THEJOURNEY BEHINDTHE CAN

12/34/56/78/910

AerosolContentThe MissionDoes InterviewDoes Cont.Back

3&2

“I found myself havingto go through obstacles.”

&5

I was over an hour away from home now. Face to face with a steep hill and Converse for hiking shoes. There was one thought in my mind, “Where am I going to find graffiiti on a green hill?” However, I did not question this newly introduced young man. I proceeded behind him. Having a military back-ground I assumed the steep hill wouldn’t be a problem to climb. About five minutes into the hike, I found myself on my knees, sliding all the way back down. I was able to grab hold of some branches until he climbed down to help me. He put his hand out for me to grab. This was the first of many times that I would learn to trust this complete stranger.

Once we finally reached the top of the hill there was a barbed wire fence. He jumped over it, and I crawled under. To my amazement, behind this fence there was a cement circular hole in the ground. Now, there was another obstacle. The ladder to get into the cement hole was missing. It was about 15 feet high of nothing but solid cement. It had also been raining, so there was about another 2 feet of water at the bottom. We found a wooden beam that he used to climbed down into the cement hole. It was now my turn. I was nervous about falling into the water and afraid of heights. He told me to slide down and he would then grab me. I gathered my composure and gave this stranger another chance at trust. He caught me. Once inside, the results were astonishing. At first, I was amazed by all the colors. Then, by all the aerosol cans.

We proceeded to have many more adven-tures through out the day. I found myself at a rundown factory that was fenced off to the public. Fortunately, unlike so many others, I didn’t have to jump the fence. A security guard was nice enough to let us in for about ten munites. Next, I found my-self on train tracks. Of course, there were moving trains so we had to becareful. A few other places we went were downtown Los Angeles and East Los Angeles. It became apparent that there were certain things that came with graffiti. The location didn’t matter. There would almost always be aerosol cans and lids every where. There would also be some type of danger.

4

6&7THE INTERVIEW

7

INTERVIEW CONT.

When thinking about graffiti Does likes to think about places that he’s been to, people he’s painted with, and other places he might be able to paint at. Most of all, he thinks about different colors and styles of lettering he can use. Does started learning how to do graffiti in his early teenage years. He actually taught himself by practicing with other peoples work and then slowly creating his own style. Does likes to call graffiti painting.

On a day that Does decided to go graf-fiti he takes someone he trusts and considers it a mission. The person he takes has to know how to hide, when to hide, and has to keep a low profile. This means the person can’t go off telling other people about the mission that may have happened the previous night, or even before. If the cops come the per-son that went on the mission has to be able to fend for themselves. Does has never been arrested for doing graffiti.

I like the rush of painting illegally and the peace of knowing that people will see my art the next day. It feels good to see it.”“

8&9Not all the graffiti Does does is illegal. He has designed graiffit pieces on the side of different types of business’s. He has also gotten paid for these different designs. His work can ben found in dif-ferent parts of Los Angeles County. However, a significant amount of his graffiti is located in the city of El Monte.