[Music]
you
what am I to talk about today is how we
leave our mark on this world do you let
people how do you let people in the
future know that you existed that you
left a unique presence specific to you
and that somehow you made a difference
we all fear being forgotten and yet when
it comes trying to stand out when it
comes time to stand out we are struck
with fear fear of being judged because
in our eyes people see us now how how
they’ll remember us forever so better
for them to remember you is quiet and
normal versus loud and irrational right
so let me give you a little hint people
don’t really care and they have very
short memories which is ironic given
that people are the ones who will carry
your story forward long after you’re
gone
what I mean is but your first impression
isn’t your only impression five seconds
of embarrassment doesn’t taint a
lifetime of work you’ll never know what
others will think of your mark on this
planet is being so why not throw
something against a wall and see if it
sticks
so whether today or in ancient times
folks have always enjoyed proudly
leaving their marks however slight on
walls for all to see using graffiti
leaving some random thought of yours in
spray paint on a railroad viaduct or
scratched into a wall take some guts to
do your defacing property which is most
likely illegal I think so buried in 79
AD the walls of the ruins of pompei
italy are full of graffiti there’s even
one that states all walls you have held
so much tedious graffiti that I’m amazed
that you have not already collapsed and
ruin because it’s written in Latin and
looks kind of elegant one might think
that these might record profound
thoughts or ideas rather they frequently
caught that they frequently feature more
common boasts about gladiators what
someone’s bar tab might be or extremely
rude thoughts about the Eknath of the
opposite sex
you can just picture some guy in some
bar in 70ad
thinking screw it I’m gonna let
everybody know what I think of my boss
by scratching it into this wall
surely whoever wrote this rafidhi never
thought that his random scribbling would
be part of discussion here 2,000 years
later but it is so it turns out people
are the same no matter what the era and
their desire to be heard by others to be
validated and remembered and echo it
echoes across the centuries all the same
it was an initial trip to Europe in the
late 1990s why even know about this
fabulous ancient graffiti unlike in the
States where you have to make a
concerted effort to find something 300
years old
in Europe you can practically trip over
something that might be thousands of
years old as a creative in the
advertising world this trip really
opened my eyes
fired up my imagination and fueled a
passion for ancient history that
continues to this day to me the most
interesting artifacts are the ones that
show a bit of the personality of someone
that existed so long ago a glimpse into
a particular person’s character just
like that guy’s complaint which actually
translates into the phrase the boss
isn’t worth a rat’s ass because they’ve
actually found that the mediums change
but the window to the soul that art
provides doesn’t and say what you will
but some ancient mediums are built to
last during my first visit to Pompeii I
remember a tour guide pointing out a
floor mosaic that had been done
obviously prior to the eruption and
saying glass and marble don’t fade so
that art looks essentially like the
artist intended that idea simply blew me
away an artist’s life versus his works
life so as you can see by this chart
that I spent a tremendous amount of time
on
it’s not even a contest that longevity
concept really resonated with me I fell
in love with the idea of capturing
thoughts on my own with these tiny
pieces of glass and marble that
theoretically would allow folks many
years from now to get an idea as to who
I was I was making an effort however
minor to leave more evidence of my
personality for people once I was no
longer here in this one part of my life
I was going to Zig while everyone else
was zagging I was going to pursue this
tedious expensive and difficult to
master technique with friends who might
think it was odd for me to take up this
art form that they might associate their
mom’s doing maybe but I was in so deep
I’d simply didn’t care
in that Japanese the old Japanese phrase
comes to mind about being the tallest
nail and that being the first one that
gets hit and I just hoped I wasn’t going
to be that particular nail so now how
did I go from producing pieces like this
to producing pieces like this well back
in 2013 we had a very bad pothole season
here in Chicago our street on the far
northwest side of the city was hit
particularly hard kenton Avenue was like
a minefield occasionally repaired by the
city these fixes never really seemed to
last for very long because in a few
months
that same pothole repair crew would be
back shovelling hot steaming asphalt
into these resilient holes over the
course of the winter though I noticed
that there was this one pothole in front
of our house that just refused to stay
fixed back at my studio in the basement
of our house just a couple of dozen
yards away from that pothole it dawned
on me I had this passion for this
ancient art form that had incredible
staying power so durable and permanent
and also had this problem outside of my
house that just refused to stay fixed so
why not use this passion of mine to
solve his problem of ours but then the
doubts kick in was this really a smart
idea probably not was it even legal to
do no I wasn’t sure at the time I was a
