by: Tiffanie Gabrielse

Label 228
By: Camden Noir
Soft Skull Press
$24.95
Available locally at Planet, downtown, and Pomegranate Books, midtown.

What is art? To the metaphysicians, it is not the demonstration of mysterious ideas or the articulation of the beauty of God. It is not, as the aesthetical physiologists suggest, a game where the rules insist that man let off excess energy. It is not merely an expression of man’s emotions, nor is it the mass manufacturing of attractive tangible objects. Above all, art—well, it is not always pleasure.

For many, art is a struggle. It is war. It is blood, sweat, pain and the dying voice within the undying need to be heard. When I asked Camden Noir, an Army veteran deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, about what art was to him, he made it clear it’s his way to remain sane during battle. Most importantly, when he arrived home, it became an objective titled, “Label 228.”

The purpose was to join man in union, together in collaboration to change censorship upon the humanity for which he fought so hard.

“At 17 I was impressionable, and by 18 I was deployed,” Noir told me last week during our interview. “My down time was reading and writing—but mostly drawing kept me motivated. I drew tattoos on sketch pads for friends and sketched things that came to me. Art allowed me to peek on creativity.

“When I got home, I loaded up my Ford with everything it could fit and took off to Wilmington. One day, when I was walking down the street, I noticed a label, a postal sticker, on the back of a stop sign. I can’t remember what design was on it, but, Tiffanie, I must have stared at it for ever. I wondered, Why would someone put it there? Just for a passerby? Why would they waste it on a passerby? They were saying something, and I said to myself, It needs to be somewhere better.”

By putting out a call to artists on MySpace, asking them to send him their street artwork or anything they can dream of on priority-mail labels, Noir launched not just a project but a revolution. Within six months, he received over 500 USPS sticky labels. Label 228’s movement to become heard by expression, rather than by sound, exceeded the distance of oceans. In the end over 1,000 labels arrived at his doorstep.

From Denmark to Austria to Jamaica, artists worldwide, both famous and struggling, such as Mecro, Downtimer, Mat Curran, Daniel Fleres, Zoso, Josh Taylor, Aaron Kraten and David Flores, showed dedication, conviction and heart to the project. To them and Noir, Label 228 offered the chance to spend more time creating their work than if they were to paint and write directly on walls, vehicles and public objects. Within, individuals far and wide expressed courage, determination, sadness, calmness, fear, respect and love without saying a word.

“I wanted to give absolute freedom to the artists; I wanted them to do what they wanted,” he said. “We don’t have a voice today. If I were to limit what people were trying to say on the label, because it was too graphic, I’d be doing what I hate: I’d be stifling a voice. I’d be a hypocrite. So much of what’s in the book invokes things within me—page 27, for example. The girl with the gas mask, she’s wearing a jacket. It’s The Cold War. It strikes me as funny and ironic.”

Ranked number 12 on Amazon’s list of top art books to purchase, Label 228 causes viewers to enter into a specific form of relationship, both with the contributing creative artists, the art and all those who, simultaneously or subsequently, view the artistic label impressions on the page.

“Everything you do has an adverse reaction,” Noir admitted, “but for the people who do appreciate viewing this book, I want them to come away with the idea that anything is possible. Within this Google-search world, get an idea instead. Get ambition. Get an idea and go. Live.”

With roots grounded in graffiti, Label 228 succeeds in executing a statement in a more productive, more intelligent and less abrasive manner. Those who aren’t fluent in the arts will hopefully look at it and take steps to discover more artwork and more artists that have the capability to spike a creative nerve. Will there be a second book? A next step for Noir’s collection of figurative drawings on red, white and blue? According to him, he has already taken steps with artists to create T-shirts, echoing the freedom of speech and expression the book provides.

The possibility to put Label 228 on canvas is also not out of reach. After all—art is meant to be an everlasting outlet to foster life, living and vitality.