of the righteous have recognized that. The battle is on - right versus wrong. Good versus evil. The people versus the state. The streets are the battlefield and the churches. Writers, we must unite, get organized, rise up and fight to beat down the wicked to take what is ours. FREEDOM! go