49 year old dad with twin seven-year-old
boys and it was just
too old to be getting arrested for
something as ridiculous as this what
kind of example would that set I imagine
my boys having conversations at school
my dad is a fireman my dad is a doctor
what does your dad do my dad fills
potholes with artwork at night
even my skittish wife like to say she
had bail money on the ready ready to go
in case I got in trouble so then I
thought you know what was the worst
thing that could possibly happened after
weighing the pros and cons I forged
ahead with Ray my 86 year old next-door
neighbor as my lookout I installed this
when mid May night the design of this
initial piece was kind of a call to
ownership for the community to embrace
the issue we all have to deal with in a
somewhat ridiculous fashion featuring
the city’s iconic flag and blaring the
obvious pothole this was my attempt to
brand the problem of ours in an
authentic in-your-face
Chicago style manner once the artwork
was installed those doubts crept back in
I had just landed a big Commission with
the CTA and I was worried about getting
in trouble perhaps it could even somehow
take the job away from me
so and it certainly didn’t want to draw
any attention to my new art installation
I discourage friends from posting it on
social media or calling the news papers
so it’s sat there for months
occasionally noticed by neighbors then I
installed another one a few blocks away
also under the cover of darkness
learning valuable lessons along the way
such as needing to protect the artwork
from as the mortar was drying because
otherwise cars would simply destroy it
as they drove over it trying to solve
this problem with my boys soccer cones
wasn’t a good idea either as they were
just too wispy and would end up getting
crushed eventually though my cover was
blown by a friend of mine who just
wouldn’t listen he decided to take
matters into his own hands and started
calling local newspaper calling local TV
stations and newspapers one of these
calls resulted in Fox News Chicago
asking me to install a piece during
three live remotes Oh
for one January morning in 2014 in 14
degree weather it’s funny once I saw the
glare of the TV lights I suddenly threw
away all my concerns about being found
out instead instead of doing these
installations in the street at night I
started doing them during the day
because people didn’t care what I was
doing they have their own things going
on in their lives despite being in the
street at night working on a pothole for
way too long people walk behind without
questioning anything what’s it begin
installing once I began installing
during the day I had the same experience
nobody cared I had the time of the
installations was a direct reflection of
my confidence in this little guerrilla
art campaign of mine going from hiding
in the darkness unsure the validity of
this exercise to almost flaunting it in
broad daylight brimming with confidence
eventually though people did start to
notice what I was doing that the
campaign started to get a little
traction words of encouragement and
praise were yelled out from people as
they walked by people began to care and
the campaign’s of the artwork began to
reflect this new dynamic one thing I
love to do with these things is
juxtapose what it called Universal truth
things people love or hate everybody
loves or everybody should say hates
potholes kind of like cancer you’d be
hard-pressed to find someone that likes
them I’ve heard from people all over the
world after after this campaign caught
on anyone can relate to it no matter if
you’re rich or poor young or old
Canadian or Brazilian in the same way
he’d be pretty hard pressed to find
someone that doesn’t like flowers or ice
cream this positive this campaign of
positive icons in a place we at least
expect it is what really caught the
public’s imagination I like to think of
it as putting on a little unexpected
grin on a stranger’s face on their
otherwise typical day folks took
ownership of them as if they were local
landmarks probably saying things like I
live right down the street from the ice
cream sandwich so it was only so not
only was i imparting my character out
there in in an atypical more permanent
way
were climbing on board and supporting
the idea and because of it the story not
just the piece was getting preserved
through this team effort this attempt at
legacy gain traction in ways that could
have never dreamt and these communities
communities have only become more
invested in my quest over time without
exaggeration 99.9% of the reactions I’ve
received have been positive it’s been a
humbling experience I’ve had coffee and
danishes dropped off while I worked on
cold mornings others have supplied
lemonade and iced water and hot summer
afternoons people want to help and be
part of the experience of beautifying
their Street just a little bit even the
cops stop by it sometimes a couple of
years ago I turned to the Kickstarter
community to try and help and finance
these art installations in 2015 I was
looking for a modest three hundred
dollars and I was and I pulled in over
4,500 last year I asked for a thousand
dollars and with help from strangers and
friends and family I pulled in over
fifteen thousand so who knows where this
will lead in the future but probably the
epitome of this team effort came from
you vascular Finland in May of 2015 I
was invited to be the resident street
artist for their end of winter festival
and I installed six pieces during my
visit there three of them commissioned
by the city’s government and I kid you
