PLAYGROUND

Graffiti and street art have been like the naughty children of muralism, but one fine day they feel nostalgic and want to come home. Seeing the work of Janie made me think of that. A seductive young girl can stop traffic but her modern monsters devour the walls like a sweet Godzilla on acid, or something like that.

Janie's team arrived at my studio horrifically early and my studio progressively started to turn into a circus ring. Sometimes I have to do crazy shit like snap my fingers from time to time to avoid losing concentration.

The promising artist from Tokyo came from the district of Harajuku; a place that I do not recommend to go if you're tripping on any random drug. She was participant of an art movement dubbed Superflat, which I believe is a fair equivalent to Pop Art however they did it louder and bigger.

Ms. Wu didn't look short like the 'purebred' Japs, thus she said she came from a Chinese dad, a Japanese mother but she was born right here in New York by mere accident. Still, she returned to her roots and decided to join the troops of the likes of Murakami, the infamous Kaikai Kiki. She considered him the equivalent of Andy Warhol.

"Oh, but there's another girl who loves animals, she goes by the name Chinatsu Ban, but she does elephants! She has been here actually."

"Funny, I like rabbits," I answered. "But they're not pretty, they're kinda scary."

"We'll see about that, pretty boy..." said Janie. You see this event was to grab more attention because it was the first time I collaborated with these well trained individuals; for some reason America has fallen in love with the idea of collaborations, East meets West sort of gig, or as they labeled it "Soho vs Shojo". It included a series of live paintings, you know me against Janie. I knew it was gonna be a tough pill to swallow it's no wonder why I wanted to just snuff it like Alex de Large would say.

I saw her stare at a piece I did some time ago called Easy On The Eyeliner. She stood there like a kid nodding. She had a look that took me all the way back to the days old days of Gwen Stefani; she had a laced tanktop, wide pants and a rather hand made backpack resembling a small rabbit with large floppy ears. I´m forced to believe that´s where she kept her paints.

She turned and looked at me and smiled, "I like this one! It´s sexy." To be honest it was an enlarged painting of Scraps enhancing the use of eyeliner and it was smeared across the canvas made with acrylic and oil; my favorite combination. Slowly I was beginning to realize how mesmerized they grew staring at the apparent innocence of God´s must vulnerable creatures.

Janie was twenty two years old and I was about to cross the terrible thirties. It wasn´t the first time we had one of these collaborative experiences in our merry neighborhood. Last year we did have another one with a guy from Berlin and Pennywise, a street artist from Brooklyn. How was I crammed into this? I don´t know, but I was about to find out.

The act consists of a performance done by pairs; one begins painting an idea and it´s the next person´s job to improve it. Of course, you must never stray from what the work communicates; it´s not child´s play, it´s when two minds sync and literally get into the flesh of one another. I studied Janie Wu´s work for months but at some point felt intimidated by her power of execution. We weren´t going to beat each other to death, just learn so each could take back home their own experiences and influences.

The theme was supposed to circle around the utility of art and thus i suggested, "art as a weapon". So whatever happens after this event will remain for mankind to watch and admire. That´s why I concentrated my creative energies in these non-lucrative things; it was truly like being in a playground.

"You should name your exhibition Playground, it seems like one," whispered Janie. I was startled for a moment. "I´m sorry, this has been kind of a long day and I have to process a lot of stuff in my head, you were saying?"

"Don´t be scared, I´m not vermin. I understand you have your ways and I have mine," said Janie while she sat down on the hard maple wood floor.

For a moment there, I had a slight moment of dejá vu that took me all the way down to the dream I had when right after I came out of the hospital. Was I to help her then or was she going to help me? There was only one way to find out.