12ozProphet

Alex Hornest, one of Sao Paulo’s earliest and best known street artists, has been painting since 1992.
Onesto is just one of 72 names he writes, all in different styles. The number is significant because
of his birth year:1972. While he was in Bogotá for the Memoria Canalla project, the lucky students
at ASAB (Academia Superior de Artes de Bogotá) were able to watch him create a piece using the
characters associated with his street name Onesto. For many years Alex resisted showing in galleries
as he felt that his work was more suited to the streets. However recently he’s decided to take the
plunge and is now in demand worldwide. He was off to an exhibit in LA right after Bogotá.

The MDC (Mientras Duermen Crew) painted a series of beautiful, sophisticated and incredibly
detailed wild style pieces as a tribute to IZ the WIZ. The pieces were painted on a long wall
surrounding an apartment complex. Apparently cops tried to stop the productions but the residents
protested so the artists were allowed to continue.

On Saturday we headed to Barrio Los Laches, a town perched on a steep hillside. The days’ activities
included graffiti painting, street dance workshops and performances and a parkour demonstration and
workshop. The kids weren’t required to wear helmets and there didn’t seem to be any fear of lawsuits
resulting from possible injuries. No way could this happen in the over-litigious US of A. The event was
organized and sponsored by the Bogotá Philharmonic which is funded by the Columbian Government.
Big up to the planners for an awesome day in a picturesque setting!

The Peruvian crew Fumakaka has invented an ingenious graffiti spraygun that’s far superior to the common
fire extinguisher. Their lightweight Sembrador de Terror (Terror Planter) can be constructed with everyday
materials, easily refilled with different colors (well maybe not so easily but with a little practice…) and
repeatedly pressurized with an ordinary bicycle pump. It sprays high and fast for super tags in half the time.
As part of the Memoria Canalla project, Columbian writers invited 5 Fumakaka crew members to Bogota to
give a master class. Fumakaka obligingly put together diagrams and an illustrated manual.

In an effort to do my part to spread the spray to a few more continents, I am posting their plans.
Warning: wear old clothes—-malfunctions can occur.

Last March I accepted an interesting invitation from artists Bastardilla and Stinkfish to come to Bogota
for a week to participate in a project called Memoria Canalla—an exhibition with related events that they
and their friends organized with support from the University of the Andes. Bogota turned out to be
overflowing with graffiti and street art of every description. The scene heated up around 1993 and
the city has been bombed since!  Since there’s been almost no buffing, some pieces have survived
for years and as a result have a slightly worn and faded look, helping them blend seamlessly into the
somewhat chaotic urban landscape.

One week and over 3000 photos later I’m back in NYC hopelessly trying to organize them.  Here’s
a random selection of flicks—more coming soon.

The Notorious IBE (International Breakdance Event) took place Septeber 11-13 in Heerlen, Netherlands. The layout
of the town was perfect for the festival with venues situated around a spacious market square. The centerpiece was
the Schunck or Glaspaleis (Glass Palace), a very modern looking building that was actually erected in 1935. This year
Schunck paired with the IBE to present a comprehensive art exhibition called d’RAW featuring graffiti and street artists. 
A highlight for me was meeting Harald Naegeli, a Swiss artist who was forced to flee to Germany after being arrested for
spraying graffiti in the 70’s. His art is finally being recognized.

Although everything was within easy walking distance, there were so many battles, cyphers, workshops, panels, meetings
and events scheduled at overlapping times that it was impossible to see everything. I chose to watch the 4 on 4 B-Girl crew
battle (Japan girlz killed it!), the kids’ battle (won by Prodigy) and Ken Swift & Seven Gems’ workshop. Unfortunately I couldn’t
stay for Sunday’s huge All Battles All because I was flying to Bogota for a street art festival—will post those photos soon but
meanwhile here’s a selection from the IBE.

I’ve been hip-hopping around for the past 3 weeks—Berlin, Heerlen (Netherlands) and then Bogota. Didn’t have a
spare minute to blog so gotta catch up.  First Berlin… Nika Kramer, my We B*Girlz collaborator, organized another
exciting women in hip hop event. The highlight was the dynamite 2 on 2 B-Girl battle with the winners getting to
compete in our WB*G battle at this year’s Battle of the Year. Girlz from 10 countries competed: Russia, Holland,
France, England, Italy, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Germany, and Austria and the Boom Boom crew from Finland won. 
Mosofu from France won the crew battle and Joy from Berlin took the Newstyle title. MCs Senaya and Trix hosted the
event with a concert afterwards by Visa Vie, Too Funk Sistaz, Sookee, Mc Josh, Lady Daisey, Bad Kat, Susius, Eve
One, Meral Al-Mer, DJ Shih, and DJ Freshfluke. It was a great event—thanx to all who paticipated and came to support!!

I recently spent some time in New Hampshire and found it to be disappointingly graffiti/
street art free. Maybe I just didn’t know where to look. I googled Manchester graffiti and
thought I’d missed some incredible stuff until I realized I was looking at walls in Manchester,
England—not New Hampshire. I did manage to find a couple of nice postal stickers in
Manchester and also spotted a cool coffee truck in Durham but that was about it. Apparently
graffiti is a felony in New Hampshire. Would that deter a serious writer?

While walking along Bedford in Williamsburg the other day I spotted Head Hoods’ mini-vehicle
painted by UK’s Sweet Toof of Burning Candy Crew. By coincidence I’d met both of these
parties recently. I ran into the Head Hoods guys on a memorable freezing cold January day
in Washington D.C. They were selling their super clever hoodies on the street at Obama’s
inauguration. Last month, I met Sweet Toof and other Burning Candy Crew members last month  
at the Black Rat gallery where Henry Chalfant and I launched our 25th anniversary edition of
Subway Art. The crew had painted canvases from some of the photos in the first edition.

Somehow while the twins were in Manhattan painting their huge Houston Street mural,
they managed to find time for some Brooklyn fun.