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Victor Montano, a sixteen-year-old Houstonian, was hit and killed by a police vehicle in New Orleans. He had been visiting the city for about two weeks.
Police caught Montano spray painting along the floodwall last Thursday afternoon. When he saw the police, he took off running and the officer followed in his SUV. The officer said it appeared as though Victor was going to jump over a fence, but when tripped and fell in front of the car, the officer couldn't avoid hitting him. The incident is being investigated as an accident and the officer will likely not be charged with any crime. One blogger called the teen's death "suicide by cop."
A commenter on Dirty Third Streets, a blog about graffiti art along the so-called Third Coast, tells us where Montano's work can be found:
man this is sad. most of his throw ups were in great spots and some are still going strong. i mostly see his work on highway6 and clay road and some on barker cypress, and west little york going to barker(look up, its on a building top). ill try to get some more pics too. sad day indeed.
Grits for Breakfast also has an extensive post about the incident and graffiti laws and enforcement here and in New Orleans and promises to post more pictures of Montano's work as he finds them.
Photo of Victor's unfinished last work via the Times-Picayune.
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"suicide by cop"? perhaps a true artist would have accepting being arrested for the sake of his art, if that is what it truly is and not just plain old defacing property. tripping over a curb while running from the police and falling into traffic is an avoidable accident. don't run - your risk of the occurance decreases, by like 100%.
"artist" hahahahahahaha... whatever.
blauvs, are you laughing because of this guy in particular being called an artist or street taggers in general being called artists?
Maybe "street taggers" would be seen more as artists if their work had more relevance to social issues (a la Basquiat)and less relevance to making their name famous or just writing trash on other people's property. If you want to tag things to make a name for yourself try and do it the legitimate way.
SPA hosted a forum at the MFAH about this subject; it coincided with a dance company that integrated graffiti artists into a particular piece. The piece itself was pretty intriguing.
Anyway, this is a very emotional issue, what aren't these days? There is a difference between vandalism and graffiti, although the line is blurred. Some property owners allow artists to use their walls as work, while others fight to have it removed wherever it exists.
This particular case appears to be someone who displays his art in unfortunate ways. These street taggers need to obey the rules. There are outlets that allow for the free and legal expression of their artistic talents.
The "photo of Victor's unfinished last work" is truly impressive. Seems that he was part of the post-modernist-impressionist-urbanist-criminalist school.
Now that he's dead, it must be worth a million dollars at least!!!
Who can I contact at the Army Corps of Engineers so I can buy that section of the floodwall?
Will the Menil or MFAH hold a memorial service for this important "artist"?
stina - i think that the graffiti style certainly can be art as long as it's not on public property or someone else's private property - there are real venues for the appreciation of art. the majority of the crap i see tagged on bridges, signs, and "bayou" concrete around houston are hardly artistic. if someone's "art" has to be viewed on a bridge near highway 6, then i find it more of a nuisance (just as a permitted, organized concert is musical "art" but someone blaring music at 3 AM and violating the noise ordinance is just a pain in the a*#.
His "work" you have got to be kidding me. People need to stop legitimizing this destruction of property.
YOU ALL FUCKIN DISGUST ME.... YOU HAVE NO RIGHT LABELING THIS KID AS A CRIMINAL YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHO HE IS.. WHAT GOOD TO SOCIETY HE HAS DONE... YOU DONT SEE ME TALKING SHIT ABOUT YOUR SONS, DAUGHTERS, FRIENDS, FAMILY. THATS BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THEY ARE. BUT YALL THINK ITS OK TO JUST GO AND JUDGE WITHOUT EVIDENCE. THIS IS WHY AMERICA IS SO CORRUPTED THESE DAYS... BECAUSE ARROGANT PEOPLE LIKE YALL JUST DONT GIVE A FUCK...
^^ The kid was labeled a criminal because he was spraypainting the Army Corps of Engineers' flood wall - not his own flood wall.
FUK ALL WHAT YA SAY ABOUT US GRAFFITI ARTIST NT BEING ARTISTS WE DO THINGS WITH CANS OF PAINTS LIKE WHAT BOB ROSS DOES WITH PAINT BRUSHES WATTA YA CALL DAT!!!...