There’s a sign on the bridge connecting Vilas and Humanities that reads “POST NO SIGNS,” lest any of UW’s artsy hooligans decide to use the concrete fa?ades as their personal canvases. Of course these futile warnings go ignored, and the occasional anti-Ron Johnson Krylon stenciling or quasi-anarchist graffiti tags often outrun the long arm of UW law. Ironically enough, the Humanities building will be housing “Graphic Attack,” an exhibition featuring student work influenced by just this type of urban expression, opening today in the Seventh Floor Gallery.

“Graphic Attack,” running through Dec. 17, is the culmination of work done by students in Erin O’Connor’s Urban Graphics class. The class focuses primarily on honing the skill of screen-printing, but encourages the incorporation of various media and techniques that have come to characterize pop-urban styles for decades. Elements of graffiti, spoken word poetry and skateboard art can be found throughout the project.

“This gallery exhibit is an opportunity for students to showcase work that challenges the traditional definitions of fine art, while exposing a brand new audience to the culture,” O’Connor said. “Urban Graphics is often the art that goes overlooked; the things we encounter everyday and don’t always consider to be ‘art.'”

To experience the work in earnest, the exhibition will have a closing reception Dec. 16 featuring a live performance from a student and music by DJ Con-Text. The performance itself will display the diverse nature of their work, using unconventional forms to bring together the central themes of the course. Many of the students not participating in the live performance will also be on hand to explain the class, their artistic process and future plans.

“The students’ stories will be printed on their clothes and they will physically interact with each other,” O’Connor said.

Urban Graphics is in part the result of a partnership between the art department and UW’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives’ (OMAI) First Wave Learning Community. According to OMAI’s Web site, First Wave is the only university-sponsored academic program in the nation that seeks to build academic programming around hip-hop culture. In addition to organizing spoken word performances and exhibits like “Graphic Attack,” First Wave also offers 45 full-tuition scholarships to students in the program.

O’Connor began teaching in UW’s art department in 2009 and since 2007 she has run Sandbox Studios, an independent graphic design firm that caters to Madison artists and performance venues. She’s done projects for local events like the Forward Music Fest and the Harmony Bar’s EagleFest, as well as for national acts like Matt Nathanson and Wilco.

Though decidedly less vandalism-esque than the postings on university buildings across campus, the work found in “Graphic Attack” dwells in intrusive subject matter and is of mass appeal. Any student interested in hip-hop or street culture is likely to find a point of interest if not a new appreciation for screen-printing techniques.

“These things frequently reach us and infiltrate our lives unlike any other form,” O’Connor said. “We buy them, we take them home and they become a part of our lives.”

The closing reception for “Graphic Attack” is next Thursday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. in room 7240 of Humanities. Admission is free.