I first met Matt Weber back in 2006. I came across a copy of his book Urban Prisoner Pretty Inspiring view of New Yorks energy on the street level for the past 30 years. Ended up at his website and found some dope old school graf flicks from the Upper West Side. I contacted him to buy a print or two, and have since become good friends. We colab on the regular to do product at Zoo York with his photos.
He has a pretty authenticly New York Story, growing up in New York of the 60’s and 70’s. He spent his youth writing Malta (Soul Artists) in the early days. His creative energy turned to photography toward the end of his adolescence, and he began shooting a lot of film during a short stint as a cab driver in the 80’s, where he captured a number of gems that he saw out the window of is Crown Vic.
Mostly I’m posting his graffiti shots here. But peep the links for more of his documentray-street photos. Makes you psyched to live in a place like the one he captures. If only I saw a fraction of the dope things he seems to come across daily. Don’t sleep on Matt Weber.
Showing you how he used to rock that Malta tag back in the 70’s. Peep the minimal triangle-A’s which he claims was his addition to the melting pot of graffiti styles.
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The first Zoo York -Weber Colab from back in 06. We gathered the best of his “street fight” confrantation photos for this board series then worked together to crop them.
MW: “To think that this was one of the main reasons that
I dropped out of high school! Yes this piece which
I did in 1973 is very crude, but in it’s day, it was
“cutting edge” Well, maybe not. I only did ten
or so pieces and this is the only train piece which
was photographed. As you can see, I went over
a Junior 161 tag and that’s regrettable. He was an
early tagger from Washington Heights who I was
trying to emulate. The graffiti subculture had a
strong hold on many of my friends. Some would
continued writing into their 30’s or 40’s!
I guess I lost my drive to plaster the Broadway local
when I met a girl named “Rag Bag” (not a writer) but
named after the letters which made up her phone #
Then on my 18th birthday I quit for good, having had
three arrests for writing and realizing that the next time
they got me, I’d be in a real cell with real criminals… “
Matts copy of The Faith of Graffiti.
MW: “One of the best tags of all time!”
MW: “This was taken on 149st in the Bronx!”
Soul Power. Interesting showing of the evolution of elements within the community. The Lock-up of the first 2 letters is something seen in a lot of old school Philly and NYC tags. The sitting “Saint” character is obviously a borrowing from Stay Highs “Smoker-Saint” who has been acknowledged widely as the first to appropriate the character.
Kyle and Jon 156 Whole Car. Matt rareky shoots color but he lamented that this was one he wish he had.
MW: “I don’t remember there being a Hitler-1 so I’ve no idea why he was Hitler 2 let alone Hitler anything…I guess he heard about the six million and was impressed…Pretty toy tag…sorry Mr. hitler”
Turns out if you crack the pages of The Faith of Graffiti it mentions Hitler by name who (believe it or not) had no clue who Hitler was. Only that ... “he had a very big Rep.”
Come out to PLA-EH. This flick is from 1985.
MW: SE-3 aka HAZE @ 91ST 1973. This shot was taken at the 91st ghost station with an old Kodak instamatic with 126 Kodachrome and the Stag 161 tag is also of note…
Snake 1, form Old timers day at 5 Points, 2007. “King of the Broadway Local” 1971-72
MW: “ME-1 & HIP-1 Circa 1974. A good example of Broadway Style”
I had just been to the 91 st Street ghost station with SE-3 AKA HAZE and we asked someone to take a picture with my trusty Instamatic camera. Remember 126 film? Fortunately I had used Kodachrome that day, and thus the color remains intact 36 years later…
Joe 182. Form the first wave.
LSD Ohm. The Ohm has been constantly confused with a stylized 3 over the years.
El Marko, 1974
Jockey 1 and 2. I always liked the desperation in writers who claim both one and two. Just in case…
MW: “SEGGI-719 “He’d just pop you in the face, and take all your paint!”
El Macabro is back!
Wild Style
Stitch 1 and Snake 1. “A Pair of Legends”
FDT 56
Posted by Handselecta on June 07, 2009 at 07:39 PM
