Artist:
Ernest Doty
Title:
Rainbow Warrior
Year:
2010
Adress:
1061 Market Street
www.alibi.com:
Why do you choose to do street art?
I want to inspire other people. That’s part of all my art; it’s always positive. I think I chose street art to inspire somebody else in a way that’s outside of the box. Like somebody who wouldn’t normally be exposed to street art, somebody who would just walk past it. Street art really saves a lot of people who are down in their lives and on their luck. This is their one and only outlet. Plus, you get an immediate response from people. A lot of times it’s just, Look at that graffiti on that freeway wall. But maybe the graffiti on the freeway isn’t the ugly thing, maybe that’s not what they’re angry about. Maybe they’re angry about how for the last 10 years you’ve been driving through this prison freeway with these big ugly gray walls and it just took the graffiti to point out the ugly that was already there.
There’s been speculation that it’s some kind of gay pride symbol.
If you’re gay and a rainbow stands for pride for you, I’m glad that it does, I’m glad that you get a positive from it. But at the same time, I remember being a child and being able to wear a rainbow to school. It was just a rainbow. It symbolized future and promise and dreams. Imagination. I kinda want to just give that back to people. When they see that, maybe they’re having a rough day or a rough year or life and they can just look at it and find peace for a second and remember what rainbows meant when they were a kid, or when they could look up at the sky and see one instead of seeing billboards and half-finished buildings. I want to let anyone find enjoyment in the rainbows.
The rainbow on the Anasazi draws attention to something that has been there for years but people have learned to just walk by.
If the building is in limbo, why would you spend taxpayer dollars to remove something that people find beautiful? Shouldn’t the majority of the people get to decide if it stays? Why are we spending millions and millions of dollars painting the ditches? Graffiti removal is part of Waste Management, and they’ll go into a ditch and walk over a couch, past a homeless man and over some broken bottles to buff over some graffiti. Why not pick up the couch, sweep up the bottles and feed the hungry? That’s what we should be focusing on, not painting an arroyo where dirty water is washing into our rivers and polluting our water supply.
What do you say to the people who don’t like your rainbows?
I painted it for anyone who wants a moment to themselves, or a moment to remember or imagine. To the people that have responded negatively, I challenge them to come and look at it. Don’t look at it on your TV or online or in a newspaper; come see it. Don’t look at it knowing it’s graffiti. Just look at it for what it is. Who can hate rainbows? The rainbow [itself] is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, all you have to do is look for it.
I’m curious: Why are you speaking publicly now?
I guess, a lot of people have questions and assumptions. I wanted to let people know it’s not just me, it’s them. I wanted to explain why I did it. Part of the reason I do the rainbows instead of typical lettering is because every sign we see is left to right, and this is up and down. Automatically, your eye wants to follow the line, so you look from the ground up to the sky. It doesn’t have a name and it doesn’t have my name on it. It becomes the viewer’s. That’s part of the reason I want to stay anonymous: It’s not my rainbow, whether you love it, hate it, don’t understand it or wish you had one down your building. It’s for everyone. It’s not for any specific group or genre. It’s for whoever is seeing it at whatever moment.
www.artandarchitecture-sf.com:
This little piece has got to just make you smile. It is by the Rainbow Warrior, Ernest Doty.
Doty is from Albuquerque, New Mexico and presently lives in Oakland. He has lived a fascinating life which was covered in an interview at Oakland Art Beat.
An excerpt: I’m a high-school dropout, 10th grade was my last year, and I’ve always been an artist, that’s what I always wanted to be when I was a kid. I guess I forgot it for awhile when I was in my early 20s. I was an alcoholic, and once I gave up alcohol I got back into art and making it a career. I made a whole life switch, stop eating the bad foods, stopped that 9-5 job, got back into making art, making it a full time job. Art helped me focus in a lot of ways. Before it just seemed I would wake up most days, hung over, doing a job that I hated, only wanting to go home and relax; I was completely unhappy with every aspect of my life, but art helped me find focus, helped me find myself again.
His website doesn't mention his rainbow work, but here is an interview with him regarding the rainbow work he did in Albuquerque.
An excerpt from the article about his motivation ... About three or four years ago ... I was feeling really depressed and I had this notion that if I went out and painted a rainbow, maybe someone would see it and feel what I was feeling or feel anything as intensely as I was. The first one I did, I just literally dumped the paint over the side of a pretty ugly, abandoned, alleyway building. It came out OK but not like any of the ones I’m doing now.
What do you say to the people who don’t like your rainbows?
I painted it for anyone who wants a moment to themselves, or a moment to remember or imagine. To the people that have responded negatively, I challenge them to come and look at it. Don’t look at it on your TV or online or in a newspaper; come see it. Don’t look at it knowing it’s graffiti. Just look at it for what it is. Who can hate rainbows? The rainbow [itself] is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, all you have to do is look for it.
