ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY 'URBAN LEGENDS' LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT, JIM PRIGOFF.

 Estria Miyashiro
&
'Urban Legends' Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, Jim Prigoff
Taken during the VIP Preview of  the 'Urban Legends' Public Art Exhibition
Press Conference/Panel Discussion. Photo Courtesy: Dan Zipgun

“REMARKS FOR ESTRIA EVENT - APRIL 27 - 2012

I AM GRATEFUL TO BE HONORED, BUT IN REALITY I AM A SYMBOL FOR ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE CREATED AND DOCUMENTED THE ART FORM OF GRAFFITI.

THIS IS A REMARKABLE EVENING. WE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER ALMOST 40 YEARS SINCE THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN GRAFF, OR CORNBREAD, TAKI 183, AND TOP CAT 126. WHEN I CONTACTED HENRY CHALFANT BACK IN 1985 AND SAID WE SHOULD DO A BOOK TRACKING THE ART AS IT CAME OUT OF THE SUBWAYS OF NYC AND ONTO WALLS AND HANDBALL COURTS, WE DIDN’T KNOW IF THE INTEREST WOULD EVEN LAST UNTIL THE BOOK “SPRAYCAN ART” CAME OUT IN 1987. WE STARTED OUT TO TRACK THE WRITING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND ENDED UP GOING AROUND THE WORLD. HOW COULD WE IMAGINE THAT OVER 200,000 COPIES WOULD BE DISTRIBUTED AND READ BY PROBABLY 1 MILLION OR MORE PEOPLE?

HERE, WE ARE SURROUNDED BY INTRIGUING ART, PAINTED BY ARTISTS WHO IN THE PAST WERE OFTEN TREATED AS VANDALS, MISTAKENLY AS GANG MEMBERS, WERE JAILED, FINED AND ON OCCASION SHOT AT BY SOME SELF PROCLAIMED VIGILANTE.

ALTHOUGH TODAY THERE ARE MILLIONS OF GRAFF ARTISTS, I WOULD LIKE TO PAY TRIBUTE TO A FEW.

FIRST, TO ESTRIA MIYASHIRO, A GREAT ARTIST WHO WAS THERE FROM THE EARLY DAYS AND HAS GONE ON TO BECOME AN OUTSTANDING ORGANIZER OF PUBLIC EVENTS.

SECONDLY, TO CHAZ BOJORQUEZ WHO WAS ON THE WALLS BEFORE ANY OF US CAME TO THE SCENE. TO CHARLEY AND POWER WHO BROUGHT US THE FIRST MAGAZINE AND RISK, SLICK, HEX, FRAME, MEAR ONE, DUKE, NUKE, KATCH, CHAKA, AND TOP PHOTOGRAPHERS ESTEVAN AND ERIBERTO ORIOL WHO DOCUMENTED IT ALL IN L.A.

AROUND 1990, A YOUNG MAN CAME UP TO ME AFTER A LECTURE IN L.A. AND SAID HE WAS BEGINNING TO DOCUMENT THE ART FORM. BY THE EARLY 2000’S HE HAD ASSEMBLED PRODIGIOUS DOCUMENTATION AND I URGED HIM TO DO A BOOK WHICH I WOULD HELP HIM TO GET PUBLISHED. STEVE GRODY PRODUCED GRAFFIT LA., AN OUTSTANDING RECORD AND ANALYSIS OF THE LOCAL SCENE.

MODERN WRITERS LIKE MAN-ONE (AND HIS FINE GALLERY), SABER, REVOK, RETNA, VYAL, ASYLM, SINNER, KOFIE, AND SO MANY OTHERS MAKE L.A. SO VITAL.

SOUTH IN SAN DIEGO, VICTOR OCHOA, AN EXCEPTIONAL MURALIST, HELPED YOUTH BECOME INVOLVED WITH HIS MANY GRAFF EVENTS AND THE LIKES OF SAKE1, CROL, WERC, POSE 1, AND PURSUE PUT SAN DIEGO ON THE MAP.

UP NORTH IN THE BAY AREA BRETT COOK-DIZNEY, BARRY MCGEE-TWIST, ESTRIA, VOGUE, DREAM, CRAYONE, BAM, DOUG, NEON, AND LATER APEX AND CHOR BOOGIE WERE INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED.

WE HAVE BEEN OBSERVERS OF A REMARKABLE ART EVOLUTION FROM THOSE EARLY DAYS TO JEFFREY DIETCH’S “ART IN THE STREETS” AT THE LAMOCA WHICH BROKE RECORDS AS 188,000 PEOPLE CAME THROUGH ITS DOORS. ROGER GASTMAN, AARON ROSE, ETHEL SANO, ALONG WITH JEFFREY, CURATED THIS BLOCKBUSTER.

I NOTED JUST RECENTLY THAT A PICASSO SOLD FOR A RECORD $110 MILLION TO A PRIVATE COLLECTOR FROM JAPAN. I SUGGEST THAT YOU WILL FIND SOME EXCITING ART HERE FOR CONSIDERABLY LESS.

IN CLOSING, I SALUTE ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE COME TO THIS CELEBRATION, TO THE WRITERS/ARTISTS WHO HAVE MADE THIS ALL POSSIBLE AND TO THE FUTURE OF STREET ART, WHEREVER IT MAY LEAD US.”

JIM PRIGOFF, AFTER RECEIVING HIS AWARD MADE BY CANLOVE, AND AS READ TO THE ATTENDEES AT THE ‘URBAN LEGENDS’ PUBLIC ART EXHIBITION, VIP OPENING, FRIDAY, APRIL 27^TH, 2012. RECIPIENT OF ONE OF 4, INAUGURAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS, AS GIVEN BY THE ESTRIA FOUNDATION; SOURCE LA, LA MART DESIGN CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA. IN ADDITION TO MR. PRIGOFF, ARE JUDY BACA, KENT TWITCHELL AND TEMPT ONE.

 Jim Prigoff speaking to the press during the Inaugural
'Urban Legends' Press Conference, LA Mart Design Center,
Los Angeles, CA --April 27th, 2012

Photo Courtesy: Eric Minh-Swenson 

 Jim Prigoff accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award.
Award made by www.CANLOVE.org

Photo courtesy: Jennifer Leigh Strauss 

 

'Urban Legends' Lifetime Achievement Awards ready to be given.
Photo Courtesy: Rosie One

www.estria.org/events