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Harsher Penalties Sought For Repeat Graffiti Convictions

5/13/2015

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One photo from a set  Las Vegas police sent to Nevada Legislature to support AB 244.
The debate on how graffiti should be defined gives Nevada lawmakers the chance to clean up semantics. With the graffiti growing into a recognized aesthetic, the term “graffiti” can be replaced with the word “tagging” when referring to the application of aerosol on unauthorized space.

It would be an amendment that clarifies intent. 

That's a thought with the news that Republican Assemblyman Lynn Stewart and police lobbyists presented bill AB244 to the Senate Judiciary Committee to make "multiple graffiti convictions" be a felony-level offense.  AP reports:
The bill would require anyone with two or more convictions for graffiti offenses, including at least one that's a felony, to be automatically charged with a Class C felony. The charge carries a penalty of one to five years in prison.

Las Vegas police detective Scott Black testified for the bill and said his 15 years of handling graffiti cases led him to believe the threat of a heavy felony penalty would deter the small number of repeat graffiti offenders.

"They just appear to be thumbing their nose at the law," he said.
Opponents to the bill included Steve Yeager, Clark County Deputy Public Defender, who stated current law sufficiently punishes graffiti offenders. "I don't think it's good for this committee to be making policy based on a few individuals," he said. Detective Black is leading the bill on behalf of Las Vegas police and believes the cost to incarcerate a repeat offender would be less than the cost of constant repairing graffiti damage, said the report.

AB244 has been a hot topic and voting splits down party lines. It first sought to provide “an enhanced penalty for committing three or more offenses of placing graffiti on or otherwise defacing certain property," another version of a Three Strikes law. On March 9, 2015, "three or more" was amended to read "certain repeat" offenses, and now targets those who have been "convicted two times or more." 



ELSEWHERE: FOX5
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Zap 7 Receptions and Other Clark County Notes

5/8/2015

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Zap 7 Box by Sush Machida.
CLARK COUNTY NOTES
• Reception for Zap 7 artists is Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m. at Boulevard Mall. Facebook
• Zap 7 taggers still at-large. FOX5 + Clark County I
• Tagging won't stop the spirit of the project. LV Weekly

• ALSO: Kim Johnson "Wunder Kammer" opening reception is May 29 at Winchester Culture Center I  Facebook

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Links to Ink: A Day in May Edition

5/4/2015

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Picture
Miguel Covarrubias, Creative Commons via the David Rumsey Map Collection

ABOVE: VOX explains branches in Miguel Covarrubias "Tree of Modern Art," that first appeared in Vanity Fair Magazine in 1933.

Picture
This mural by Mowgli and EPIC was a commission in November 2014. It was seen in the background of the photo from the recent LA Weekly interview about PtD. The mural was painted over in white within days of the photo being taken. 

“Intricate, geometrical, yet fabulously human too, her designs, together with those of men such as Brian 'Buzz' Leming – who, bizarrely, died in the same week as her – turned the whole of Vegas into a monument to the cheeky demotic opulence of mid-century America’s dreams.” From The Guardian's appreciation of Betty Willis.

Information is being sought on ZAP 7 utility boxes vandalized with tagging. “Graffiti on all the boxes looks similar,” the county said. Call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or log on www.crimestoppersofnv.com. I R-J

In February John Ollenburg’s front lawn was  “filled with assorted memories and salvaged goods arranged just so” and he called it art, reports News3LV. He was ordered to clean up his property by April 30.

Colorful Land Art by Ugo Rondinone slated for early 2016. Additional links on at the PtD post. 

The Nevada Museum of Art unveiled designs for its planned Nightingale Sky Room, reports Reno Gazette-Journal.

University of California, San Diego Public Art Collection gets $1 Million Endowment to “preserve and grow its internationally renowned, 18-piece collection of public artwork.” I Times of San Diego

Dealer and curator Jeffrey Deitch to co-curate a street art exhibition on Coney Island with Joseph Sitt, the head of real estate developing company Thor Equities. Some see it as a deal with the developer devil.

Mexico City: "La Fraternidad" mural by Rufino Tamayo returned to the United Nations after 5-year restoration process. I La Prensa.

Salt Lake City Weekly interviews artist Shae Petersen who "straddles the line between graffiti artist and street artist—his work is legal, so he doesn't consider himself a graffiti artist, but his tools of the trade are cans of spray paint rather than a paintbrush."  The street art scene has "definitely exploded," says Petersen. But there aren't a lot of spots."

Coachella officials are investing the city's mural project that has managed to get attention back into town and apart from the Coachella Music Festival.  $28,500 will go to the Date Farmers Art Studio to "support the second phase of the Coachella Walls mural project, adding five more murals along Vine and 6th streets. "The walls create a cultural tourism opportunity and act as a catalyst to economic revival of the downtown," says Steven Hernandez, mayor of Coachella. "The murals reclaim spaces and walls. They bring a functional component to them. These are spaces that were susceptible to graffiti and blight." I Desert Sun

The Daily Beast on how Peggy Guggenheim became the queen of modern art. 

Some stunning public art went up in Boston. Brookline artist Janet Echelman designed the 600-foot shimmering fiber sculpture made of polyethylene rope to respond fluidly to the wind and weather." I The Artery

BELOW: 6 Ways to Avoid the Torturous Art Career Road I Hyperallergic
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"Crazy Girls" to be Saved

5/4/2015

 
Photo by Ronnie Macdonald via Flickr CC.
FIELD NOTE: “Yes, Crazy Girls statuary being moved to another location,” reports Stephen P Grogan, the local author who doubles as City of Las Vegas Art Commissioner President. He sent the news through his Facebook feed along with a  “The show must go on!”...The end is nigh:  The bronze of showgirls are posed in front of the 60-year-old Riviera hotel, which will be closing its doors at noon today. Casino hype claimed this was the most photographed sculpture in Las Vegas. Judging by the strategic volunteer polishing it can be said this is one of the most interactive bronzes in Nevada.

This blog gets ink

5/1/2015

 
Photo on article with a man in black who likes street art and his own reflection.
Field Notes: Hello to anyone new. Have a look around. Follow me on Instagram or Twitter. That's where I send shots of street art when I find them. (Tonight I will be at First Friday).  There may be curious people lurking around. In the Las Vegas Weekly, Kristen Peterson penned and posted this story based on a long conversation from a week ago. Very nice of her to take the time, have me feel at ease despite being on the other side of the note-taking, and for LA Weekly to dispatch photographer L.E. Baskow. 

Urban Walls I LVWeekly
Extra: I made a funny I LV Weekly
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