Street Art: Urban Landscapes

By Devorah Ben-David

Courtesy of Gabriel Pons

As a young boy, Gabriel Pons loved watching science-fiction films, skateboarding and reading comic books. But he never imagined he’d one day be teaching a new form of punk art as a result.

“I’ve been skateboarding since ’87, and being involved with the skateboard culture in New York City really opened my eyes,” said Pons, who graduated with a bachelor’s in architecture from Virginia Tech. “I started to notice the similarities between what the street artists were doing and what the lifestyle of the skateboarders involved.”

Pons teaches street art at Liberty Town Arts Workshop, where his students work with stencils, spray paint and paper torn from billboards to create their 2-by-4-foot wall panels.

“I tell kids there’s a difference between vandalism and street art as an expression,” said Pons, who’s been at Liberty Town Arts Workshop with his wife since 2005 and who primarily works in collage and mixed media. “I also remind them that today’s video games, car commercials and … music industry all use street art as a mainstream way of selling their products.”

(January 2009)

Tags: Artist, Lights, street art