Art, heart and spray

Under Pressure teams up with the Yves Laroche gallery and the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation for an interactive exhibit and auction

COLOURING FOR KIDS: Canvasses on exhibit

“I have an issue when graffiti is thrown into the whole world of art,” says Sterling Downey. Writing graffiti and painting a picture “use completely different mediums, and the way of making a name for yourself is completely different. An artist works in a studio, and you might never see the work; a graffiti writer works on the street, and everybody sees it.”

Sounds straightforward enough. But the founder of the international graffiti festival Under Pressure is willing to meld the two worlds for this year’s edition—its 13th—in a unique blend of charity, increased public exposure, well-heeled art collectors and family fun. For the first time, the festival will team up with the well-known Yves Laroche gallery in Old Montreal for a silent auction. But instead of selling works produced by the next hot young thing, the auction will be selling works by creators who may not be hot, but are likely very young.

On Wednesday, Aug. 6, 16 canvasses will hang in the Laroche gallery, with outlines of the Under Pressure logo and a lot of blank space. The public—read, children—are invited to colour in the blank spots using crayons. The interactive exhibit, titled Color Me Bad, will be auctioned off throughout the evening, with proceeds going to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. “It’ll be by kids for kids. They’re colouring for a cause,” says Downey. Established graffiti writers will also be on hand to give out tips and answer questions. “We want to allow the public to become graffiti writers for a night,” he says. “They can do whatever they want, but we will be monitoring it closely, to make sure there’s no messing around.”

Child’s play

Youth has always been a big focus of the festival. When it started, Downey says his objective was always to demystify the practice, if not rehabilitate the image, of graffiti writing, and to provide a legal spot for writers to indulge their talents for one weekend a year. But over the years, as the 35-year-old matured and saw his friends and past festival attendees procreate, he says he “became a lot more aware of things I didn’t notice in the past. I never thought about younger kids, but, as I was living vicariously through my friends, I realized I was becoming a little envious.”

TO TAKE HOME: Colouring book

It was this feeling, as well as the need for community engagement, that got Downey involved with the foundation in the first place. “No one ever thinks about this, but who’s donating all this money [to the foundation]? It’s mainly older people living in Westmount, which I fully respect, but it’s time for people our age, of our generation, to step up to the plate.”

Not that it’s that simple. When he first met with foundation representatives at the Laroche gallery earlier this year, Downey says he was aware that his heavily tattooed arms and background might be off-putting to what he then thought was a conservative, though certainly capable and worthy organization. He was happy to discover how wrong he was.

“Both of the representatives were extremely well-versed and understanding,” he says. “They were actually finishing my sentences for me, and other than a few art historians and Ph.Ds I’ve had the fortune of working with, I’ve never really met people [outside the graffiti community] who actually really get it. I guess, because of the foundation and the work they do, they’ve got that kind of compassion and dedication and patience, looking outside the box and being open-minded.”

Still street

Downey displays some ambivalence towards the mainstream art world, and says he’s under no illusions as to what the exhibit/auction means. “When graffiti goes into a gallery, it’s not graffiti. It might be representative of graffiti, or a documentation of graffiti, but graffiti lives in the streets.”

That being said, Downey does feel comfortable partnering with Laroche, of all the gallery owners in the city, thanks mostly to his support for emerging artists. “I don’t think graffiti needs validation, but at the same time, it doesn’t hurt to have people who know how to represent it promote it.”

Besides the exhibit, the evening will be selling limited edition colouring books to defray the evening’s costs (profits will also go to the foundation). “My expectations are realistic,” he says. “We don’t expect to make a mountain of money, but there will be an awareness brought to a whole new generation.”

Color Me Bad takes place on Wednesday,
Aug. 6, at the Yves Laroche gallery (4 St-Paul E.),
6–9 p.m., free. Under Pressure takes place Saturday,
Aug. 9 and Sunday, Aug. 10, behind Foufounes
Electriques (87 Ste-Catherine E.). For more info,
see underpressure.ca