Excerpts from the Exhibition of Roughhewn Vandalism.

What Thi
Stick in Wet Concrete
Artist Unknown, c. 1980

What Thi appears along the top of a concrete wall, its casual but unfinished question juxtaposed by the permanence of its medium. The artist seems to question the wall, or the very idea of the wall, or walls in general. What Thi asks the wall builder, and the casual observer, to consider the nature of the barrier, its purpose and composition. In fact, the work's open and friendly handwriting invites us to join the artist in questioning. What is this thing? What is that thing? What is any thing? Why is any thing? We all begin to ponder not only the wall, not only the wall between ourselves and the other, but why there are walls. Without barriers, is a thing even a thing? How can a thing be unless it is in one place and is not in another? How can anything be concrete without concrete? We may indeed nod and say, "I too want to know what thi."

Suck My D
Paint on Broken Concrete
Artist Unknown, 2012

In Suck My D, the unknown artist poses a dilemma to his audience. Is she or he making a challenge? An invitation? Do we know? Does she or he even know? It would appear that we are being asked to imbibe or draw upon or muse upon something. Something that starts with D. Disgust, maybe with our modern stony silence? Diversity, a prideful statement of her or his liberalism in the face of a grim, white, denying, but crumbling edifice? Dust, contrasting her or his speed to the lack of speed in a concrete barrier? Perhaps she or he intends to ask us to "suck my dilemma," to ponder with her or him what message she or he intends to send.