Street art comes indoors at La Galeria

The GN Crew, a close-knit group of about a dozen South End-based graffiti/street artists, teamed up with the budding artists of the IBA Youth Development program in a dynamic, colorful and evocative exhibit called "Overspray", which opened on Friday, October 14 to a crowd of about 70 at La Galería at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, 85 West Newton Street.

In her welcome, IBA (Inquilinos Boricua en Acción) arts director Elsa Mosquera Sterenberg said, "We are very, very proud to say that this is the first gallery collaboration that we are doing with the youth program." GN Crew member Wiso, a Villa Victoria native who has transitioned from spray paint to acrylic on canvas as his primary medium, told the youth in attendance, "You don't have to be stuck; you don't have to put limitations on how you want to express yourselves. There is no limitation to what you can create."

Describing his own work, artist Gofive said, "I've evolved. I don't do letters, I like to paint people, and I try to find a way to incorporate my name into a portrait." As he spoke, he pointed to a painting of his depicting a young woman with "Gofive" shaved into her hairstyle. IBA arts curator Alexander Vazquez deftly integrated the student and GN crew works so that the exhibit flows smoothly. Youth Development Program (YDP) director Lauren Bard expressed pride in the artistic output of the YDP students, who had just resumed for the fall three days before the opening.

The exhibit, which consists mainly of paintings but also a group of photographs by GN Crew member Gabriel Ortiz, is vivid with color, movement and energy in its bold abstracts and graphics, human figure and character portraits, cityscapes and lettering. One of the youth artworks was a four-panel painting spelling out L-O-V-E embellished with flowers and abstract designs.

Ortiz, who was unable to attend the opening due to a scheduling conflict, offered a history of the GN Crew, which came together in 1995. "We all grew up together. The majority of us are from the South End," Ortiz said. "We all started in graffiti. I graduated in 2001 with a degree in graphic design. I have always liked photography, but I never wanted to invest in it. I've always documented our work since the '90s. When my wife got laid off, I invested in some equipment and changed my direction and my efforts to photography." Ortiz, who works a day job for the state, has a studio in the Distillery Building in South Boston and does wedding, family and lifestyle photography on nights and weekends.

"People ask me why I went from paint and canvas to photography. I am still using the same artistic senses that I used with painting on walls, but I am morphing it into photography, looking for a strategic vantage point and figuring out how to climb it, what time of day to shoot it," he mused. His inclusion in the Overspray exhibit came about shortly before the opening. "That was a last minute pop-up," he said. Although in recent years, with a busy schedule encompassing his full-time job, photography and family precludes him from painting with the GN Crew regularly, he joins in about twice a year on GN projects. "They support me so much they gave me a whole wall section" in the Overspray show, Ortiz said.

Asked about the meaning of the group's name, Wiso gave a number of interpretations including Graff Nuts, Graphically Nice, and Graffiti Ninjas. The GN Crew's work can also be seen in outdoor sites around the South End, Roxbury and other parts of the city. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, the crew created a memorial wall in Peters Park, and after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, they painted a memorial in Mission Hill.

On a more personal level, the artists have done memorials to fallen friends who succumbed to gun violence as well. The crew has been commissioned to create interior and exterior murals around the campus of Madison Park High School, and is in talks with Boston Public Schools leadership to bring murals to additional schools in the future. Madison Park alumnus Rob "Problak" Gibbs, an award-winning artist and co-founder of Artists for Humanity, reflected on the group's strong ties to the community.

"Art was taken out of the Boston Public Schools in the 1980s and 1990s and we are trying to fill that void. You would have to go to vocational school and study graphic design or go to one of the exam schools [to get art education]." He continued, "We have a historical wall in Peters Park and we host and curate other artists from around the world. We have a social responsibility to educate people in the area by telling our stories."

Admission to the exhibit is free and open to the public. For hours and other details, please call 617/927-1717 or e-mail avazquez@ibaboston.org.

Photographs by Gabriel Ortiz.

Big Papi by Gofive