Jackson Hendrickson enlivens the Scenic City
Graffiti art is illegal in most places, including Chattanooga. Fans of Banksy and other graffiti artists know that messages spray painted on a public wall may be against the law but still deserve to be heard.
Jackson Hendrickson understands the technique may be frowned upon but sees that graffiti art as a movement is gaining momentum, especially in such forward-thinking public art places as the Tennessee Valley.
Hendrickson is a Wyoming native who stumbled across tagging and the graffiti art culture while on vacation in 2014.
“I was with my family strolling across the New Jersey Boardwalk and came across this artist calling himself Joshua Moonshine,” remembers Hendrickson.
Moonshine probably encapsulates everything graffiti art represents: he’s quick, clever, subversive, other-worldly, and anonymous. Hendrickson remembers admiring his technique and how he could create images within minutes with his spray cans.
“I was like, ‘I think I can do that,’” says Hendrickson.
Hendrickson soon began painting planets and galaxies in his spare time. The Walnut Street walking bridge provided a perfect setting for his performance art.
“I busted out my cans and a friend brought his bongos and we sold as many paintings as we could for 20 bucks,” laughs Hendrickson. “We charged as much as we thought we could get away with.”
Around this same time, a friend of his, Robin Ickes, got in touch with him about his art. Her husband happened to work for Facebook in Palo Alto, CA. She challenged him to a sort of national graffiti reverse scavenger hunt.
“So I rented a car and left my work at public places all around the country as I drove to the Bay Area,” says Hendrickson. “I tagged it and left a website on the back along with an inspirational quote.”
Once Hendrickson arrived in California, Ickes bought the rest of his work. The budding visual artist began networking and realized there were similar performance artists tagging and throwing up other common graffiti techniques around town.
“We all started to develop a certain style [which] I guess you could call space painting,” says Hendrickson. “We began to ask ourselves, ‘When are we going to start painting more than planets?’” And in that question the non-profit Grinternational was born.
The Grinternational Page for Superheroes was the pilot page for the nonprofit, and as it stands, the non-profit is still in development and piloting stages. It consists of hundreds of Facebook artists who like to bounce ideas off each other and brainstorm. The collective even have their own mission statement. In it, Hendrickson’s philanthropy extends to community development and early education.
He travelled back to Wyoming to paint a 53-foot trailer in Looney Tunes characters to be used in a gun safety workshop for kids.
“It worked!” exclaims Hendrickson. “They used the trailer for target practice and really engaged the kids.”
And here is the rub in the frowned-upon, much-outlawed vandalism most municipalities call graffiti.
“I tell the kids if you paint public property without permission, it is vandalism,” says Hendrickson. “Get permission and then hopefully you get commission. Get paid or get caught.”
Hendrickson lives with his family in Rossville, where he has already painted a few businesses along the boulevard. He simply canvassed the neighborhood with Kevin Fowler and Justin Roberts and knocked on doors to see if he could paint their building.
“We asked them to just buy the cans and we would do our thing,” says Hendrickson. “They usually gave us some money when we were through. They realized these murals brighten it up with color and creativity where it is kind of beat down.”
Hendrickson’s other notable works include a mural of Michael Phelps in Phoenix, AZ at a Swim Spa, which the most decorated Olympian of all time actually signed. A little closer to home is his 22-foot by 140-foot mural at Heaven and Ale on Cherokee Boulevard.
One of his ultimate goals, and he has a few, is to work with kids from elementary to high school.
“I was lecturing to grade school kids and one little girl actually put on the mask and tagged it up a bit,” says Hendrickson. “Then I talk to high school kids and let them know your world is wide open.”
And the future certainly looks wide open for Hendrickson. He hopes to organize public mural events and collaborate with local business owners.
“I want to save the world through painting as many public murals as possible, and want to paint every building in Chattanooga.”
With permission, of course.