The art of the vandal

Bangkok had some American punk visiting last week, showing local kids how to spray-paint all sorts of scrawls and gibberish on walls, as if they hadn’t already decorated enough of them, and a French liquor-maker was picking up the bill!

And now the alternate version: Celebrated American street artist Lenny McGurr – known far and wide as Futura (formerly Futura 2000) – was in town last week to mentor his young Thai fans and promote his artistic collaboration with French cognac brand Hennessy.

People who condemn all graffiti as “vandalism” just don’t see the distinctions, said McGurr, who claimed he found himself in its artistic expression. “I had an identity problem, but then I said to myself, ‘If I do graffiti, I could build my own identity!’” 

Futura was 15 when he first laid paint to a wall in New York in the early 1970s as a “graffiti writer”, but he gave the brickwork and subway tiles more than just shout-outs and slogans in jagged letters. He already had a more abstract, “futuristic” style and rendered paintings, not messages. He was the first to paint a whole subway train – without using a single letter – and, of course, it was deemed a work of art.

“Art or vandalism?” we asked after his workshop at Mass Universe on Sukhumvit Soi 34. 

“It should be apparent, don’t you think?” he said without hesitation. “I mean, it’s right in front of you. What do you think? Do you think it’s destructive or beautiful? 

“‘Vandalism’ has a negative tone, but some young artists think of it as beautification, not destruction. They’re trying to do something positive, but there are others who are just bad elements, like kids who break windows and get arrested and all that. There’ll always be vandalism – it’s part of human culture. Hopefully those kids will mature, though, and create something that can be seen as art. 

“As a matter of fact, it’s vandalism in the face of art.”

Futura was given the grand tour of graffiti hot spots in Bangkok and met some of the better-known spray-can warriors, including Mamafaka, Alex Face, P7, Rukkit and Tawan Wattuya.

And then they broke out the cognac. Not really, but Futura had to explain why he’s teamed up with Hennessy. 

“For me, creation is about taking inspiration and adapting it to my process, moving through the art of a new place. That applied to working alongside Hennessy on this project. I’d seen and admired Hennessy’s previous artistic collaborations, and when I received an invitation to work with them, I was truly surprised and honoured.” 

One of the brand’s collaborations that must have impressed Futura was last year’s run with Brian Donnelly, famous as KAWS, a one-time New Jersey graffiti artist who’s gone on to pop stardom. “I started with the cognac itself,” Futura said, describing his own participation. 

“I looked at the bottle and how it sits on the shelf. I tried to do something completely unique with respect to the past that would at the same time represent who I am. If you propped up the bottle in front of one of my paintings, it would just kind of blend right in. I think the artwork complements the bottle, and the bottle complements the art.” 

Having helped shape New York City’s identity through graffiti and being there at the birth of hip-hop culture (not to mention punk – he worked closely with British band the Clash), Futura also suffered along with other artists when the market soured in the late ’80s. He took on petty jobs to support his family. Fortunately the market rebounded, soared to new heights in fact, and rediscovered Futura. 

“I am in great health and I’ve never been arrested – I’ve been chased, though!” he laughed. “I did an illegal action in Paris a few years ago with a group of friends. We penetrated the French system and did this renegade project. We could have been busted, but we got away with it. 

“But it would have been worth getting arrested, because what we did was really amazing – about 12 artists went into Paris’ deserted buildings and painted something. We even made a documentary film about it, but it hasn’t been released yet. The beauty of it was that it was fully illegal and we got everything done in 18 hours. Google ‘Underbelly Paris’ and check it out!”