News

The Magnet Mafia Sticks to Street Art

Continued from page 2

Some of the collaborations go better than others. "That's one of the crazy things when we paint," Matt says. "A lot of times one of us will hate it and the other will love it. And then we start throwing paint at each other."

"Usually it's because Matt will want me to turn it into something too fast and he'll, like, write some shit in there," Harrison explains.

"He stresses," says Matt.

"We have a really interesting relationship," Harrison adds. "He pisses me off; I piss him off. Half the time we're just yelling at each other."

"Yeah," Matt says. "But that's just because we're friends enough that we can say something like, 'That idea sucks; I hate that,' and it's not being critical."

Harrison acknowledges that the two are "not the freshest painters in the world." The purpose of the Magnet Mafia is not to be the freshest, though, but to build a platform that builds a scene. And since they embarked on their magnetized adventure, Matt and Harrison have connected with countless creative subgroups across town, involving everyone from dancers to photographers to musicians to political activists to fashion designers.

They have a little trouble explaining just how this came about. "We're just down to get involved, that's all," says Matt. "We're not trying to get so unique or exclusive. We just want to share art and have people share with us."

"We're just part of the community," Harrison says, "and we're trying to help bring the community up."

And to get up, you've got to get down.

Kym Bloom was confused when she got what seemed like a threatening e-mail on October 5.

"Our company the Downtown Denver Partnership found several of your magnets this morning and as you probably know it is illegal to put these up on public utilities (signs, electrical, news boxes, light poles, and so on)," it read. "Our company, the police, and other law enforcement has kept track of the 'Magnet Mafia' over the years and are fed up with all forms of graffiti. So please stop this behavior. Consider this your warning because the police will not take this lightly if caught."

Bloom, a local artist who helps run the Kanon Collective gallery, had placed magnets of her work downtown as part of last October's Denver Arts Week, a celebration of culture organized by the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"It made me nervous that they had my name and I was going to go in some database, like I'm some renegade graffiti artist out to destroy downtown with my hideous magnets or something," says Bloom. "I thought the whole idea of the Magnet Mafia was this was a type of funky graffiti that didn't damage anybody's property. People could just peel it off and take it with them, sort of like spreading artwork."

The e-mail came from Erik Helgeson, a 26-year-old service representative with the Downtown Denver Partnership, the private group funded by downtown businesses that helps maintain, improve and promote that part of town. The Partnership spends an estimated $95,000 a year for private contractors to clean up graffiti; in 2007, they dealt with 9,132 pieces. And after those contractors spotted hundreds of magnets downtown, Helgeson says, the Partnership looked for the artists' names, and then "we contacted them to let them know it's illegal."

But who says it's illegal to hang magnets in Denver?

In the summer of 2006, an undercover cop dressed as a homeless person spotted Harrison placing a magnet on an electrical box on the side of a building in Capitol Hill. Harrison was arrested and charged with trespassing (the box was considered to be on private property) and "posting unauthorized posters." He spent thirty hours in jail before he could reach Matt to come bail him out. But when his case came up for a hearing, the city attorney took one look at the file and immediately dismissed the posting charge; Harrison pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespass.

Helgeson's e-mail to the contrary, Detective George Gray of the Denver Police Department's Graffiti Unit says he'd never heard of the Magnet Mafia before being contacted by Westword. His unit is focused on taking down major graffiti crews and tagger gangs, not arresting people who make art on magnets. "Since there is obviously no damage, you'd pretty much say, 'Hey, take that down,'" he explains. "As far as my position, I don't see that as being illegal, or my job to enforce — except for the trespassing thing, if they had to cross onto private property to do it."

Over at the Crime Prevention and Control Commission, the city agency charged with managing anti-graffiti policy, they're more familiar with the work of the Magnet Mafia. "Yeah, they've been seen around town," says spokewoman Neddra Niblet. "They've been taken down." But city ordinances define graffiti as markings posted on property without consent by means of "painting, spray painting, drawing, etching, carving, scratching or any similar method." There's no mention of magnets.

"I'm kind of struggling with exactly where the magnets fall," says Denver Department of Public Works spokeswoman Ann Williams after Niblet refers further questions to that agency. Public Works often deals with fliers and advertisements for concerts or businesses that are hung without permission, Williams says, adding that she needs to ask around for the policy regarding magnets.

Another Public Works spokeswoman soon calls with that information. "Unless it's an advertisement or it interferes with a traffic sign, we're not going to take enforcement steps," Revekka Balancier says. "The law says the unlawful poster will be liable for the cost of removal, and in this case, there is no cost of removal, so we would most likely leave it be."

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
Next Page »