Mural artist speaks about graffiti culture

Graffiti artist Abby Andrews, known as ABBY TC5, spoke Friday about graffiti culture and the inspiration behind her work in a public talk at the Aidekman Arts Center Alumnae Lounge.

According to Assistant Professor of Dance and Drama Noe Montez, the department invited ABBY in affiliation with their production of “Welcome to Arroyo’s,” which ran from Oct. 17 through Oct. 26.

Montez, along with the Tufts University Art Gallery, also commissioned ABBY to create a mural, titled “Summer in New York,” to represent the themes of “Welcome to Arroyo’s.”

“The play draws on so many elements of hip-hop culture, including graffiti,” Montez said. “It was important to me to bring a female graffiti artist because the character at the center of the play is a female graffiti artist.”

A reproduction of ABBY’s work is on display outside the Mayer Campus Center for the remainder of the academic school year, Montez said.

At the event, ABBY described the challenges facing female graffiti artists and the social dynamics of a graffiti painting crew.

“As a female graffiti artist, I think I’m somewhat resented since I might get more attention than some of the males that are more talented ... I’m seen as somewhat of a rarity as a female graffiti artist,” she said.

After rumors spread about another female artist named Lady Pink, ABBY decided to never paint alone with a male friend, she said.

“It really resonated with me that I’m a little bit different from the guys in that I have to be really conscious of my reputation,” she said. “I’m hanging out with 90 percent males so there’s bound to be crushes and flirtations. I have to be very conscious of that and keep my relationships very clean.”

ABBY described the beginnings of her career, saying she began creating graffiti during her years at high school.

“I got started as a graffiti artist by being an angry teen,” she said.

To do her art, ABBY learned to take the last train of the day to the layup, where the trains are stored off the tracks.

“I tried to go home [to Queens] as late as possible since the city presented limited freedom,” she said.

Today, with her crew known as The Cool Five (TC5), ABBY paints with some of the same artists she worked with as a teen. At the same time, she has immersed herself in the online graffiti artist community.

Unlike the artists of ABBY’s past, many current graffiti artists tend to be wealthy, she said.

“I actually think graffiti is becoming a rich kid’s hobby,” she said. “It seems like poorer kids aren’t it in the way that we were. It’s very expensive.”

In “Summer in New York”, ABBY incorporated timeless elements of her New York childhood, including fire hydrants.

“Fire hydrants breaking open has always been something traditional in New York,” she said. “As illegal as it is, we always treated it like it’s Disneyland.”

Right now, ABBY is working on “Love and the Gun,” a piece which uses genuine graffiti letters to form images. This technique is something she says has never been done before.

“I’m tired of seeing graffiti used the same way,” she said. “I want to push the envelope a little bit ... I really want to take real graffiti letters without bastardizing them too far.”

Despite the connection between hip hop and graffiti in “Welcome to Arroyo’s,” ABBY does not believe there is an inherent link between hip hop and graffiti, as her peers do not prefer that type of music over other styles. She also explained that many different types of work could be considered graffiti.

“I don’t think you have to have a certain skill level or use certain instruments to be a graffiti artist,” she said. “If it’s illegal and it’s on a surface that doesn’t belong to you and it’s being done without permission, it’s graffiti.”