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Monday, Jun. 16, 2008
Graffiti artists compete for $400 reward
By CAROL REITER
creiter@mercedsun-star.com
With a can of purple paint in his hand, Jesus Valencia looked like a young man ready to tag a building. He had an array of colorful spray cans on the ground next to him, and a half-finished piece of street art in front of him.
But Valencia wasn't breaking the law, or leaving his name and tag on a building somewhere in Merced. Instead, the 20-year-old was hoping that the colorful faces in the painting he was working on would win him some bucks.
Valencia, along with other street artists, met on Saturday at Christian Life Center in Merced to compete in a graffiti contest. The winner of the all-day event would take home $400.
The contest, along with a break-dancing competition held at the same time, was the dream of Rui "Loser" Machado and one of the pastors at the church, Ceasar "C-Flo" Johnson.
"We try to do a lot of youth ministry and outreach to the community," Johnson said.
Machado is a member of the church, but at one time, he was a tagger who left his artwork all over town. He started doing graffiti when he was 19. Like a lot of teenagers, he got into tagging because of the friends he had.
"It can become an addiction. That's what happened to me," said the 26-year-old. Despite being arrested for his graffiti, Machado kept doing it.
Then Machado became a father, and started worrying about his future. Although he had never gone to church before, he became a Christian, and brought his love of street art to the church.
Machado and other street artists worked on a mural inside the Olive Avenue church, but Machado and Johnson wanted to bring their Christian outlook to more than just the members of the church.
Johnson said that arresting taggers and taking them to jail doesn't always work. And he should know. At one time, he was a drug dealer and a tagger. He wants to help the youth of Merced in a different way than just putting them behind bars.
"They can arrest these guys, handcuff them, and put them away. That doesn't help the person change his ways. We are trying to change the person," Johnson said.
On Saturday, each person who entered the graffiti contest got four hours to show their talent. Many of the contestants had Christian-themed artwork painted on pieces of plywood. When the artists were through, photos were taken of the art, and then the plywood boards were painted over and readied for the next contestant.
One of those competing[nope, I was judging -F] on Saturday was Aaron "Fasm" Vickery. He started tagging when he was a freshman in high school. He got arrested more than once[make that once -F], but it didn't stop him from leaving his artwork all over town.
But Vickery was raised in a Christian home, and when he was in trouble, he knew he could go to the church for help. Now Vickery, along with other street artists, uses his talent in other ways.
"A crew of us went to North Carolina in March and did a mural for the Billy Graham Crusades," Vickery said.
It's been 10 years since Vickery did any illegal graffiti. "I've been legal for a while, and hands down, it beats doing it illegally," he said.
Johnson said that the contest wasn't really about graffiti or about winning. "Our purpose here is to lead these kids to have a relationship with Jesus Christ," he said.
Reporter Carol Reiter can "
be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com
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