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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1998)
Art: Lopez says he hopes his works provoke thought ■ Continued from Page 1 pieces to the exhibit, including sketches, graffiti and computer art. Two album cov ers he created for the Tunnel Ratz and a Hip Hop compilation also will be on dis play. "It’s a sidewalk high school — you’re on your own,” Lopez said. “There’s no insti tution for it. You’re always a giant eye checking everything out.” Lopez used watercolor markers to draw on the white walls behind two of his pieces. One wall is covered corner to cor ner with the red writing of a freestyle rap Lopez wrote. “I wanted a freestyle because I wanted it to be a continuous thought," he said. “It’s not the main focus — the artwork is on top, covering up the words, so you can’t make out what it says. These are the thoughts that go through my mind when I do the artwork. The issues flow through my mind to the hand.” The other wall depicts green designs and figures surrounding his pieces. The green illustrates the success of money and how it can take away your identity, Lopez said. When Lopez moved to a middle-class suburb outside of L.A., it affected the way he viewed the world — and it is reflected in his art. “I saw the ghetto and the middle class and experienced both sides of it,” Lopez said. Political overtones are intertwined with religious and gender issues in several of i>M*& LAURA GOSS/Emerald Steve Lopez painted the center picture unth Adobe Photoshop to emulate spray paint. His freestyle prose ap[>ears in the background. Lopez’s pieces. “I want to instigate thought and drop seeds in a person’s head,” Lopez said. One of his most impressive graffiti pieces spans a whole wall with six custom-made frames, each six feet by eight feet. It uses 36 colors and took a week of 40-hour days of paint ing with spray cans. All of his works are untitled because that leaves the artwork’s purpose ambiguous, he explained. “I want them to manifest the work them selves — by giving them the shapes and let ting them come up with the ideas,” Lopez said. “I want to plant the seed but don’t want to tell them how to grow it.” Graf artists use anything they can get their hands on — often sandstone, glass or razors — to create their work, he explained. Lopez has focused some of his artistic creativity on computer art. Computers offer the capability and tools to use any color, line or medium in his work. He began to truly focus on his work three years ago in Eugene. To be recog nized as an artist, Lopez knew he would have to be dedicated. Style, guts, smooth ness, flair and spray-can control are im portant emphases for graf artists, he said. "Once the style is defined, what are you going to do now? Are you in it for fame, political reasons or the spiritualness of the art?” Lopez said graf art originated with the caveman. It is uncontrolled art made for the community, he explained. “It is art by the people, for the people. Graffiti art is not speaking to an elite group — not technically, not eloquently — but speaking for real.” His background and life experiences show through in his work. It is a natural phenomenon for Lopez to express himself through art, he explained. "Before my ancestors were kicked out, they were respecting the earth by adorning it with natural art — sand paintings — us ing the stuff around them.” Graffiti art like his can come under attack as vandalism if created illegally on public property without permission. “The media use graffiti as a scapegoat,” he said. "Graffiti is a symptom.” Lopez hopes his artwork can provoke thought in those that view it. “Hopefully, they can view it and see that there is a world outside of what you see on television, or when the president talks, or even what you read in the newspaper.” OSPIRG: Honesty Campaign questions group’s use of student fees ■ Continued from Page 1 issues. This year’s activities included the Hunger and Homelessness Cleanup that raised funds for local shelters; streamwalks that clean up Oregon waterways; pesticide research; and a national education campaign about endangered species. Other campaigns sought to educate stu dents about recycling, toxins, bank ing and ATM fees, renters’ rights and voter registration. “We focus on grassroots ac tivism, trying to empower people to help make change,” said Glenda Marshall, chair of OSPIRG’s state board of directors, which sets statewide policy forthegroup. While OSPIRG claims wide support from students and facul ty, Jonathan Collegio, the director of the Honesty Campaign commit tee, said he believes OSPIRG re ceives excessive funding from stu dent incidental fees. He formed the campaign with other students to review “waste ful spending in student govern ment,” according to the Honesty Campaign’s Web page. The site is linked from gladstone.uore gon.edu/~america. “It doesn’t cost that much to bring awareness to issues like hunger and homelessness, pesti cides and streamwalks. All the awareness activities are volun