Grey Ghost saga, con't.

NOLA.com is chiming in on the Fred Radtke debate. If you don't know by now, Fred Radkte - aka the Grey Ghost - is New Orlean's self-appointed superhero painter-outer of that urban plague, graffiti. The writer of the nola.com article takes a stance that likens Radtke's work to the Ab Ex movement in visual art, therefore positioning Radtke right along side the grafitti artists whose work he seeks to grey out. Is he just another visual blight on the urban landscape, or an artist working within a "validated" artistic tradition? I am compelled to point out that this ironic approach to repositioning acts of graffiti removal has its precedent in a short film made in 2001 by Matt McCormick titled "The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal." Narrated by Miranda July, this beautifully- shot 16 mm film takes the same ironic, academic stance - graffiti removal as an artistic movement of its own merit within an accepted tradition - but in this case, the location is the urban wilds of Portland OR. How effective is this approach on the powers that be? Will Radtke start to think of his strokes as aesthetic gestures? Will he hold the paint roller slightly different now, contemplating the next move? Will Freeport MacMoran or the City start calling the money they donate to his project a "public art grant"? NOLAFugees has also chimed in with a slightly different approach in their "Fred Radtke is King" article. Whatever the result of this, the fact is that Radtke will take even non-graffit artists to court, if their work is nailed to light poles - see this NOLA Rising account of the trial ( the judge sounds surprisingly reasonable!) Beware, all you future public sphere artists of the subversive variety!