‘‘My studio was in Hazard Park, where gangs were fighting over drugs and territory. Their disputes were visually apparent through massive amounts of tagging. The city responded by sending out their anti-graffiti teams during the night. Power paint sprayers were used to cover up the day’s graffiti in a muted wash of either beige or grey. The city did this under the cover of darkness, while the gangs seemed to prefer the vulnerability of the day. The tagging had become abstract. All territorial clashes, aggressive cryptograms, and death threats nullified into a mass of spray-painted gestures that had become nothing more than atmosphere, their violent disputes transposed into an immense, outdoor, nonrepresentational mural. I started painting again when I saw this.’’
—Sterling Ruby