not they actually dug custom potholes
for me they literally asked me for ideal
specs and what my perfect pothole was
and then dug them where they saw fit
including in front of the town’s Museum
about a year later I received an email
from the gallery that had invited me out
there they wanted to share a story about
one of the pothole installations and how
the community became involved when the
artwork was threatened with destruction
apparently a street where one of the
pieces was located was being repaved and
thus the flaw and my permanence and by a
concept of permanence became clear the
mosaics can be practically
indestructible but the street around it
not so much so this happens a lot in the
States all the time actually where most
of my work is located
whenever the road needs
paving or has damaged my piece part of
my personality simply goes away never to
be heard or seen from again except in
photographs unless you’re in you
vascular the repaving crew over there
actually took pains to extract the
artwork before doing any work on the
street once the street was repaved they
dug a fresh hole for the mosaic and
reinstalled it this whole pothole art
installation project began on a whim I
didn’t think this is something everyone
can relate to and they’ll think it’s so
clever rather was something I could
relate to rethinking something no one
ever really thought about that sad
little pothole
outside my house that refused to stay
fixed which sounds a little like a
children’s storybook zigging while
everyone else was sagging I thought it
was kind of funny and unexpected if
others did great
but it wasn’t really that wasn’t really
my plan if I would have worried about
what others thought about the project it
might not have ever got off the ground
even if every trace of pato art
disappears the idea of making your mark
in this world can live on in people’s
minds indefinitely the beautiful thing
about this whole movement is that it
wasn’t promoted by me at all
others did it for me the community and
the only reason it was successful has
staying power and why I’m even in front
of you today is that the community got
behind the idea it resonated with them
not just locally but the worldwide
community as well it took a team effort
to give the idea life and it’ll take the
community to keep it alive without this
support there’s an excellent chance the
pothole installation project and my shot
at permanence might not have ever
happened and gone away with little
fanfare ultimately though when it comes
to legacy why cliche sometimes you do
need to follow your gut people can be
judgmental time is not excuse me time is
not things will work out or they won’t
so how do you want to be remembered no
one can start to tell your story better
than you why stay
silent thank you
[Applause]
you
what am I to talk about today is how we
leave our mark on this world do you let
people how do you let people in the
future know that you existed that you
left a unique presence specific to you
and that somehow you made a difference
we all fear being forgotten and yet when
it comes trying to stand out when it
comes time to stand out we are struck
with fear fear of being judged because
in our eyes people see us now how how
they’ll remember us forever so better
for them to remember you is quiet and
normal versus loud and irrational right
so let me give you a little hint people
don’t really care and they have very
short memories which is ironic given
that people are the ones who will carry
your story forward long after you’re
gone
what I mean is but your first impression
isn’t your only impression five seconds
of embarrassment doesn’t taint a
lifetime of work you’ll never know what
others will think of your mark on this
planet is being so why not throw
something against a wall and see if it
sticks
so whether today or in ancient times
folks have always enjoyed proudly
leaving their marks however slight on
walls for all to see using graffiti
leaving some random thought of yours in
spray paint on a railroad viaduct or
scratched into a wall take some guts to
do your defacing property which is most
likely illegal I think so buried in 79
AD the walls of the ruins of pompei
italy are full of graffiti there’s even
one that states all walls you have held
so much tedious graffiti that I’m amazed
that you have not already collapsed and
ruin because it’s written in Latin and
looks kind of elegant one might think
that these might record profound
thoughts or ideas rather they frequently
caught that they frequently feature more
common boasts about gladiators what
someone’s bar tab might be or extremely
rude thoughts about the Eknath of the
opposite sex
you can just picture some guy in some
bar in 70ad
thinking screw it I’m gonna let
everybody know what I think of my boss
by scratching it into this wall
surely whoever wrote this rafidhi never
thought that his random scribbling would
be part of discussion here 2,000 years
later but it is so it turns out people
are the same no matter what the era and
their desire to be heard by others to be
validated and remembered and echo it
echoes across the centuries all the same
it was an initial trip to Europe in the
late 1990s why even know about this
fabulous ancient graffiti unlike in the
States where you have to make a
concerted effort to find something 300
years old
in Europe you can practically trip over
something that might be thousands of
years old as a creative in the
advertising world this trip really
opened my eyes
fired up my imagination and fueled a
passion for ancient history that
continues to this day to me the most
interesting artifacts are the ones that
