Graffiti writing, officially sanctioned

The Sign: It's called wildstyle – a fitting description of the type of graffiti writing that Houston artist Gonzo247 favors. You've seen it around. It's colorful and intricate, mobilizing tangles of interlocking geometries. At first glance it's all lines and brightness, but the composition is still text-driven. It may say "Style," like the giant canvas hanging in Gonzo's studio off Jefferson Street. Or, as is the case on an electrical box at the corner of Spring and Sawyer just by I-10, "arte sin fronteras."

The box is a sort of soft opening for a soon-to-come pilot program created by Elia and Noah Quiles, the couple behind UP Art Studio, and developed with Jeff Reichman at a civic hack night. When it launches in early May, the mini murals series will transform 31 electrical boxes in the city council district represented by Larry Green, one of the project's partners. Soon, Gonzo's box will soon be joined by pieces from Wiley, Lee Washington, Mr. D, Gabriel Prusmack, Dual and more.

The Quiles hope that  the project will travel elsewhere, like to the Washington Avenue Arts District, which now features a wildstyle electrical box, part of the management district's plan to bring color to the area. Gonzo, a Houston native, had fond memories of that district being a liminal, largely industrial space friendly to graffiti artists.

"Really what I wanted was the impact of the color," he said. His box picks out shades used by the arts district on the nearby trail. He views his little electrical box as a sort of signpost, a pointer to the creativity happening in the area. Unlike the rows of galleries elsewhere in the city, the art around Washington is happening in converted industrial spaces, such as Winter Street Studios, a former furniture factory. In the shadow of development spawned by the shopping area around Target, the art community can go unnoticed.

The Place: Gonzo's message — art without barriers — is a reminder that art can flourish everywhere. But his partnership with both the Washington Avenue Arts District and UP Art Studio, which is working with the city on its pilot program, proves that where art happens is rarely an accident.

Cities didn't always embrace street art. Noah Quiles never thought he'd live to see Houston's graffiti abatement team join forces with an art studio that promotes street art. Growing up on the Southside of Chicago, Quiles fell in love with the illegal art form at a young age watching older artists work. "I was the kid stealing caps off their paint cans when they weren't looking because they were really hard to come by," he said.

Though he doesn't practice so much now, Quiles and his wife act as liaisons linking the graffiti community to the broader art world and the city. They were the team behind last year's "Preservons La Creation," the city's largest mural ever, done by artist Sebastien Boileau, known as Mr. D. Oftentimes, Quiles, said graffiti writers don't see their work as art. It's instead part of a subculture that operates on the edges of legality — or often completely on other side of it. But the couple wants to bring those artists into the light.

"What I'm trying to do is instill good citizenship," said Quiles. Organized public art has been recognized as a way to curb illegal street art: It gives writers a legitimate outlet. But even for Quiles, it's a surreal partnership. "I spent almost a decade of my life vandalizing municipal property," he said. But now "we are legalizing graffiti."

On his own, Gonzo has made a similar journey. He grew up in the Second Ward and considered representing Houston a personal mission. Now he's become something of a city spokesperson. Perhaps his best-known mural — the one near Market Square Park that declares Houston to be "inspired, hip, tasty, funky and savvy" — was commissioned by no less than the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

But even Gonzo, who runs Aerosol Warfare, admits that his favorite part of the art scene is still the unsanctioned stuff. "You can really get a feel for the pulse of the city in these vignettes," he said.

For many, the illegal aspect of graffiti is still a requirement to practice. Gonzo gets that. But he hasn't rolled that way since the early '90s.

"I had to make a decision in my life," he said. "I wanted to make sure Houston's graffiti grows in the city, but it's hard to grow in the shadows. I chose to steps out of the shadows."

Bookmark Gray Matters. At first glance it's all lines and brightness, but the composition is still text-driven.