Looking for a way to leave your mark?
Local spray-painters will compete to see who has the best can control this Saturday at the Winta Fresh Graffiti and B-boy Competition.
Each artist will paint a 4-foot-by-8-foot section of a wall in the city parking lot behind the Tucson Water Department at 310 W. Alameda St. The resulting mural will be kept for one year.
There will also be a breakdancing competition, with teams of two competing head-to-head.
Graffiti is a nuisance for many business owners and communities when buildings and signs are tagged with unwanted spray paint. It’s also an increasingly popular art form.
Rocky Martinez, aka Cyfi, is a local graffiti artist who has turned his hobby into a career. His work includes several murals for Downtown businesses and the large heart atop the now-closed Coffee Vein at 1545 N. Stone Ave.
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He teaches kids aerosol art as part of a city-sponsored afterschool program called Art in Reality (AIR).
“AIR is cutting edge,” Martinez says. “Kids learn belly dancing, breakdancing, capoeira, DJ skills — the list goes on and on.”
Tucson Parks and Recreation supervisor Margaret Loquasto-Jaquay says the kids who take part in the AIR program are learning about art.
“They’re learning technique,” she says. “And they only work on walls that have been given us to work on.”
Martinez also created Winta Fresh and will help judge the graffiti competition, along with California artist Jason Williams, aka Revok. Over 30 people are signed up to compete in the competition.
Martinez recently told Caliente about what it’s like tagging in Tucson.
Find out what he had to say in this week's Caliente in Thursday's Arizona Daily Star
Winta Fresh
• Where: Parking lot next to Tucson Water Department, 310 W. Alameda St., at North Grenada Avenue and West Paseo Redondo.
• When: 9 a.m. Saturday.
• Cost: $7 for spectators. $5 for graffiti contestants and $7 for breakdancing contestants. Graffiti artists must supply their own paint.
• More: Competitors register the day of the event. Graffiti artists should arrive by 9 a.m., while break dancers should be there by noon. There will be food and drink vendors at the event.
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