Graffiti event draws artists from across Southwest

By JUNO OGLE
Daily Press Staff
When Justin Arrey sent out word to graffiti artists who he admired that he was organizing a graffiti jam in Silver City, he didn’t have high expectations. But it turned out Silver City was a big draw.
“I’m not well known. I’m not known at all,” said Arrey, who goes by “Mute” as a graffiti artist. “I didn’t expect anyone to even come. I thought I’d be lucky to get maybe two people. I ended up with like 30 interested.”
Saturday, he watched those people adding their designs to the back side of the Home Furniture store at the south end of Bullard Street.
“I almost cried,” Arrey said. “I never thought I would have enough space where I could do my own graffiti. I never thought I would have my own gathering. A lot of these artists, I follow on social media, and they’re my favorites.”
He estimated that between 20 and 30 artists actually came from places including Las Cruces, Roswell, and Albuquerque, and El Paso and Austin, Texas.
He and others worked on their art starting last Wednesday on the south wall of the Home Furniture store and Little Toad Creek Brewery and Distillery’s production building on Mill Road. Both businesses gave their permission for the use of their property.
A similar, smaller event took place at the site last year, but this year Arrey decided to organize an event on his own, he said.
“I’m just trying to build a name for myself here in town as a local artist and business owner, and then also build a name for myself in the graffiti community,” he said.
Arrey is owner of Rock Solid Graphics, and has created murals for businesses like Silver Barbell and Rocky Mountain Cannabis.
Most of the graffiti artists who came to Silver City for the jam are also professional artists, Arrey said, and many of them started out in the same way — getting caught and charged with crimes for their graffiti.
“We’ve all gone from being illegal artists with felonies for our art to finding out how to make money off of this,” he said.
Several of the artists said they liked Silver City and planned to come back to check out the outdoor recreation, including the Gila River and the town’s skate park.
“This is probably the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time,” Heather Medau, aka “Winkstyles,” from Austin, Texas, said Saturday as she worked on her portion of a Mortal Kombat-themed wall. “This place is so pretty and there’s so many cool things.”
Medau said she started doing graffiti after her brother got her into it. It was a way to connect with him, but she also found she liked doing it. She’s traveled to Florida, Arizona and Denmark for her art.
Domenic Izaac is from Las Cruces, but said he has family in Silver City and would visit when he was a kid. He also once found himself getting in trouble for his art and now creates professionally. He had a gallery show in December and is working on a mural in Truth or Consequences, he said.
But graffiti is his favorite work, he said.
“It’s like it belongs to the whole community now,” he said. “You can’t take it home and put it on a wall. It’s like everybody’s.”
Isaiah Bonhan came from Santa Fe for the graffiti jam with some friends who grew up in Silver City.
“I’ve heard stories about the place, but I’ve never been here,” he said. “When I found out he was throwing the show, I thought I’d come check it out. Paint some walls and see what it’s all about.”
Bonhan said drawing girls he had a crush on was his first attempt at being an artist, until a friend suggested he try graffiti. He took a hip-hop class at Santa Fe College where he learned about fundamentals of spray painting, including color theory.
“Then I went to school for graphic design. Once I did that, it just elevated everything to a different level,” he said.
Bonhan has had his own business creating vinyl stickers, business cards and advertising, he said, but graffiti takes him back to being an adolescent rebel.
“The good old days, when I used to get into trouble — but I could do it now without getting into trouble with events like this,” he said.
Juno Ogle may be reached at juno@scdailypress.com.