Who are the drunk bums? For the past couple years, a new crew has gotten up all across the eastside, from Hollywood to downtown. They write a diamond shaped “DB” in a style utterly lacking in skill or precision, which, among other things, is contrary to the acknowledged, meretricious rules of graffiti.
And yet, whether through naivety, intention or intoxication, the Drunk Bums use their uncouth mark in the sophisticated advertising (self-promotion) campaign that is graf writing, an interesting duality.
Crude….Especially when compared to some of the incredibly intricate new work you see on the streets of L.A., which boggles the mind to think that it was done with spray cans. But what is interesting about the Bums is how they embrace the instant subversion and natural — or “organic” for you Huppies(hippie/yuppies) — gratification of the crude gesture as an essential, if not the essential element of graffiti. Like scrawling a cock on the urinal wall the value of the Drunk Bums’ work is in its urgency….Or, more accurately, its immediacy.
Don’t expect to see a gallery show or a collabo with Vans anytime soon, but next time someone claims to be keeping it street…drop the Bums on ‘em.