Greg Lundgren and Jed Dunkerley talk Due Process strategy. Jason Puccinelli, the P in PDL, will also be part of the project (Image: The Factory)
The recent burst of artwork reacting to the gentrification and gay-washing of Capitol Hill has so far excluded one group crucial to the equation: the people actually inspiring the work. The art trio PDL want to change that.
Here’s the setup: Put a large easel and 45 canvases in the heart of Pike/Pine during peak weekend madness and see what the Woo! girls and dude bros come up with. Along the way, PDL will gather some basic artist info like age, gender, sexual orientation, occupation, and favorite bar. Call it an unscientific anthropological survey of Pike/Pine nightlife explored through drunken art.
“We have a premise, but we have no idea what the response will be or what the reaction will be,” said Greg Lundgren, the “L” of PDL. “It could be that people rise to the occasion … it could be they’re all paintings of dicks.”
PDL, which includes Jason Puccinelli and Jed Dunkerley, hope to assemble dozens of the paintings for a show they’re calling Due Process. The street artists will apparently get their day in cultural court on April 9th, when the show opens at The Factory, a newly launched gallery space located inside the Pound Arts studios at 10th and E Union. Proceeds from the show will go toward a to-be-determined Capitol Hill art gallery.
In some ways, Due Process aspires to be the art reaction to the art reaction that is #caphillpsa — the poster campaign addressing issues of gentrification and fading queer culture on Capitol Hill — and the works of John Criscitello — the street artist who has given a face both to the image of the Woo girls and dude bros and to the people who despise them.
“While we agree and sympathize with a lot of it, I’m always nervous about grouping certain people together just because they look a certain way or dress a certain way,” said Lundgren, a longtime Capitol Hill resident. “It doesn’t make me comfortable to point across the street and say ‘we don’t want you here, you’re not welcome here.’”
Lest the cynics think PDL are really just trying to prove how awful the Capitol Hill bar crowd can be, Lundgren insists the group’s efforts to learn something new about the neighborhood are sincere.
As much as some artists might despise what Pike/Pine nightlife has become, Lundgren points out that it’s still a part of the fabric of the neighborhood and thus a part of the Capitol Hill Arts District. For Lundgren, giving a creative outlet to people on Capitol Hill not seen as creative types should be part of what the district strives to do.
Due Process is the latest in recent efforts to push back on the vilification of people making homes in the hundreds of new upscale apartments popping up in and around Capitol Hill or the people who come to play and have a good time here. On Tuesday, The Stranger’s Dan Savage chided artists — and those who love them — for doing too much complaining and not enough constructive work to find ways to improve Capitol Hill or start building the next one. “The neighborhood has changed before,” Savage writes. “Every neighborhood changes. Nothing about a city is static.”
On April 9th, then, we might just get a good look at what the latest version of the Hill is all about.
Sign should read “Welcome Highly Paid Tech Nomads.” Or maybe, ‘Welcome Highly Paid Tech Workers, Enjoy Your Year or Two in Seattle and Thanks for the Massive Rents.” There are far more of them acting like the Roman army than there even are “rich kids” roaming Capitol Hill trying to choose which of the several hundred bars they will binge drink at. “Rich kids” aren’t the ones moving to Capitol Hill and driving up the cost of housing.
Ah yes. What have the Romans ever done for us? Um…the aqueduct, sanitation, the roads, irrigation, medicine, education, public baths, the wine, public order, fresh water system….but still, what have the Romans ever done for us?!
I’ll leave it to you to draw the analogy. Also, maybe you want to clean up your “nomad” generalization. We’re here to stay, I’m afraid.
And on behalf of all tech workers, I apologize for our fiendish plot and malicious collusion with the apartment building owners to drive up rents. Mwaa hahahaha! Yes, I love rising rents just as much as you do!
The difference being of course that, as a fresh out of college 20-something-ish tech worker pulling down a high-five or even six figure salary on what may very well be your first post-graduate employment, you can actually afford to pay $1,700 a month for a 500 or 600 square foot studio on Pike/Pine.
And of course, although it may perhaps belabor the point, nevertheless it bears mentioning that the roads, health care, sanitation, public order, et al, were already in-place long before the current construction boom, so the sudden massive influx of tech workers represent something altogether less representative of beneficent harbingers of civilization than they do to a usurping occupation force, which was rather the point of Worker’s OP.
