GraffitiHurts

Force4Good

Abandoning Illegal Graffiti

John "Zender" Estrada abandoned illegal graffiti and now teaches younger artists how to put their street skills to better use. The 42-year-old teaches a weekly art class, "Skillz 'N Action", at the Santana House in Los Angeles, CA. Read an interview with Zender. Get the LA Times Feature on his class.

Interview with John

1. What allowed you to move from illegal graffiti to legal art?

   In the 1980's graffiti was a lot different from what it is now. Back then there was no tag banging or bombing battles. It was more about pieces, the art of finding a wall, doing a full color work and doing all you can to impress everyone. There were some that focused mainly on tags, but most wanted to do graff (graff is short for the art aspect of graffiti) productions. I did catch a tag here and there but I was always motivated by the art aspect. One main factor that changed me seeking illegal graffiti walls was the commission process. By this I mean after I realized that many people were willing to pay me to do graff style murals for their business or to keep gang graffiti off the walls that made a world of difference to me. The idea of murals and graff becoming a business was a major turning point. To see samples of this visit www.creativeartsolutions.com.

2. What motivates your Skillz 'N Action students?

   Because our Skillz in Action class focuses on Urban Art and Graffiti is just one aspect of urban art we have students who do graff and many who had never done graff but enjoy the style. Most of them are motivated by the idea that they can be better at their craft. We look at all the artists who are fairly well known and we analyze their style. I believe many of the artists out now have a unique style and beautiful colors. I motivate the students by selecting the most popular artists and teaching those styles and techniques. Another motivating factor is the idea of learning to make money with their craft.

3. How do you encourage your students to create a path to legal art?

   The majority of students who come with a vandalism mentality often have that mindset because they have not been exposed to the art side. Most Middle and High schools here in Los Angeles, California have a large number of tagging crews who are the main influencers of this lifestyle. I teach the history and evolution of Graffiti ART and tagging is just but a small aspect of this (a unique signature). I open the door to Lettering development, color schemes, character development and looking at their black books as portfolios and not just books to collect tags from friends, which is how most use black books. By having them realize how insignificant tagging is compared to the sophisticated world of graff pieces and productions. this motivates them to pursue a path to improving their skills. And once they have acquired a fairly decent style, then I introduce to them the world of main stream art.