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Graffiti store ignites culture clash

By Garett Sloane | gsloane@am-ny.com

7:19 PM EDT, July 1, 2008

The spray paint is barely dry on Brooklyn's new graffiti-art supply store, but street artists -- and a fiercely critical councilman -- are already clashing.

The store, Alphabeta in Greenpoint, proudly embraces graffiti culture and even offers artists a space for their work. But any mention of graffiti among some New Yorkers conjures searing images of a city in economic and social despair. A store that glorifies graffiti, says Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., (D- Astoria), is the equivalent of creating a criminal supply shop.

"I am determining what if any steps to take against it," said the councilman, who has spent his career drafting some of the toughest vandalism laws in the nation. "Maybe I should work to get a police camera outside [the store]."

Of course, Alphabeta is not the only shop that sells spray paint and other items associated with graffiti, but none appears as proud of the culture.

Leif McIlwaine, 24, a Utah native who owns Alphabeta, said his store is "a professional graffiti arts supply store and gallery."

Like any new business, McIlwaine needs attention, but knows not all of it will be positive. The association of spray paint with vandalism isn't lost on him: "It's controversial."

The store already has the attention of the city's graffiti artists, including Raymond Cross, a partner at Ad Hoc Art, a studio and gallery space in Williamsburg.

Cross, 32 a master of fine arts from Pratt Institute, is originally from Virginia and has a more romantic view of graffiti's past.

"If you look at that time, the late-'70s and the '80s," Cross said. "It was a cultural explosion."

Vallone is a world removed from the graffiti culture flourishing in Brooklyn today, with the growth of galleries and studios that promote the street art. His anti-graffiti stance dates to growing up in the 1970s, a time everyone remembers as the height of graffiti and crime.

But Alphabeta is a legitimate store, according to McIlwaine, who with no prior business experience navigated the city's permitting process and financed the startup with about $100,000 in inheritance money.

The store is about 800 square feet with a 5,000-square-foot, indoor-outdoor gallery, which will be used for shows and as a space for graffiti artists to paint. The store also sells graffiti-culture accessories: boom boxes and throwback sneakers.

McIlwaine said he will be careful not to sell spray paint to minors. He is trying to build a clientele of professional graffiti artists, not vandals.

Vallone doesn't buy it: "How naïve does he think we are? There is not enough of any legal graffiti to support a store."

Cross said he'd be shopping at the store, and he won't be involved in any illegal activity.

"I'm too old to jump off buildings and run from police," he said. "I just want to do my art inside."

A canvas of the neighborhood didn't draw much outrage yesterday.

"So long as it is a retail business, I'm OK," said Christine Onorati, owner of Word Books on Franklin Street. "It's a pretty artistic neighborhood."

Simone Herbin contributed to this report.