No More Blank Walls! Meet Max “GEMS” Gonzales
Max Emiliano Gonzales—also known by their artist name “GEMS”—can be classified as an activist, art educator, muralist, graffiti writer, printmaker, curator, and more.
Originally from the Southwest side of Chicago, and raised in Latino communities, Gonzales came to Pittsburgh in 2012 to attend Carnegie Mellon University’s Fine Art program on a full-ride scholarship. By 2016, they had graduated with honors, secured multiple positions with the University, and been arrested as Pittsburgh’s most wanted graffiti artist.
Gonzales brings a unique perspective to Pittsburgh as a queer-identifying, Chicano artist. They have exhibited, lectured, and run workshops at various Pittsburgh-based organizations including PITT, CMU, Winchester Thurston High School, YouthPlaces, Assemble, the Environmental Charter School, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Carnegie Library. Gonzales is also a member of Boom Concepts, Flower House Gallery, Wicked Pittsburgh, HCUAP, Pullproof Studios, and assists in leading the Graffiti Arts program at Rivers of Steel. They currently work full-time as an artist and art educator who seeks to give value to underrepresented voices, movements, and art forms that challenge established socioeconomic barriers, elitism, and bigotry, redefining the role and importance of art.
We’ve been lucky to work with GEMS through CDCP’s programming, and recently caught up with them about what fuels their work and process as an artist. Get to know GEMS and their practice!
1) What is your artistic process like?
There really are two sides to my artistic practice. Full time, I am a spray paint muralist hired for commissions. Less often, I am an artist that makes visual art inspired by my time as a graffiti writer, undergrad visual arts student, art educator, etc. This work is far less concerned with any commodification and can vary in style and concept, but it is most often in some way referential to bypassing traditional venues for having a public voice. I am currently working on a series titled “Simulated Mischief,” which uses decommissioned and reassembled street signs as a substrate, with the content on top being a simulation of street level graffiti and the responding removal of such. This work is meant to blur the line between illegal actions and “creativity.”
When working as a graffiti artist, my main intent is to perfect the traditional methods of hip hop lettering under the moniker “gems.”
When working as a muralist, I seek to appease a client while still maintaining a level of creative deviation from any designs; after all, I am a muralist and not a graphic designer.
2) Where do you draw inspiration?
The mediums and imagery I work in today are entirely the result of the artistic revolution of style writing, which originates from Black and brown impoverished youth (ages 11-19), predominantly in NYC and Philly. These traditions live on today through every major city in the world and almost every town in the United States. My inspiration for working in spray paint and pushing the use of spray paint primarily comes from the traditional attempts to invalidate artwork based on its medium or legality. Originally from the Latinx communities in the southwest side of Chicago, murals, graffiti, and graffiti productions have always been present in my life. As a Chicano person in Pittsburgh, the importance of my identity feels heightened due to the lack of representation. Inherently, I want to share what I have learned from my family and my communities and combine it with the histories and communities of Pittsburgh. I am constantly inspired to advance my skills as a spray painter and style writer while acknowledging the roots of Pittsburgh’s graffiti scenes.
3) What is the purpose of the work you make?
The purpose of my murals is to assist a client in advertisement, aesthetics, and/or any other functionality they are seeking. I do this while also trying to ensure that I maintain a strong role in the creative direction, as long as there is not too much funding to persuade me otherwise.
One of my largest and most sincere goals as an artist is to grow Pittsburgh’s acceptance of graffiti art and style writing. I want to show the potential of spray paint as a medium while also teaching the general public to not dismiss the typographic value within any form of graffiti, whether that be legal or illegal. I want the creation of more legal graffiti spaces, more graffiti productions, and more murals. NO MORE BLANK WALLS!
4) What is the most meaningful work you feel you’ve created so far?
One of my favorite pieces so far is the mural I did with Vault Art Studio in Garfield. For this, I received funding from the Society to Preserve the Murals of Maxo Vanka and Hemispheric Conversations Urban Art Project. This funding went to all of the Vault Artists who participated, and all of the teaching artists we hired on for the project. It’s massive and just really fun:
5) What do you have coming up next?
SOOOOOO MANY MURALS! The summer is always the busiest time of the year for murals. Hopefully though, I will have enough time to continue the “Simulated Mischief” series for a solo show. Things are in the works *wink, wink.*
6) How can our audience support you?
Spread the good word of graffiti! Go paint something at the Clement Way Legal Graffiti Alley! Buy a lucrative business and building with a blank wall and send me an email or DM *wink *wink *wink
@goodboygems
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