Lots of comments coming in this morning on the
PSP ads. Here’s a sampling of some of the emails we’ve received in the last few
minutes:

From Peter:

“It seems that a group of “artists” all over the country have been sent
these
prints… and a
check.”

Whats so wrong with someone making a little dough to
pay the rent or to buy a drink or some paint with their profit
/>

From -blUtt:

“hey, maybe someone has
already metioned it, but here in chicago, we have the
same psp ads. i
actually sawa group of 3 guys painting one at about 7 am a few
weeks ago,
and walked over to talk to em. i figured it had to be a permission
thing,
as it was a high foot traffic area during rush hour on a weekday and the
/>guys are out there with spray cans. i gave em some of my stickers and asked
what
the painting was all about (it was the first i’d seen of this
campaign). they
filled me in (i’d never even heard of psp, so that’s how
behind the times i
am!). sony was paying them to do it, and a friend of
theirs was how they were
located/identified as artists that fit the bill.
we had a short discussion about
stickers/posters/graff/etc. i do not
remember these guys’ names (they only told
me what names they wrote,
anyway), nor would i out them here anyway. my feeling
is this: at the end
of the day, ya gotta live YOUR life your way, not anyone
else’s life your
way. alot of negativity comes from things like this, and we let
ourselves
be divided by this shit when we should instead be focus on what binds
us
all. besides, things like this are good for weeding out the suckers anyhow.
/>when graff/streetart blows over, we’ll be a stronger core. thanks for
listening.

From Mr Evol:
“I’ve read through all the comments up
to now and you
all are missing a point that I think should be at the
forefront of this
argument. According to the powers at be in many of the
places that these ads are
popping up, GRAFFITI IS ILLEGAL. At face value
this major corporation is hiring
artists to participate in an illegal
activity. What happens if these kids get
busted? Is Sony going to pay their
legal fees? Keep them from getting a felony
charge? Be there the very
instance to release the handcuffs once slapped on? I
THINK NOT. The artist
will take the fall, if not all the way through the process
at least the
shitty part listed in all these prison stories such as being put in
a cell
without proper hydration for an entire night.

This brings me to
/>my next question. Aren’t we all into this medium for the liberating aspects?
To
get away from institutionalized art forms? Maybe I’m wrong but the way I
see it
ever since Dalek did posters for Nike and Comedy Central started
using Graffiti
style elements in theishorts and Tats Crew started doing
pieces for Hummer the
decline of an art form we’ve all worked so hard to
further had begun. What
happened to Morals? If we play into the hands of
these people for a few measly
bucks where will it end? They will own us
all. The way I see it we created
something so powerful and revived the
notion of taking it to the streets,
directly to the people like back in the
1800’s where history shows us how people
would paste thousands of posters
openly without conviction. The same institution
that turned our expression
into an illegal act is now telling us it’s ok to do
so without changing any
laws. This is getting just as twisted and backwards as
the media. There has
to be a point where someone says NO. Surely at least one of
all these
artists who received the so called plans for action to throw these
images
up in public had the balls to say THIS IS WRONG. If I received these
plans
I would take Sony to court. It’s like handing someone a gun and a check
and
saying go kill this person for me because I can’t bear to participate in the
/>illegal act myself. It seems like some form of entrapment to me.

/>I’m ALL
ABOUT supporting the arts in ANY medium, but instead of LETTING
THINGS HAPPEN we
need to pause and question them first and make necessary
adjustments. We need to
change laws first. For example, the Lewis Libby
book that is so hot right now
(The Apprentice) which mentions something
about raising a 10 year old girl as a
child prostitute and putting her in a
cage with a bear to have its way with her
so that she’d lose emotional
attachment to her rapists. This is written Bush’s
adviser. Granted he has
the right to write such filth and I highly support it.
BUT ON THE OTHER
HAND if I were to write a book about systematically
assassinating the
entire Bush administration I’d be punished severely for it,
maybe even
killed. Just because he’s in the position he is he should be treated
the
same way he would treat me for expressing myself and my freedoms. Until I
/>can get away with writing twisted psychotic shit (remember, I’m SUPPOSE to
have
the right to) I will never support politicians writing this crap. It’s
like
saying one person can do it and others can’t. Which is exactly what’s
happening
here. Just because Sony is telling us it’s ok doesn’t necessarily
mean it is. So
who’s responsible?

Point is. We’re artists, not
puppets. We all really
need to think about what we’re doing. If we want
this art form to survive and be
respected we have to put arespectable face
on it. An uprising against this
shameless act would be a perfect example.
To tell the public that is weary of
our causes that we mean business and
don’t all agree with someone who puts a bad
face on our collective. Like
Neck Face painting on a historic Brownstone. This
is just wrong and it’s
reasons like these why Street Art is being attacked the
way it is.
/>

From Bill:

i saw the recent psp ads. i
gotta admit i saw the psp’s straight away but
thought that it’s a cool new
gadget so why would someone not mash that into
their own work. it was no
great surprise however that it turned out to be an ad
campaign. i just got
a couple of points to add my two pennies worth (as they say
in the uk).
/>
your point about location does not add up to me. using
different
locations is exactly what many street artists do (Obey). many also get
/>other people to execute the work (Obey). so this is not the reason why this is
a
poor street campaign.

this is the reason.

what
happens if one of
these artists gets busted whilst doing the work? are
sony’s lawyers gonna pay
their costs and get them out of trouble? you bet
your ass they’re not. does sony
(as a muge megacorp) stand up and say
“street art should be legit stop busting
people?” er no. that’s where the
difference lies for me with legitimate street
art. i therefore conclude
that sony is exploiting these people who are doing the
work and exploiting
a scene that are pretty good at sticking up for one another,
take
Roadsworth spat with the law as an example. it’d be cool if the marketing
/>exec in charge of this campaign had to do community service

on
the other hand i’d rather this cash goes into the pockets of starving artists
rather
than Clear Channel. at least when it’s on the wall someone can come
along and
write “phony” on it without it being scrubbed clean by a Clear
Channel cleaning
man in a Clear Channel cleaning van.

seems to
have worked well as an advertising campaign though, got a whole bunch of folks
talking about it