Impermanence in Life - RS

 Composition II

Essay 1 Revision

Prof. Caitlin Cawley

Fall 2024 - Tuesday, Oct 29

Roderick Sullivan

Impermanence in Life

“Heartbreak, you know, drives a big black car” (Isakov). Few things are as perpetual as heartbreak, and the loss that creates it. Everything finds its final, pitch black cave in the end. In our modern world, when one of our own passes away, we burn them, embalm them, bury them, erect gravestones in their honor, all to immortalize them, all to defy death one last time saying “you cannot take all of them from me.” Then, a funeral occurs. Everyone dressed in black, understated in their grief for the departed. Nobody is immortal, and death reminds us of that fact, that our life will inevitably expire.

Outside of my college, Fordham University, I walked along the city sidewalk. My immediate goal was to find some graffiti to write about, but beyond that I was hoping for something that struck me. I wanted something undeniable in its statement. Every step I took there was another scribble, tag, or other piece of typical street art. I passed by each from a simple lack of interest. Eventually when I came to a row of storage units, each painted with a different mural by a different artist, I found that brilliance I was hunting for. The lettering is expressive and vibrant, while conversely appearing effectively illegible to someone ill versed in the medium. Alongside the lettering stands a desaturated depiction of someone finishing the paint of the letters. This was the first graffiti-image of a person that I had seen all day. The figure is likely a self portrait by the artist, depicting themself finishing the letters with spray can in hand. They are painted in jeans, airforces, a T-Shirt, and a darkened grimace across their face. These characteristics are highlighted by the riveting of the door cutting through every aspect of the mural. Was this a deliberate choice by the artist, to assist their art, or was it the location, an open space at an opportune time? Who was the artist and what are they trying to say? Were they my age? I found myself pondering these questions before I was rudely reminded of my physical surroundings.

“Get out of the way,” a woman yells behind me. Fifty feet away, the sidewalk is blocked by a blinking pickup. Around me the air drips with that unnameable but intensely identifiable smell big cities develop. Spattering among the grays of the infrastructure stand a few green trees. There are two buses simultaneously in view and more cars, more people, then I used to see in a full day of school. The graffiti itself was sprayed onto a metal gate for a storage unit. Its vibrant colors and impressive technical skill sit beside a sidewalk where a couple chat as they walk by it and me. I imagine the only person ever looking at it for a significant moment would be the owner of the unit, each time they visit for their own business. Who is this art for? The paint will likely be removed when the owner gets time to restore the door to its intended state, unadorned. The same process is occurring all over New York City; graffiti is created, and organizations like ‘Graffiti-Free NYC”, a government organization that removed over three million square feet of Bronx graffiti between 2014 and 2017 (NYC Gov), return the borough to its most blank state.

Fine art finds itself in clean, polished, empty museums. Places which sound like “Louvre”. Art at the Louvre is immortalized. The Mona Lisa is one of the world's most famous art pieces, but according to Britannica, the Louvre will “probably never sell it” (Britannica). The painting is priceless. This is in stark contrast to the nature of graffiti which many people consider to be, at most, vandalism. Pieces gilded in gold don’t earn your attention, they clearly deserve it. What does a storage unit deserve? How much focus can one portion off while surrounded by eight million people and 85 decibels of cacophony? This world, the real unfiltered world, is not built for art. The museum this portrait is in, one populated by eight million residents, does not curate its art. Hardly anyone even looks at the art decorating the city’s walls. I do not even remember the graffiti directly adjacent to mine. The physical area surrounding this graffiti creates a divide between it and its viewer. For a specific viewer, myself for example, it may also stumble into another issue, one of culture. No matter what focus or effort I give, or the transcription I created within my camera, I cannot tell what lettering is written on this shed. ‘Fra’? ‘Trtt’? ‘Fry’? This art, intentionally or not, distinctly prevents its own spread by limiting its understanding to the people who can read it. Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ is meant to evoke and provoke everyone in the fight against war. This art is meant for the kid with a T-Shirt and jeans and a spray can in hand, with a grimace across their face darkened by the environment they were placed into. Yet for whatever meaning I find in this piece, or the author intended for it to have, this graffiti is not immortal. Just like the human that painted it or the one viewing it, this art will eventually cease to exist. It was painted in absence of the law and eventually, today or in a year, it will be gone. The most famous death of an art piece is likely Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’, which was retitled to “Love is in the Bin” after the art shredded itself at an auction. After the art was changed, shown to be impermanent, it was later sold for 18.5 million pounds, three times its original price (Badshash). Banksy challenged our perception of art, and through that, showed how the immortality of his art does not create its value. Its value, in much the same way as the storage unit’s mural, is derived from the impact it has on others. Similarly, even when a person is driven away in a big black hearse, the impact they had on others, the vibrance they created, is the brightly colored graffiti they leave on the world.

Badshash, Nadeem. “Banksy Sets Auction Record with £18.5m Sale of Shredded Painting.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Oct. 2021, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/14/banksy-auction-record-shredded-painting-love-is-in-the-bin.

Gonzalez, David. “How Fire Defined the Bronx, and Us.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/nyregion/bronx-fires.html.

Isakov, Gregory Alan. “Big Black Car.” YouTube, Gregory Alan Isakov, 8 July 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgumMOMHpns.

“Mayor de Blasio Announces Nearly 3.4 Million Square Feet of Graffiti Removed in the Bronx.” The Official Website of the City of New York, NYC, 24 May 2017, www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/351-17/city-hall-your-borough-mayor-de-blasio-nearly-3-4-million-square-feet-graffiti#/0.

“What Is the Value of the Mona Lisa?” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/question/What-is-the-value-of-the-Mona-Lisa#:~:text=The%20Mona%20Lisa%20is%20priceless,would%20probably%20never%20sell%20it. Accessed 29 Oct. 2024.