GRAFFITI CULTURE NOW

What began as ego-driven, word-spewing, urban action had, by the '80s, been absorbed by the mainstream when graffiti types such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat had work in galleries and museums. These days, the famously anonymous Banksy's hefty book sales are the envy of any mainstream artist. "I've watched how graffiti has been taken over by the Internet generation» says Thompson/Evoke who at 30 years old is a 15-year veteran at street art. "It got to the point where it was all about technical savvy, and not about what was inside the work. It sounds like it's died off, that it's no longer the hip thing. But there are still thousands of hardcore guys and girls who go out every day and do this work."

Toronto Star
Dec 14 2008