Whenever I go to Giant Robot in the Haight I feel a little bit of guilt. The art devil on my one shoulder--the one who believes in hard and fast divisions between "high art" and "low art"--tells me that making a li'l dollie out of one of your trademark images or designing a toy in your trademark style is "selling out."

The art angel, who always wins out, has a different perspective. The art angel is excited to see art come down off the walls and into a form that can sit on a desk or on top of a kitchen table or in a dorm room, that can be played with, and that is affordable by much if not most of the population. And plus, those Doze Green figures are so dang cool.

Keeping that in mind, I just want to take a moment to give a shout out to those stores that embrace and support affordable and non-traditional art forms and artists.

fabric8 has a bricks and mortar store and 3318 22nd street in San Francisco's Mission District, but it's had a web presence from much longer. Check out http://www.fabric8.com/ for a glimpse into their vision. But you gotta check out the bricks and mortar location. They've got amazing art in there, plus the floor, walls, and ceiling are decorated with incredible original art. They've got cool stuff by people like mars-1 and nomzee, and the proprietors are very cool and welcoming.

Some of my favorite new artists:

Iona Rozeal Brown
http://www.spelman.edu/bush-hewlett/a3/gallery.html

Lamar Peterson
http://www.artnet.com/artist/424031189/lamar-peterson.html

Wangechi Mutu
http://www.akrylic.com/articles/44/1/Wangechi-Mutus-Extreme-Makeovers/Art-On-Paper-Vol8-No-6-JulyAugust-2004.html
and
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/wangechi_mutu.htm

The prosecution of street artists is, in and of itself, a crime. From what I've seen out there, most folks who are bold enough to show their work outside the gallery system in this highly accessible way try to be respectful of people's private space and property. I've never seen anyone stencil or sticker or do an outdoor painting on someone's private business or home. Here in the Bay, folks also seem to steer clear of library, museum, college, and university buildings.

Instead, stickers, paintings, stencils and other forms of street art tend to show up on what can only be described as neutral public spaces--sidewalks, lamp posts, public restroom walls, and newspaper dispensers. And yet, even in those places, the artists try to put their work out there with respect for the other functions of those spaces. Folks put their art on newspaper vending machines, for example, so as not to obscure the name of the paper being sold.

Street Art isn't about vandalism, at least to me and a lot of other fans and practitioners. It's about doing art as direct action, delivering fresh, new images directly to viewers, instead of letting it be filtered through the traditional gatekeeping status quo--galleries, museums, art schools.

Not that I'm hating on the galleries, museums, and art schools. They certainly have their place, and many folks who go to the streets to get their work out there got their start in these establishments.

Institutions change more slowly than individuals do, though; and galleries, museums, and art schools have a ways to go in terms of breaking out of their elitist mold and learning the value and logistics of giving a broader range of artmakers a chance to be seen.

Until they do, and even after they do, street artists will be out there doing their thing, showing their images, making art a part of life that simply can't be contained within the walls of those spaces that have traditionally kept it out of the view of and inaccessible to the masses.

That should not be a prosecutable offense.