When I moved to Portland from the Midwest, I gave most of my paint away to the community before I left. I purchased about a thousand dollars worth of spray paints to restock my studio when I got here. When I purchased the paint at a local art/craft store, I was asked for ID and I assumed it was to verify my age like what they did back in Chicago. I wasn't paying too much attention to the cashier as I was checking off my supply list. What I didn't know was that the cashier wrote down my personal info and later passed it along to the cops.
Fast forward to the next year, when I'm starting my gig at Portland Saturday Market. My second month in, a detective and two cops approached my tent. At first, I thought they were just going through the market but then the detective started asking silly questions.
As the conversation proceeded, I was shown about 50 pictures of various graffiti tags in what I was told was done around Portland. They asked me about my "big purchase" of spray at the art store. The detective starting making accusations in an attempt to scare me, telling me that he wanted to know what tags I was responsible for and what other "degenerate artists" I was giving the paint to. Since I know a thing or two about a thing or two, I told them I was done and unless they had a warrant, they had to leave. I got harassed by the Portland cops at my workplace because some art supply store sold me out.
I have to admit, I was dumbfounded when the realization hit me that it was the action from the store that lead to this targeted harassment. An art supply store sold out one of their customer artists to the local cops, where they gained nothing from doing so. I educated myself on the bullshit unconstitutional Portland law and soon discovered that Portland has a hard-on hate for street artists and graffiti artists. I wised up and started supporting other art supply stores here in town that don't support the pigs harassment campaign. The company that I did buy all that paint from closed up a few years after that incident, so that was a win for our art community.
I recently had a similar experience with Artist & Craftsman Supply store here in Portland, when trying to purchase some spray paint and supplies. I was shocked when I was checking out and the cashier informed me that they will write down my personal identification info from my license into a binder that they keep near their register. They want to keep people's private identification info in a binder near their register for an employee or a customer to steal. They're lack of seriousness in the possibility of identity theft is disturbing but they're selling out artists to the pigs is even more disgusting. Clearly, they don't give a fuck about artists.
The support for the pigs over artists is confusing. The pigs aren't buying supplies and supporting the business, the artists are. But this is how they treat us so fuck'em. Let's not support these clowns anymore and hopefully they will go bye-bye too!
GAFFITI IS NOT A CRIME
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL STREET ARTISTS
