Chicago graffiti artist Tyrue “Slang” Jones featured in Hyde Park gallery show

[00:00:00]Welcome back everyone. Well, you can find some of the best street art right here in Chicago. Murals cover the city's bridges, buildings, train stations, and more. And the origins of street art in Chicago actually date back to 1967.

[00:00:14]That's according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. That's when the historic wall of respect was painted in Bronzeville. And it is widely recognized as the first outdoor community mural mural right here in the US. And one of Chicago's early graffiti artists is Taru Jones, better known as the artist Slang.

[00:00:34]A native of Chicago's West Side, he's been part of the city's street art scene since the 1980s. And now, he has a retrospective exhibit at Connect Gallery that is in Hyde Park. And Slang joins us live right now in studio. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

[00:00:49]>> Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[00:00:50]>> Well, we're excited to learn about this exhibit. But first, let's talk a little bit about how you got into street art.

[00:00:56]Um and how this turned into a passion for you and a career.

[00:01:00]>> Mhm. Uh well, um I've been drawing since I've been 3 years old consistently, obsessively. And graffiti art I got into in the early '80s. You know, through documentaries, movies. It just influenced at early, you know, early ages. As far as I remember, 11 years old.

[00:01:17]>> Yeah. Wow.

[00:01:18]>> And graffiti and it started with graffiti. It started with actually doing trains. Actually drawing more so, trying to develop lettering styles and characters that were associated with it before I really truly understood it. But met other people who knew about it.

[00:01:35]Books that were so publications like Subway Art was one of the big influence.

[00:01:40]Movies. Urban culture movies like the Harry Belafonte produced.

[00:01:45]Beat Street was a big influence.

[00:01:48]Even Welcome Back Kotter, old TV show.

[00:01:50]At the beginning segment, at the intro of Welcome Back Kotter, the trains rolled out. And I was consistently drawing back then. Mostly cartoons and things that from the newspaper or emulating things from comic books. So, I would just copy things to try to grew I grew to try to create stories. I started trying to create stories before I could read.

[00:02:11]>> And you could draw inspiration from a lot of different places. It's hard to believe it's been more than 40 years since you've done this. This new exhibit, it's at Connect Gallery. It's called True Chicago Slice. It showcases your work, of course. Tell us about the exhibit. What do you want people to get out of it when they come [music] and see some of your work?

[00:02:27]>> Well, my journey as not just an artist, but this this a storyteller.

[00:02:33]I was [music] a cartoon animator for almost a decade. Animation director did work on in every lane of animation.

[00:02:40]As remembering as I was a child, I wanted to tell stories and I paid attention to things [music] that were going on TV. You must learn to read. I followed the stories. I wanted to emulate [music] that and be able to give like um uh a life in a sense to my drawings. You know, so to the images that that I were creating, I would basically try to convey or share the stories with, you know, the public at the time, which was my family when I was early encouraged, but then later on becoming an animator or the animation came after graffiti, but graffiti we were using the public transportation as our own um stage, our own canvas. Yeah, our our galleries, moving galleries around the world. I mean, all the country.

[00:03:29]>> I want to ask you about this slang because you really helped shape this medium of the early graffiti movement.

[00:03:36]How have you seen the art form evolve over the decades?

[00:03:40]>> Well, I mean the newer generations come in with different stories. I mean, you think about like the artists that I met back when I got involved with graffiti were from all around the city. You know, we um everyone came from different walks of life. There was different backgrounds, different um you know, first time I met um um Asian artists, Puerto Rican artists.

[00:04:04]I'm from the West Side. So, we are just we weren't just one location, but I went to Von Steuben. And in Von Steuben, back in the mid-80s, there was um people from just different backgrounds. There was different social, you know, economic backgrounds, different um you know, races. And they they We all became friends at a young age, and we collected and shared our stories and more so um I guess I'm I'm losing I'm losing my place here.

[00:04:31]>> But you came together from all walks of life. It's And it's brought you together, I'm sure, in this community of of other artists. So, uh Slang, I want to say thank you so much for joining us here in studio.

[00:04:41]Having us learn a little bit more about you.

[00:04:44]Um the exhibit True Chicago Slang runs through this Sunday, July 26th. There's still a little time to come check it out. It's at Connect Gallery in Hyde Park. For more details, you can head to the gallery's website, connectgallery.org.