Arts & Entertainment
Graffiti Artists Bring Work to Glitch Gallery
These walls will be talking through Oct. 30.
Elmhurst's Glitch Gallery, 110 W. Park Ave., will showcase the work of eight Chicago area artists in, "If These Walls Could Talk: An Introduction and Evolution to Graffiti Art."
The show will open with a 6 p.m. reception Sept. 18 and will run through Oct. 30.
"Graffiti art started on train cars and walls," said curator Roz Long. "It evolved into different letters, styles, symbols and script. A lot of it is amazing. You don't even think of it as graffiti."
Artist Alex Espinosa started as a graffiti artist when he was 12 years old and has been mostly self-taught.
"I was living in Miami for a while and I wanted to see what was going on in other areas," Espinosa said. "I wanted to take myself out of the bubble. When you spend so much time in an art community your work starts to mimic other works, and I wanted to be more individual."
Long and Espinosa agree, when most people hear "graffiti art" their first thoughts involve vandalism or defaced property, but the movement has slowly grown in mainstream popularity over the past decades.
"People may view it as vandalism, but I'm more into the beauty and putting a nice piece of art where nothing would be," Espinosa said. "I hate taggers, the people who just write their name. This is not gang-related and people feel safe coming to these events. It's more of an art form and expression."
"I haven't seen it in the western suburbs, which is why I wanted to do this," Long said. "Chicago has lots and lots going on with graffiti art, and they haven't seen anything like it in the western suburbs. It's an art form trying to get a lot more respect."
The new Glitch Gallery is located in the same building as Effigy Salon, Flight 112 Wine House and Park Avenue Wellness. The four together are referred to as The Mecca Experience, a unique, organic atmosphere its first-time guests have never experienced before.
"When I was a kid you would never do anything like this in Elmhurst, so when they asked me I jumped at it," Espinosa said. "You can read about the Mona Lisa, but when you actually go to see it, it's a great experience."
