34 tgmlink.com | February 2009

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culture

34 tgmlink.com | February 2009

The Green Magazine | 35

T o his loyal fans he is the

Dadaist of the moment,

an innovator of today’s

counter-culture. For

others, most notably

the nypd, he is the vandal who desecrates public

space with his art. People’s champion or public

enemy number one, it is impossible to overlook

James De La Vega.

New York’s Spanish Harlem is De La Vega’s

gallery. His murals animate the stone corridor

of Lexington Avenue between 104th and 106th

Streets. This outdoor catalogue raisonne includes

a litany of thought-provoking quotes and a pair

of brick wall shrines for the Salsa Queen Celia

Cruz and Nuyorican poet laureate Pedro Pietri.

This beautiful spectrum represents El Barrio.

Its works like these that De La Vega uses to

entice many artistic dilettantes south of 96th

Street into his universe – often prompting their

maiden voyage on the multi-lingual 6 Train.

Although praise from fans and the press has

been favorable, De La Vega is not motivated by

these spoils.

“I like to agitate people,” De La Vega says

between long tokes of his cigar. “When I step

into their world, they have to pay attention.” His

artwork graces sidewalks, asphalt at intersections

and pieces of bulk trash. Any flat surface is fair

game. In fact, some of these surfaces are now

being appraised and sold on the international art

market. It’s alleged that Christie’s, the high-end

auctioning house, sold a bench tattooed with

De La Vega’s graffiti for $2,500 in 2004. He’ll

dismiss it as folklore if you ask. “I’ll never tell the

most I sold a piece for,” he says. “You can’t put a

price on the true worth of an art piece.” Art critics

and collectors disagree and many are placing

him in the same light as artistic visionaries

Anibal Padrino, Keith Haring and Jean Michel

Basquiat. Unfazed by the comparison, De La

Vega nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders and takes

another gulp of Arnold Palmer’s Half-and-Half.

Words are De La Vega’s weapons of choice. His

arsenal of insightful one-liners forces pedestrians

to notice his craft. Become Your Dream is

the tagline that fuels De La Vega’s creation.

According to his website: “I started to write

inspirational quotes on the ground as a way to

give people hope. I wanted to encourage others to

really think about themselves and their dreams.”

In a city where a ceo’s signature can overshadow

an artist’s boldest strokes, De La Vega remains in

touch with the people. The artist is the portrait.

On a warm evening, you can see him

catching a breeze with Joe De La Heyman, his

creative partner in crime, in front of his Lower

East Side galleria. Their dialogue is open to all

passersby. The conversations often range from

the philosophical to the ironically humorous. For

an artist who inscribes quotes everywhere, De

La Vega is a man of very few words. He flashes

a child-like smile in his moments of silence.

When he laughs, you can see his eyes widen

behind tinted sunglasses. The cigar burns slow.

Reclining in his lawn chair, he favors a young and

satiated Fidel Castro with a fresh pair of white

Nike Air Force Ones. The wardrobe is merely

the façade of a genius who knows how to create

amidst conflict.

De La Vega’s academic resume is as impressive

as is his growing portfolio. He attended both the

prestigious York Preparatory School and later

Cornell University to pursue a degree in fine

arts. He joined the community service group La

Unidad Latina as a brother of Lamda Upsilon

Lamda Fraternity, Inc. After graduating from

Cornell in 1994, De La Vega taught Puerto Rican

History at the Central Park East Secondary School

in Manhattan. It was at this time when he started

offering his art to the public. “I just had this

idea of talking to people through my work,” he

says. “The more I kept putting up a mural here

or a saying somewhere else, more people kept

responding to it. You had some who didn’t like

what I was doing, but that comes with anything

in life.” From the classroom to the street corner,

De La Vega gave his best to El Barrio when it was

at its worst.

During the mid-to-late 1990’s, Spanish

Harlem had its share of quandaries. Mayor

Rudy Giuliani’s blind eye gave raise to a decrepit

education system, growing drug problem

and gentrification. Seeing the change, De La

Vega took action. His murals and quotations

became the catalyst for dialogue amongst

residents. Some comical: Even Fidel Is A Yankee.

Some dark: Many Of Us Are Helpless Sheep

Amongst Ferocious Wolves. Others social: This

Neighborhood Is No Longer Yours. In the era of

post-Giulianism, De La Vega continued to be a

fixture in Spanish Harlem when he opened his

galleria in the community. Patrons flocked from

all over to the Fishtank, on Lexington Avenue, to

see the work he was now putting on canvas. The

vehicle for expression was becoming the career.

On the way to becoming an international art

phenomenon and neighborhood legend, De La

Vega met New York’s Finest at the crossroads.

In July 2003, the artist was arrested and charged

with vandalism in the Bronx. At the April 2004

trial, the dialogue between De La Vega and Judge

Joseph Dawson focused on language. De La

Vega half-hearted agreed that he would acquiesce

to the charges if the court would change the

language of the misdemeanor from “vandalism”

to “making graffiti-art”. “Look at what I do,”

pointing at the various quotations he wrote on

the sidewalk in front of his galleria. “I’m not

tagging up a train with non-sense or writing all

over someone’s picture. Just using what the city

gives me – that’s all.” Judge Dawson begged to

differ. He was sentenced to a month in jail and

fifty hours of community service.

The notoriety the trial produced actually

benefitted De La Vega. Numerous rallies were

held in his defense. He became a prominent

figure in the ongoing debate between art and

legislation. “I just find it funny. Art is New York’s

cash cow and they do everything to erase it,” De

La Vega says after eating a veggie dumpling from

the bistro next door. “Most artists can’t even make

a living off of what they’re good at.” De La Vega,

luckily, is surviving this epidemic.

He chuckles when asked how business has

been since he moved downtown. It’s elementary.

His transition from Spanish Harlem’s residential

setting to the Lower East Side artistic hub is

paying off. “Just because I’m from uptown

doesn’t mean I have to live and die there,” De La

Vega states. “Plus, they love me down here.” His

galleria is a treasure chest of t-shirts, paintings

and other pieces of art that are done in house.

Looking beyond the financial success, De La Vega

is not allowing the trappings of stardom to make

him forget his initial purpose. “I use art to bring

people together.” De L

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artist profile: James De La Vega Community Service

by laurence bass