These people were doing something that other people have done in other cities- put graffiti in an artistic context for people to enjoy (like a standard gallery) as opposed to on the streets illegally. Whether or not the people who were actually a part of the show were street artists as well is besides the point- the point is that the art is there legitimately and artists created it for everyone to enjoy. You can't deny that these people are talented artists, even if some of them also perform illegal acts. Shutting down a gallery that hosts some illegal artists just because they're associated with it is like shutting down a store because one of the employees shoplifted. You don't see bars being shut down on the main drags downtown because there are drunken nuisances on the streets at night, as they obviously shouldn't be. What people do on their own time is completely separate regardless of their association with an establishment.

Portland should be more creative than this. If you ask me, this sort of thing should be all over the city. Start turning abandoned or empty eyesores into places for creativity and community. Create places for it and you decrease the instances elsewhere. Not to mention the prior argument that graffiti does not actually harm anyone. There are much worse crimes out there to focus on than this.

The railyard is non profit art collective. The Graffitti Squad harrasses our landlord to the point were she was forced into an illegal eviction. There is no reason for two Graffitti cops to be serving an eviction. That job is for Multnomah couty sheriffs dept. They were calling her every week telling her they were going to fine her for any new graffitti in the city. Which is in itself illegal. These two cops had a vendetta against us. They told me on the night of this opening they are going to be on a mission to get me thrown out. This art show was supposed to represent the start of a new Portland Mural District. Similiar to the Mural district in the mission in San Francisco and in Fresno. The idea came about after fighting graffitti with all these local business owners. We can't afford to keep painting over these taggers every week. If you don't the city can fine you. They pick and chose who they want to fine. We had permission from all these Property owners, but are now unable to continue. We have lost thousands of dollars and five local businesses who we shared space with. We were trying to promote amazing legal public art, not graffiti. The police will not even listen. They are the judge, jury, and executioner. We need your support. We have the ACLU reviewing the case and we hope to sue for damages. If you want to see us live on, please donate to a paypal account at e_gurfinkiel@yahoo.com.

Apologize for the spelling. Im frustrated.......We did nothing wrong.. We just tried to do something cool for neighborhood. It's tough.

The actions taken by the portland police against railyard pdx are ridiculous. What kind of message does this send? Don't do art? Isn't "don't do drugs" more important? Are they going to start spending time in galleries and on art walks looking for "criminal" artist instead of fighting violent crime? As a tax paying portland resident, I am appalled and disgusted that this is what my money helps fund. Artist' trying to help each other and the community should be praised and encouraged not shut down and punished. For such a seemingly forward thinking city, this is embarrassing and makes no sense.

I'm really bummed it's closed! I took my 7 year old daughter and my two sons...9&10... And they loooooooved it. The people there were great and really sweet with my kids. My 10 year old was really looking forward to working on a kids mural they were going to do. He's not really going to understand why the police closed them down considering the school he goes to paints murals all over their school. Since when are we allowed to say that one form of art is ok and another is not? As for your statement above about it not being ok to paint on someone elses walls...... White paint goes up even easier than the colored paint that made the murals dumb ass!

It's really disheartening when you see people congregating to do something constructive with their time and energy only to be thwarted by the local police. Particularly when you see this happening to young people...it doesn't give you a lot of hope for the future of our country.

The article failed to mention that there were people illegally living in the commercial/industrial zoned "gallery", that combined with the graffiti summit is why my company is out on it's ass now. It sucks it had to go down this way, but at least I got my equipment out. I don't blame the cops at all, maybe if the railyard clubhouse were managed more maturely and professionally we wouldn't be in the situation that we are in today.

This is absolutely absurd. There's a difference between tagging and art. Just like there's a difference between art and all those ugly commercial billboards and pathetic signage everywhere you look. I didn't approve that shit but I have to look at it. They're just afraid of the messages often in the art. They fear that people bold enough to speak out in such large and colorful ways could attract listeners and somehow end capitalist greed and political vices, and worst of all, interfere with ignorance. But the bottom line is if they keep pissing enough people off, taking away enough people's cultures, people will outnumber and turn on them...

good. these losers are simply trying to capitalize off of graffiti culture, no self respecting graffiti artist would step foot in that place and that is evident by the terrible artists they got to do the event (excluding GORE B, who I just feel bad for, as he must not have known how toy this event was going to be). Graffiti is and always will be the ILLEGAL or UNAUTHORIZED application of a media to a surface. Graffiti is NOT "STREET ART." So called "street art" is merely the exploitation of graffiti culture for the sake of capitalism. These pathetic people even went so far as to paint over actual graffiti artists work so that they could maintain their gallery of 'graffiti inspired' artwork. Shame. Todd Durham you have zero integrity.

Hey pathetic. The Railyard is a non profit creative art space. We did not try to capitalize on anything. We lost money on the mural exhibition...we expected this when we did this show. We figured the police would crack down and give me problems. I still did the show because I believe in free expression.. I believe in the right to be an artist without prosecution. I did this shit for your art and lost everything. I am not an artist. I never claimed to be.. When someone mentioned buffing over graffiti. As a business owner, its the law. In Portland if you don't keep your building free from graffiti you pay a fine. We can't afford the fine. We don't have any money.As for integrity. My name is Todd Durham my phone number is 503-953-9034.. Whats yours.....oh ya pathetic

Graffiti is for faggots, maybe that is why cops are so into it...

http://youtu.be/70lH373A1NU FUCK THE POLICE!, the war on lower class citizens, artiists, and exploited third world countries for their commodities. Big Brother looking out for U! FUck u pigs!

I know what the problem was. It wasn't the street art. They were cracjking down on hipster art. And by the looks of it.... they did the right thing. I hate hipsters with spray cans. Not one of these "street art" pieces was a burner. Good job cops! crack down on these TOYS, real heads don't give a fuck what the law thinks.

ha! a "rough" area, my ass. i live here.

in the buildings. we were painting inside!!!!

You cant stop the subculture involved with graff and street art. The city would be better off allowing artist to express themselves then to try to shut down an art show. Honestly I write graff and the fact being that I don't have any legal walls to paint and the actions shown by the police in regards to the situation just makes me want to get out more and let them know this cant be stopped. If the city of Portland honestly wanted to bring the amount of graffiti down in the city they would allow artist to get up in a place free from being prosecuted by the law. I myself don't have 1000 dollars a month to spend on an art studio where I can perfect my craft, let alone a backyard or garage to paint on canvas.. Bottom line. Maybe if Portland Police/City of Portland where to work with artist they might make headway. Until that day comes the stigma of graff artist will remain. **** the police and **** the system. Keep the change you filthy animals.