show a bit of the personality of someone
that existed so long ago a glimpse into
a particular person’s character just
like that guy’s complaint which actually
translates into the phrase the boss
isn’t worth a rat’s ass because they’ve
actually found that the mediums change
but the window to the soul that art
provides doesn’t and say what you will
but some ancient mediums are built to
last during my first visit to Pompeii I
remember a tour guide pointing out a
floor mosaic that had been done
obviously prior to the eruption and
saying glass and marble don’t fade so
that art looks essentially like the
artist intended that idea simply blew me
away an artist’s life versus his works
life so as you can see by this chart
that I spent a tremendous amount of time
on
it’s not even a contest that longevity
concept really resonated with me I fell
in love with the idea of capturing
thoughts on my own with these tiny
pieces of glass and marble that
theoretically would allow folks many
years from now to get an idea as to who
I was I was making an effort however
minor to leave more evidence of my
personality for people once I was no
longer here in this one part of my life
I was going to Zig while everyone else
was zagging I was going to pursue this
tedious expensive and difficult to
master technique with friends who might
think it was odd for me to take up this
art form that they might associate their
mom’s doing maybe but I was in so deep
I’d simply didn’t care
in that Japanese the old Japanese phrase
comes to mind about being the tallest
nail and that being the first one that
gets hit and I just hoped I wasn’t going
to be that particular nail so now how
did I go from producing pieces like this
to producing pieces like this well back
in 2013 we had a very bad pothole season
here in Chicago our street on the far
northwest side of the city was hit
particularly hard kenton Avenue was like
a minefield occasionally repaired by the
city these fixes never really seemed to
last for very long because in a few
months
that same pothole repair crew would be
back shovelling hot steaming asphalt
into these resilient holes over the
course of the winter though I noticed
that there was this one pothole in front
of our house that just refused to stay
fixed back at my studio in the basement
of our house just a couple of dozen
yards away from that pothole it dawned
on me I had this passion for this
ancient art form that had incredible
staying power so durable and permanent
and also had this problem outside of my
house that just refused to stay fixed so
why not use this passion of mine to
solve his problem of ours but then the
doubts kick in was this really a smart
idea probably not was it even legal to
do no I wasn’t sure at the time I was a
49 year old dad with twin seven-year-old
boys and it was just
too old to be getting arrested for
something as ridiculous as this what
kind of example would that set I imagine
my boys having conversations at school
my dad is a fireman my dad is a doctor
what does your dad do my dad fills
potholes with artwork at night
even my skittish wife like to say she
had bail money on the ready ready to go
in case I got in trouble so then I
thought you know what was the worst
thing that could possibly happened after
weighing the pros and cons I forged
ahead with Ray my 86 year old next-door
neighbor as my lookout I installed this
when mid May night the design of this
initial piece was kind of a call to
ownership for the community to embrace
the issue we all have to deal with in a
somewhat ridiculous fashion featuring
the city’s iconic flag and blaring the
obvious pothole this was my attempt to
brand the problem of ours in an
authentic in-your-face
Chicago style manner once the artwork
was installed those doubts crept back in
I had just landed a big Commission with
the CTA and I was worried about getting
in trouble perhaps it could even somehow
take the job away from me
so and it certainly didn’t want to draw
any attention to my new art installation
I discourage friends from posting it on
social media or calling the news papers
so it’s sat there for months
occasionally noticed by neighbors then I
installed another one a few blocks away
also under the cover of darkness
learning valuable lessons along the way
such as needing to protect the artwork
from as the mortar was drying because
otherwise cars would simply destroy it
as they drove over it trying to solve
this problem with my boys soccer cones
wasn’t a good idea either as they were
just too wispy and would end up getting
crushed eventually though my cover was
blown by a friend of mine who just
wouldn’t listen he decided to take
matters into his own hands and started
calling local newspaper calling local TV
stations and newspapers one of these
calls resulted in Fox News Chicago
asking me to install a piece during
three live remotes Oh
for one January morning in 2014 in 14
degree weather it’s funny once I saw the
glare of the TV lights I suddenly threw
away all my concerns about being found
out instead instead of doing these
installations in the street at night I
started doing them during the day
because people didn’t care what I was
doing they have their own things going
on in their lives despite being in the
street at night working on a pothole for
way too long people walk behind without
questioning anything what’s it begin
installing once I began installing
during the day I had the same experience
nobody cared I had the time of the
installations was a direct reflection of
my confidence in this little guerrilla
art campaign of mine going from hiding