Or are you just another bloody Judean People’s Front agitator?
As a spokesman for the Judean People’s Front, I’d like to point out that those Roman tech workers have done the following for Seattle:
A. Seattle’s tech industry has helped the city weather the Great Recession much more compared to other US cities. Seattle was hit hard, sure, but not nearly as hard as other towns, believe me you.
B. Those much-maligned tech workers are an enormous source of tax revenue and contribute a ton of cash to the local economy.
C. Partly thanks to the tech sector, Seattle remains an attractive city to move to, further stimulating the economy by bringing in professionals of all sectors. It’s a positive feedback loop.
So no, I’m not giving credit to MS and Amazon keyboard punchers for building our aqueducts, but I’m sure as heck giving them credit for helping to maintain them. Somebody’s gotta pay for all our nice things.
Sure, but points A & B can also be attributed to contributions made by the the aerospace, international shipping, fishing, food & forestry products, biotech, medical technology & environmental engineering industries. And some might counter-argue that the huge influx of tech workers; overwhelmingly white, male & under 35, is actually making Seattle LESS desirable, as we become increasingly homogenized into a mono-culture So don’t go patting yourself on the back (particularly if you’ve been here less than five years), without acknowledging that.
” And some might counter-argue that the huge influx of tech workers; overwhelmingly white, male & under 35, is actually making Seattle LESS desirable, as we become increasingly homogenized into a mono-culture So don’t go patting yourself on the back (particularly if you’ve been here less than five years), without acknowledging that.”
Except that Seattle is getting more diverse, not less diverse. Tech workers are majority male, but not all white. Also, there was more of a monoculture here 5 years ago, and 10 years ago, and 15 years ago, and 20 years ago.
But don’t let actual facts get in the way of a good rant.
The whole Pike/Pine corridor is already a place for the frat boys and Woo! girls to express themselves–you can see the results of their “artistic endeavors” every Sunday morning.
Hm, I think you may have hit on something here:
“Dude, Bethany got so wasted at The Rhino Room last night, she Pollocked all over her shoes! And then, like, totally selfied it with a Kelvin-filter on Instagram! It was wicked awesomesauce!”
The Cap Hill PSA folks are the exact kind of bigots they claim to hate. The “JK fuck those guys” poster they have is absolutely obnoxious.
This is a really interesting project! I’m very curious to see the results, and hope we get to find out how our weekend visitors react to this opportunity to express themselves–maybe jseattle & co. can do a follow-up report? Hope the weather is cooperative if PDL are doing it this weekend.
The issue is their BEHAVIOR. I walked past a group of guys on a random Friday night, urinating next to Value Village across from Grim’s and I gave ’em a dirty look and the guy called me a faggot. Do I think he’s a shitty person because he was wearing a button down shirt and fancy jeans?
People who are “nervous about grouping certain people together just because they look a certain way or dress a certain way”, aren’t paying attention to what’s going on.
This. Exactly this.
This is a bizarre project. I don’t get it at all.
“People who are “nervous about grouping certain people together just because they look a certain way or dress a certain way”, aren’t paying attention to what’s going on.”
…said every person who was afraid of a group of brown skinned people walking down the street. The issue is the behavior of individuals, not of groups. Deal with the individuals and leave the bigotry to the bigots.
Actually, it’s BEHAVIOR, period, whether it’s the actions of groups or of individuals.
It will be hilarious. A large canvas is set up. Drunk bros will approach from the north, thinking, “wtf is that dunno but I’m going to take a piss behind it”, only to collide with bros walking around it from the south with their flies already open. “Whoa, are you a faggot?” Confusion will ensue. Testosterone will fill the air. Insecurities will mount. Woo girls will spot the circling drunk bros and the canvas from both directions and think, “they’re cute, and I could vomit behind that thing” and start circling the bros. This concentrically concentrated congregation of buffoons and their bodily fluids will become a permanent fixture of the scene, like the serenata in Mexico but, instead of charm, severely regrettable consequences for the next morning’s pedestrians. Roger Valdez will stand in front of it and take selfies and then write about the new third place in the DJC. Meinert will send someone out to sell Handi-Wipes for a buck apiece.
