After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many people bought flags. But University of Memphis graphic design major Michael Carpenter--alias “diem”--picked up a can of spray paint.
Inspired by the attacks, Carpenter designed a mural, hoping to provoke thought rather than sway opinions.
“Instead of preaching and protesting, I make things for people to look at,” Carpenter said. “I don’t want to push a belief on anybody. I just want to make people think.”
Painted on a 5-by-8-foot wooden board, the mural shows an airplane rising through an orange and gray background, with the word “rerun” under its right wing.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon made Carpenter think of previous wars, such as World War II--hence the “rerun” on the bottom of his painting, he said.
Patrick Graves, a graduate student, said he admired the painting, but wondered if it would be safe from vandalism.
“At first I thought the boards were for a class project or a part of a set,” Graves said. “If they leave their work here (in the art building) it could get damaged. The building is a mess.”
Carpenter said he noticed bits of dust and clay sprinkled on the board last week. He rubbed a spot off, but kept the rest because he thought it enhanced the piece.
“Graffiti is a raw form of expression,” Carpenter said. “I don’t care if a little dirt gets on the board. It just adds to the painting.”
Carpenter said he has previously tagged box cars on trains with his alias in broad daylight.
“Trains are great because they’re mobile,” Carpenter said. “It’s like a canvas on wheels.”
There is an etiquette to graffiti, said Carpenter.
Unlike some artists in other cities, like St. Louis, where acid is used to destroy windowpanes, Carpenter said he has limits.
“I’m not going out there to deface something like a mom-and-pop shop,” Carpenter said. “That would be vandalizing.”
Carpenter’s distinctive style and minimalist approach focuses on the use of negative or white space and bright hues, and contrasts with the monotonous cream-colored hallway of the art building.
Carpenter said he does not want to be known solely as a graffiti artist. Spray paint is not the only medium he uses to express himself, he said.
He also does photography, and animation and is in the process of developing a clothing line named “Enfermo.”