in the darkness unsure the validity of
this exercise to almost flaunting it in
broad daylight brimming with confidence
eventually though people did start to
notice what I was doing that the
campaign started to get a little
traction words of encouragement and
praise were yelled out from people as
they walked by people began to care and
the campaign’s of the artwork began to
reflect this new dynamic one thing I
love to do with these things is
juxtapose what it called Universal truth
things people love or hate everybody
loves or everybody should say hates
potholes kind of like cancer you’d be
hard-pressed to find someone that likes
them I’ve heard from people all over the
world after after this campaign caught
on anyone can relate to it no matter if
you’re rich or poor young or old
Canadian or Brazilian in the same way
he’d be pretty hard pressed to find
someone that doesn’t like flowers or ice
cream this positive this campaign of
positive icons in a place we at least
expect it is what really caught the
public’s imagination I like to think of
it as putting on a little unexpected
grin on a stranger’s face on their
otherwise typical day folks took
ownership of them as if they were local
landmarks probably saying things like I
live right down the street from the ice
cream sandwich so it was only so not
only was i imparting my character out
there in in an atypical more permanent
way
were climbing on board and supporting
the idea and because of it the story not
just the piece was getting preserved
through this team effort this attempt at
legacy gain traction in ways that could
have never dreamt and these communities
communities have only become more
invested in my quest over time without
exaggeration 99.9% of the reactions I’ve
received have been positive it’s been a
humbling experience I’ve had coffee and
danishes dropped off while I worked on
cold mornings others have supplied
lemonade and iced water and hot summer
afternoons people want to help and be
part of the experience of beautifying
their Street just a little bit even the
cops stop by it sometimes a couple of
years ago I turned to the Kickstarter
community to try and help and finance
these art installations in 2015 I was
looking for a modest three hundred
dollars and I was and I pulled in over
4,500 last year I asked for a thousand
dollars and with help from strangers and
friends and family I pulled in over
fifteen thousand so who knows where this
will lead in the future but probably the
epitome of this team effort came from
you vascular Finland in May of 2015 I
was invited to be the resident street
artist for their end of winter festival
and I installed six pieces during my
visit there three of them commissioned
by the city’s government and I kid you
not they actually dug custom potholes
for me they literally asked me for ideal
specs and what my perfect pothole was
and then dug them where they saw fit
including in front of the town’s Museum
about a year later I received an email
from the gallery that had invited me out
there they wanted to share a story about
one of the pothole installations and how
the community became involved when the
artwork was threatened with destruction
apparently a street where one of the
pieces was located was being repaved and
thus the flaw and my permanence and by a
concept of permanence became clear the
mosaics can be practically
indestructible but the street around it
not so much so this happens a lot in the
States all the time actually where most
of my work is located
whenever the road needs
paving or has damaged my piece part of
my personality simply goes away never to
be heard or seen from again except in
photographs unless you’re in you
vascular the repaving crew over there
actually took pains to extract the
artwork before doing any work on the
street once the street was repaved they
dug a fresh hole for the mosaic and
reinstalled it this whole pothole art
installation project began on a whim I
didn’t think this is something everyone
can relate to and they’ll think it’s so
clever rather was something I could
relate to rethinking something no one
ever really thought about that sad
little pothole
outside my house that refused to stay
fixed which sounds a little like a
children’s storybook zigging while
everyone else was sagging I thought it
was kind of funny and unexpected if
others did great
but it wasn’t really that wasn’t really
my plan if I would have worried about
what others thought about the project it
might not have ever got off the ground
even if every trace of pato art
disappears the idea of making your mark
in this world can live on in people’s
minds indefinitely the beautiful thing
about this whole movement is that it
wasn’t promoted by me at all
others did it for me the community and
the only reason it was successful has
staying power and why I’m even in front
of you today is that the community got
behind the idea it resonated with them
not just locally but the worldwide
community as well it took a team effort
to give the idea life and it’ll take the
community to keep it alive without this
support there’s an excellent chance the
pothole installation project and my shot
at permanence might not have ever
happened and gone away with little
fanfare ultimately though when it comes
to legacy why cliche sometimes you do
need to follow your gut people can be
judgmental time is not excuse me time is
not things will work out or they won’t
so how do you want to be remembered no
one can start to tell your story better
than you why stay
silent thank you
[Applause]
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