What’s not to like?
^^ This is amazing.
…I don’t have high expectations, here.
Won’t this just show Capitol Hill people what the fine drunken artists from Kent and Bellevue are like? It seems like a significant portion of the people visiting Pike/Pine on weekends aren’t exactly locals, so it’s hard to see how this says anything about the neighbhorhood.
Think of it as Outsider Art…
Is that really that big of a difference between the obnoxious frat dudes and the hipster douche bag? They are both pretty unoriginal and both trying to fit in.
+1 – both intolerant. Frat dudes allegedly intolerant of people who are “different”, artist/hipster types intolerant of people who aren’t “cool enough”.
I’m old so I’ve seen both of these play out.
Sigh. It’s upsetting to me that “tech workers” get thrown in the “hipster” or “bros & woo girls” categories. I work in the tech industry and moved to Capitol Hill in the late 80s. Made some good money and bought property in the neighborhood. Most of the tech people I know are artsy, outdoorsy, interesting people…maybe sometimes a little nerdy. They are not the overly cologned douche bags or women wearing heels they can’t even walk in seen standing in line for clubs on weekends. Please stop grouping these people all together.
Nice. Maybe you guys can do something about including the junkies and home invaders on Capitol Hill since they are making up an ever-increasing part of our demographic up here: http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/archive/community/
What are you talking about? The druggies/miscreants bring a grungy authenticity that makes the “artists” feel like they are edgy. Bring on more!
If you think there aren’t a few “junkies” hanging out on the Sammamish Plateau or Issaquah Highlands, it’s only because they, or their spouses, make enough money to better hide their habits.
And home-invaders tend to invade homes of people who actually have things worth stealing; they generally aren’t really a big problem in neighborhoods where the demographic trends much less affluent.
If that is true, why aren’t robbery and home invasion rates high in affluent parts of town (Laurelhurst, Madison Park) and low in Rainier Valley and White Center. Your logic makes surface sense but that’s not the way it plays out.
What’s the difference between a dude-bro and a tech-drone?
A dude-bro has to drunk-drive all the way back to Kirkland after barfing up six Manny’s & Jaeger shots outside Sam’s. A tech-drone just has to drunk-walk 2 blocks after barfing up six hand-crafted, artisanal, local-sourced Negroni’s outside Omega Ouzeri.
Try the buffet!
Ha ha!
p.s. Are the Negronis barrel-aged?
And the art hipster barfs up their six PBRs all over their majestic beards, their Chucks, and their elegantly distressed Japanese denim pants from, er, The Redwood?, before wandering back down to the Central District place they recently gentrified after bitching about gentrification in Capitol Hill.
Nobody barfs up six PBR’s – there’s not enough alcohol in them to make anyone that ill. You’d literally have to shotgun all six in quick succession – and if you did toss them, it would more likely be due to stomach bloating than it would be to alcohol poisoning.
Now, pissing them out – that’s a completely different story!
Finally rich white straight men are getting a voice in this country.
They have been held down for so long though. For weeks.
So, once we prove the money-having, noisy, puking people can’t make art, does that mean that it’s ok to make fun of them? Also, how many Woo!Girls will just paint their breasts, and smoosh then smoosh them around on the canvas?
Hope the Warhol Foundation didn’t trademark The Factory name as it was his art studio. The gallery couldn’t come up with an original name for themselves?
Interesting project – I think it would be cool to have the canvases up not just on the weekends but during the course of a week in an accessible 24 hour space..so that you get a sense of a changing expressions.
I think a problem that might occur is that if you leave this out in the street, it might get sabotaged, graffiti bombed or destroyed. I don’t know how you would stop these canvases from quickly becoming walls of scribble or worse…
Also while canvases are nice, its a bit limiting to think that all people can or will want to express themselves by painting or drawing…if you want to engage the tech population maybe you ought to leave out computer terminals :-p
Hmm,
“Except that Seattle is getting more diverse, not less diverse. Tech workers are majority male, but not all white. Also, there was more of a monoculture here 5 years ago, and 10 years ago, and 15 years ago, and 20 years ago.”
I presume then you’ve never spent much time in the CD, ID or Rainier Valley.
Also, this.
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