Art initiates life

Painting meant to inspire rebirth in troubled youth

By Damon Hodge (damon.hodge@vegas.com)

As media reports detailed the carnage of a gang war that gripped North Las Vegas earlier this year, Los Angeles native Dray watched with particular interest.

Murders came in rapid-fire succession, violence springing anew with each death. By late August, 16 people were dead, all killed in a multi-block area on the Las Vegas-North Las Vegas border. The chaos reminded Dray of his childhood in gang-controlled South Central. "I witnessed beatings and shootings ... violence was normal," says Dray, who only goes by that singular name.

As a kid he avoided inner-city pitfalls by focusing on his art and, after high school, by getting into music. But after a career as a radio engineer, he returned in 1998 to art, the medium through which the 35-year-old wants to promote peace among Las Vegas gangs.

He hopes a painting now on exhibit at the Markman Gallery at The Regent Las Vegas will do just that.

"Imagine That" is an oil-based pastel painting that depicts two hands, ready to clinch. One hand is red, the other blue--colors often worn by rival Bloods and Crips, respectively. Each hand is juxtaposed against the opposite color--red on blue, blue on red. Plans are to exhibit the painting citywide, then anchor it near the site of the violence in Las Vegas.

"The purpose of painting was to put together some type of visual to serve as a reminder for youngsters to come together," Dray says. "The concept behind the name was meant to leave you wondering about how nice it would be if the gangs stopped warring."

And University of Nevada Las Vegas art professor Mark Burns thinks the painting could make a social impact. The chairman of the art department says art is a form of entertainment and, as such, shapes attitudes.

"Historically, art has changed the way people view things," Burns says.

Markman Gallery Director Bruce Johnstone echoes Burns' sentiments, adding that Dray's past gives street art credibility. "More artists and more people need to step up and address the issue of young people dying in the streets," Johnstone says.

Dray isn't expecting any miracles, mainly dialogue. Economic realities must be changed, he says, followed by attitude adjustments, if peace is to last.

"If people see enough of those kinds of images," sums up Dray, "hopefully they'll start to subconsciously get the point."