On Dec. 10, San Francisco State University students got to release some rebellious artistic energy at the Associated Students’ “Graffiti Night.” From now until early next year, the art gallery in the Cesar Chavez Student Center will display drippy paint drawings and unique tags on its walls.
Universities have been big targets for graffiti, including SFSU which has seen political messages being sprayed around campus. However, Graffiti Night gave students a free space to leave their marks and share their art temporarily.
“We wanted to give the students the opportunity to express themselves and really reframe the pejoratives that are around graffiti,” said Amylah Charles, director of the art gallery.
Charles chose graffiti as the style of the night as a way for students to “unwind and express themselves in a way they don’t get to do often.”
About a dozen different colors of spray paint cans were available for attendees to use and art gallery staff rolled out paper to cover more walls as more students began painting. For many who participated in the event, it was their very first time making art with spray paint.
Nursing student Justice Okoro traded his usual paintbrush for a spray can and painted at the gallery between finals.
“I had to work on a lot of stuff like projects so it’s a good way to blow off some steam,” Okoro said.
Although he came to SFSU to study science, Okoro is still interested in making art. He left by writing “suiiiiii” on the wall, which refers to Cristiano Ronaldo, his favorite football player, as his inspiration.
One person painted a simple picture of their cat, Ming, while others wrote messages like “God is Love.”
Charles was proud to give students the chance to express themselves through an art form that is often controversial.
“A lot of times people treated it like it’s a nuisance or it’s something to be looked upon negatively but it’s just a form of creative expression,” Charles said.
G Huennekens, a first-year apparel design student, took a large space on one of the walls for a painting of a rose and a mystical-looking eye.
Huennekens’s experience with spray paint was limited to “getting a base coat on something but never actually drawing with it before.” However, Huennekens has a long history of drawing and other traditional art forms, including crocheting and fabric work, which shows up in pants they made themselves.
They said it was pretty cool to be able to paint their made-up characters on a large scale in the gallery.
“I’ve been almost on every surface by this point,” said Huennekens.
The gallery lives on the third floor of the Cesar Chavez building at the entrance to the Multicultural Center. That location makes them a big collaborator with campus groups to put on cultural events throughout the year.
“I think that’s a wonderful collaboration that we have, which is able to uplift others with the vicinity of creativity and art,” said Assistant Director Jermaine Fulgham.
Fulgham wanted to emphasize that the art gallery is open to any and all students.
“We don’t have no type of gender norms. We don’t have no type of segregation,” said Flugham. “That’s why we can have a plethora of different people come in and have fun when they enter the art gallery.”
Fulgham was responsible for collecting and ordering the materials for the afternoon such as paint, paper, masks and the food.
The event was planned to last from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., with pizza arriving midway through. However, the painting portion had to be cut short due to a lack of ventilation in the space being painted.
“Since the semester is about to conclude, we’re going to go ahead and leave it up for the rest of the semester, so that students can see the art,” Charles said.
The next exhibition that Associated Students is holding in the gallery will be in February for Black History Month.
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