teer,” Collegio said. “I think what they do is all good stuff, but it’s not how student fees are supposed to be spent." OSPIRG’s funding is pooled with the three other schools at the statewide PIRG office in Portland. The funding is then allocated to each chapter by the statewide stu dent PIRG board. The University funds 67 per cent of the state budget, according to the group’s draft budget submit ted to the Programs Finance Com mittee last year. Collegio estimates only 10 per cent of the University’s OSPIRG funding is spent on campus. Ac cording to OSPIRG’s statewide budget, $115,000 out of a total of $218,000 goes to salaried staff po sitions. OSPIRG leaders defend using money for staff positions, arguing that it is necessary to have experts trained in research, writing and or ganization. “You need to have paid staff [in Portland] that can offer expertise and continuity in order to make changes on a state and national level,” Marshall said. OSPIRG student leaders said pooling the groups’ money is the most effective way to fight the deep pockets of powerful corpo rate interests. “Students have no money, and people like the pesticide industry do,” Marshall said. OSPIRG has thus far not released a line-item budget detailing how much money in the state pool is spent on campus. Olson said it would be difficult to break down the budget by individual campuses because chapters share costs and work on similar, often statewide projects. This makes an exact ac counting unnec essary, he said. “It’s ridiculous to try to micro manage a statewide organi zation at the cam pus level,” ASUO President Bill Miner said. “It’s just more natural to do it this way.” But critics dis agree, arguing that almost all other groups are required to submit a line-item budget. “They get so much for so little and it’s not cost effective,” Stu dent Senator Jenna Wasson said. "How can they be in the public in terest ifthey won’t everallow peo ple to know how they foot the bill and where their money goes?” Currently, ASUO programs funded by ballot measure do not have to provide a line-item bud get.Wasson proposed an earlier ballot measure in the Student Sen ate that would have required every (( How can they be in the public interest if they won t ever allow people to know how they foot the bill and where their money goes? H Jenna Wasson Student Senator student group funded by inciden tal fees including OSPIRG to sub mit a line-item budget. But her proposal was voted down by a ma jority last month. The Honesty Campaign’s source of funding has also come under fire by OSPIRG supporters. Miner said in a Dress release dat ed April 17 that the Hon esty Campaign was being funded by “an influx of spe cial-interest, right-wing money” that amounted to thousands of dollars. Collegio de nied he had re ceived nnvnnt side funding. A campaign expenditures document filed with the ASUO Elections Board showed that Honesty Campaign expenditures totaled $177.30 and came from five students. Accord ing to the filing, the only unac counted cost was printing, which Collegio said was done by Michael McCoy, who is the father of one of Collegio’s friends and has no affili ation with the College Republi cans or any knowledge of the OS PIRG issue before the donation. Robert Wasson, multicultural advocate for the ASUO Executive, has also mounted a poster cam paign questioning OSPIRG’s fi nancial practices. He argued that too much money goes off campus. “I thought about all the other stu dent groups and how many pro grams they do.” Wasson said. “They are run by students here on campus, and their programming di rectly goes to what it’s supposed to —enriching the cultural and physi cal development of students as stat ed in the Clark Document. You can see where every penny is spent.” The Clark Document is an A SUO publication that outlines ASUO funding rules and procedures. OSPIRG spends student money effectively despite the fact that some campaigns are more effec tive than others, Olson said. Miner agreed and said the group is effec tive because of its statewide orga nization and funding policies. “The way [OSPIRG] is orga nized makes it very powerful and effective in its ability to advocate for student rights,” Miner said. Students will reach some conclu sion on the issue this week at the polls. But Baldwin said his 18 years of observing OSPIRG controversy have taught him it will probably re main a campus issue for some time. “It’s one of those things that will never be settled because there will always be people vehemently for it and against it,” he said. The UO Bookstore needs vou! Really, me? Set the course of the Bookstore! Yes You! ft _ Available 8-Tear Term Positions: • (2) Sophomore • (1) Graduate • (1) Faculty-at-Large ■ (1) Student-at-Large • (1) Classified Staff or Officer of Administration Available 1-Tear Term Positions: • (1) Graduate* •Fulfills the tod year of a 2 year term UNIVERSITY ATTEND THE ANNUAL MEETING April 22nd at 3:30pm * Gerlinger Lounge Run far the UO Bookstore Board of Directors Call 346-4331x206 for Information
