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This was my first interview for the Arts Section of The Green Magazine during my time as Entertainment Editor. For someone who writes on every flat surface in New York City, James De La Vega was a man of few words during this interview. However, once I found the main vein that piqued his interest, he was an open box with the iconic cigar burning all the while. One for the ages and the clippings.
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34 tgmlink.com | February 2009
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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