Two people reported to be HEK and MAK were reportedly arrested, May 30th, 2008 [1]. Jeff Buster and I have had a great interest in the work known all around NEO as HEK, and we both seem to wonder if there is really anyone to "arrest" as HEK, for HEK, as HEK seems the identity of many... the voice of many... and is today's Art of the Day.
Last July, 2007, I posted on REALNEO about some aerosol painting at W. 45th and Detroit [2], featuring "HEK", and "MAK". Since then, HEK et al aerosol art has surfaced on 100s... perhaps 1,000s... of mostly abandoned buildings, and some billboards, at prominent and often precarious sites on backroads and mainstreets of distressed urban areas of Cleveland and East Cleveland - probably beyond.
The HEK phenomenon is to me one of the defining public art performances in my Cleveland life-experience. Looking back over the past few years of REALNEO, no local identity has appeared more dynamically in postings here than HEK - Jeff Buster [3] and I have each been moved to write about the HEK many times, always drawing engaged comments from many others.
That has broadened discussions to valuable matters like public art, social responsibility, blight and branding of our region. HEK was even featured in the REALNEO header mash-up by Jeff Buster, below... art begets art.
In December, 2004, in a posting titled "Dear Peter: Let's Make NEO The World's Aerosol Art Capital [4]", I proposed we as a community tap the power seen in HEK...
I suggest NEO proactively pursue to become the world capital for aerosol art, and leverage young, grass-roots local talent to bring inspiring art, color and beauty to areas abandoned and destroyed through the neglect of generations of irresponsible property-owners. Going after these slumlords is a job for local government, and developing an aerosol art "industry" is a job for local arts enthusiasts, hopefully with the support of other community leaders who share a vision of a diverse, creative community united around freedom of expression, creativity, talent and rewards for excellence with that.
I've seen HEK and MAK, and BAK and KAM, all over town - there are many in East Cleveland, all throughout my neighborhood... largely on boarded-up buildings... seemingly painted by many hands... I think there are many people behind these.
I always figured this was a performance art project by a group of artists making a statement about REAL America... art explores freedom of speech... as is so beautifully demonstrated by globally acclaimed Chinese conceptual artist Zhang Dali [5], in China, left, and various NEO artists, in the blighted Cleveland Flats, right below.
The only "graffiti" artist in China in the 1990s, from 1995 to 1998 he spray-painted over 2000 giant profiles of his own bald head on buildings throughout Beijing, placing the images amd tag AK47 alongside 'chai' characters painted by the city authorities to indicate that a building is scheduled for demolition. As Zhang Dali stated in a 2006 CNN interview, about why he does graffiti... "I wanted to change reality into art, the things near me into art."
Graffiti art and negative space destruction art in Beijing, by Zhang Dali
Of the HEK/BAK tags and variations I've seen, there are two distinct categories. Some are large, multicolor graffiti spray paint "brands" ... there are several similar ones within blocks of my house in East Cleveland.
Others are quick black spray tags, like gangs use to mark territory - there seem to be 100s of these around NEO, and they often seem intended to highlight blight, irony or conflict...
In many cases, other people interact with the HEK tags.
In addition to HEK, MAK is a frequent accompanying graphic. It does not seem like these are signatures or gang tags, marking territory... those are in my neighborhood, too, and they mean business...
I have seen very few examples where the HEK tags have been put on active business establishments, public spaces or occupied houses - in almost all cases, the tags are on boarded up and abandoned buildings.. The exceptions would be some large, dramatic images on billboards, including as an apparent overlay statement on some of the Carl Pope [6] public art pieces "Mind of Cleveland", captured by Jeff Buster. It would be interesting to get Pope's feelings about HEK, collaborating with Pope and Real NEO, below.
Disrupt IT
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| HEKW45thGasStation650.JPG [7] | 148.98 KB |
| HEKLockwoodPorch650.jpg [8] | 155.42 KB |
| FuckHEKLockwood650.JPG [9] | 195.55 KB |
| HEKsCrackHouseSign650.JPG [10] | 237.16 KB |
| HEKMAKPopeRealHEK500.jpg [11] | 105.43 KB |
| HEKMAKE55thSuperiorComp650.jpg [12] | 29.35 KB |
| HEKMasonic55th650.JPG [13] | 91.66 KB |
| HEKMAKPopeSnitch500.jpg [14] | 94.79 KB |
| HEKRoxbury650.jpg [15] | 113.83 KB |
| OopsKnife650.JPG [16] | 70.3 KB |
| HEKECBurnOutPanLogo.jpg [17] | 41.05 KB |
| HEKECBurnOutPan650.jpg [18] | 18.42 KB |
| HEKECBurnOutPan.jpg [19] | 942.11 KB |
| NationalCityEuclidBlightPanLogo.jpg [20] | 44.44 KB |
