November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

When Bad Art Is Good

(Page 3 of 3)

March / April 2003
By David Byrne, From the introduction to a new book on Mexican street art 
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The faster and greater the spread of globalization, neoliberalism, and multinational corporations, the greater the nostalgia for that which they replace. We must memorialize the anonymous artists because their work is in danger of disappearing. It is beautiful. It reminds us that underneath the slickness and the logos there are still human beings.

Primarily known as a co-founder of the band Talking Heads, David Byrne has also been involved with conceptual art, photography, and design since his college studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art. “As an adolescent I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a scientist or an artist,” he says. “Both fields held a naive fascination for me. (Later, I would discover both are manipulated by greater powers.) I eventually opted for art school because (1) the graffiti in the halls was better and (2) I wouldn’t have to go through at least four years of boring shit before I had the opportunity to do anything bordering on the creative.” His latest CD is Look Into the Eyeball (Luaka Bop). Reprinted from the anthology Sensacional! Mexican Street Graphics (Princeton Architectural Press), a visual survey of Mexican vernacular art with essays by Byrne, Steven Heller, Isaac Víctor Kerlow, Hervé Di Rosa, and Emiliano Pérez Cruz

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