Chalk it up to Art
Todd: Ah, nothing like being a little over a month into the semester. The cool weather of fall is setting in, kids are beginning to stress out from the first round of tests, and the chalking season is in full swing. You know what I mean: that brief time between the end of the warmth of summer and the inevitable snow when student activist groups tell us what they are all about through the medium of sidewalk chalk. Personally, I think that sidewalk chalk is a totally underappreciated art form, one that not only takes aesthetic skill, but also a speedy nature, so as to avoid being caught doing it. I admit that in my younger years I had a penchant for the chalk, and my friends and I would get two driveways of random people a weekend, drawing whatever came to mind.
Penn: Well, these days we’re all reverting to our childhood selves, and our respective forms of kiddie-art. Seems like every fall when the weather turns brisk, chitonous markings on the UB North Campus are as reliable as pumpkins and apple cider. Perhaps it’s the frivolous nature of the chalking that attracts our attention. Perhaps it’s the appeal to our inner child. Regardless of the message, the writing is on the wall—and on the sidewalk, and the promenade, and the bus loop. It’s everywhere. I have very few objections to this sort of vandalism. I actually kind of like it. Simplistic, but illegal and intruding into my world.
Todd: I like it as well, though I believe it is lacking in ways, mainly in aesthetic taste, which I think can be chalked up to laziness. The student groups are focusing more on the message they want to get across and less on the visual pleasure their art provides. While I do enjoy their messages and support them, I feel that I would do so much more if they were a little more artsy. “But Todd,” the reply may come, “it is hard to be artistic with sidewalk chalk.” Bah! You can be just as creative with sidewalk chalk as you can with a paintbrush or some charcoal or whatever.
Penn: And how. Personally, I’d like to see a little more color. I understand the constraints of the medium, but would it kill any of these groups to spend a little more of their money (or our money, depending on the allocation of our mandatory student activity fee) and spring; for the bright bold color chalk? I’m sick of pastels. Save it for the spring, this is autumn. Bold, in-your-face autumn. Think of the vibrantly colored leaves and the brightly speckled gourds. Perhaps the artistic inhibitions you speak of come from a perceived lack of spectral stimulation.
Todd: What I would like to see are more pictures. I am a writer and am all for the use of words, but I am also of the school of “show don’t tell.” Don’t want me to eat meat? Give me a picture of a cow getting eaten by a pack of wild frat boys. Want me to support gay marriage? Show Bush shunning a gay couple. What about sweatshops or messages of peace? Show us the faces of children being abused by sweatshop owners or the faces of all the soldiers who have died for an unworthy cause. Pictures people! They are quite a bit better than a thousand words.
Penn: If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a large-scale mural would be worth about 2.3 million. Like I said, there’s no reason to be simplistic. If you are serious about your message and your art, then why not invest a little time and effort into truly making a visual statement? I envision a sprawling scene of a war-ravished Iranian village chalked onto the campus promenade. What did we learn from photo-journalism in Vietnam? Images of death and destruction show the strongest argument for anti-war. I’m not saying that I particularly enjoy seeing carnage, but the concept is as intrusive as the medium, and I deem it only appropriate that such protests have a little bit of continuity.
Todd: Indeed.
