Special supplies unique to the genre help put awesome art out there.
As a teenager, James Gubbins colored outside the legal lines when he painted with graffiti writers in his hometown, Chicago. His ongoing passion for street art has led him to start a street-legal business venture on Madison’s east side.
“The people in that taboo culture of the ’80s and ’90s — we’re all grown up now and we’re business owners,” Gubbins, 40, says. But “we still like the art.”
A childhood friend opened a graffiti art-centered shop called Momentum Art Tech in Oak Park, Illinois. Gubbins obtained rights to also use the name and opened his own shop here.
Momentum Art Tech sells the supplies graffiti writers need: interchangeable nozzles and specialized paints with more pigment, better coverage and a wider array of colors. They are designed for the technical requirements of painting on surfaces like cement walls and metal train cars, but also canvas. Basically, it’s spray paint that’s specifically designed for graffiti art. The shop also carries brushes, regular paint and some clothing.
Prices in the store are low: “We understand artists don’t have money. We keep it as cheap as we can and still stay open,” says Gubbins.
The retail store he started in August 2017 on Cottage Grove Road is just one manifestation of Gubbins’ love for the sinuous lines, blends and fills of graffiti writing. While his employee Elliot Klein manages the 400-square-foot retail store, Gubbins contracts with area businesses to curate their walls and galleries.
The Food Fight Restaurant Group and Promega were two of the first businesses to hire Momentum Art Tech to curate and rotate the art they display. Some clients want the edgy street style of graffiti while others ask for a more abstract look. Gubbins matches artists to his clients’ needs. Businesses can commission a piece or simply offer Gubbins a “free wall” where artists are welcome to paint. “We create schedules for each wall, artists sign up, and the business buys the paint from me,” Gubbins says.
Gubbins also offers on-demand graffiti art classes: “You bring the people, we’ll hold the class.” For around $50 a person, a group of friends or business colleagues can learn basic techniques, try out the tools and browse a rare collection of magazines for ideas before taking aim at a wall.
Depending on its location and permission of the property owner (public or private), an outdoor painting might be legally defined as a mural, advertising signage or illegal street art. Each community sets its own regulations, and Monona’s differ from Madison’s. “We hit a brick wall when we talked to Madison” about painting on city property, Gubbins says, “so we hit the streets on our own,” talking to property owners. One result: a mural project along Monona Drive that brought 50 artists together to paint on 12 commercial buildings in August 2018. “We work within the parameters of the zoning of whatever city we’re in to put awesome art out there.”
Momentum Art Tech
195 Cottage Grove Road; 608-423-6501; momentumarttech.com
Noon-4 pm Mon.-.Fri., 11 am-2 pm Sat.