Why do you choose to do street art?
I want to inspire other people. That’s part of all my art; it’s always positive. I think I chose street art to inspire somebody else in a way that’s outside of the box. Like somebody who wouldn’t normally be exposed to street art, somebody who would just walk past it. Street art really saves a lot of people who are down in their lives and on their luck. This is their one and only outlet. Plus, you get an immediate response from people. A lot of times it’s just, Look at that graffiti on that freeway wall. But maybe the graffiti on the freeway isn’t the ugly thing, maybe that’s not what they’re angry about. Maybe they’re angry about how for the last 10 years you’ve been driving through this prison freeway with these big ugly gray walls and it just took the graffiti to point out the ugly that was already there.
There’s been speculation that it’s some kind of gay pride symbol.
If you’re gay and a rainbow stands for pride for you, I’m glad that it does, I’m glad that you get a positive from it. But at the same time, I remember being a child and being able to wear a rainbow to school. It was just a rainbow. It symbolized future and promise and dreams. Imagination. I kinda want to just give that back to people. When they see that, maybe they’re having a rough day or a rough year or life and they can just look at it and find peace for a second and remember what rainbows meant when they were a kid, or when they could look up at the sky and see one instead of seeing billboards and half-finished buildings. I want to let anyone find enjoyment in the rainbows.
The rainbow on the Anasazi draws attention to something that has been there for years but people have learned to just walk by.
If the building is in limbo, why would you spend taxpayer dollars to remove something that people find beautiful? Shouldn’t the majority of the people get to decide if it stays? Why are we spending millions and millions of dollars painting the ditches? Graffiti removal is part of Waste Management, and they’ll go into a ditch and walk over a couch, past a homeless man and over some broken bottles to buff over some graffiti. Why not pick up the couch, sweep up the bottles and feed the hungry? That’s what we should be focusing on, not painting an arroyo where dirty water is washing into our rivers and polluting our water supply.
What do you say to the people who don’t like your rainbows?
I painted it for anyone who wants a moment to themselves, or a moment to remember or imagine. To the people that have responded negatively, I challenge them to come and look at it. Don’t look at it on your TV or online or in a newspaper; come see it. Don’t look at it knowing it’s graffiti. Just look at it for what it is. Who can hate rainbows? The rainbow [itself] is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, all you have to do is look for it.
I’m curious: Why are you speaking publicly now?
I guess, a lot of people have questions and assumptions. I wanted to let people know it’s not just me, it’s them. I wanted to explain why I did it. Part of the reason I do the rainbows instead of typical lettering is because every sign we see is left to right, and this is up and down. Automatically, your eye wants to follow the line, so you look from the ground up to the sky. It doesn’t have a name and it doesn’t have my name on it. It becomes the viewer’s. That’s part of the reason I want to stay anonymous: It’s not my rainbow, whether you love it, hate it, don’t understand it or wish you had one down your building. It’s for everyone. It’s not for any specific group or genre. It’s for whoever is seeing it at whatever moment.
www.artandarchitecture-sf.com:
This little piece has got to just make you smile. It is by the Rainbow Warrior, Ernest Doty.
Doty is from Albuquerque, New Mexico and presently lives in Oakland. He has lived a fascinating life which was covered in an interview at Oakland Art Beat.
An excerpt: I’m a high-school dropout, 10th grade was my last year, and I’ve always been an artist, that’s what I always wanted to be when I was a kid. I guess I forgot it for awhile when I was in my early 20s. I was an alcoholic, and once I gave up alcohol I got back into art and making it a career. I made a whole life switch, stop eating the bad foods, stopped that 9-5 job, got back into making art, making it a full time job. Art helped me focus in a lot of ways. Before it just seemed I would wake up most days, hung over, doing a job that I hated, only wanting to go home and relax; I was completely unhappy with every aspect of my life, but art helped me find focus, helped me find myself again.
His website doesn't mention his rainbow work, but here is an interview with him regarding the rainbow work he did in Albuquerque.
An excerpt from the article about his motivation ... About three or four years ago ... I was feeling really depressed and I had this notion that if I went out and painted a rainbow, maybe someone would see it and feel what I was feeling or feel anything as intensely as I was. The first one I did, I just literally dumped the paint over the side of a pretty ugly, abandoned, alleyway building. It came out OK but not like any of the ones I’m doing now.
What do you say to the people who don’t like your rainbows?
I painted it for anyone who wants a moment to themselves, or a moment to remember or imagine. To the people that have responded negatively, I challenge them to come and look at it. Don’t look at it on your TV or online or in a newspaper; come see it. Don’t look at it knowing it’s graffiti. Just look at it for what it is. Who can hate rainbows? The rainbow [itself] is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, all you have to do is look for it.