Here is a video shot by my good brother Ben Solomon of a Mural installation done as part of Graffuturism’s In Situ project during Art Basel in Miami.

“West One: In Situ” from Ben Solomon on Vimeo.

Sometimes a Black Book isn’t actually a ‘Black Book’. Here are some autographs from one of my favorite books
from a 2002 gathering of people who came to say goodbye to Iz the Wiz who was leaving New York for a warmer climate.

For all my NY Brothers & Sisters - Don’t miss this sonic celebration tomorrow night featuring Sami-T of The Far East Rulers, Mighty Crown, along with NY’s own Deadly Dragon Sound.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that there will some special guests in the house including Screechie Dan, Rankin Joe, and DJ Muro.

Here is some artwork I recently did for my good brother Sung to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of his innovative footwear brand Clae. This is the third installment of his Five by Five Series where he pairs musical and visual artists together. My at-bat was for the legendary Japanese Reggae sound system Mighty Crown.

Here is a link to the Clae / Mighty Crown mix, as well as links to the two previous mixes - Vol 1: Dam Funk meets Rostarr, and Vol 2: DJ Clark Kent meets Jamil GS.

http://soundcloud.com/clae-footwear/sets/clae-five-by-five-series

http://soundcloud.com/clae-footwear/clae-five-by-five-dam-funk-beautiful-music-for-beautiful-people-vol-2

http://soundcloud.com/clae-footwear/dj-clark-kent-grown-sexy-mix

I noticed that Bates recently posted something about the iconic Charlie Ahearn film The Deadly Art of Survival. Outside of the film, the Poster (below) is fresh. Charlie and his crew hand screen printed these and put them up all over downtown New York. Of course they didn’t last long..

We will be rocking in Miami. Please come and check us out if you are there during Art Basel..

As a student of Martial Arts most of my life I have always felt a physical
connection to the movement of my paintings and line work. I am conscious
always that a brush stroke is as much a block or a strike, as it is the
unconscious muscular memory of letter forms.

One of my own teachers and masters of the artform is Mare 139 who has been
producing works based on the body movement and sculptural stances of B-Boys
for several years. Though not a dancer himself Mare came up with some of the
greatest B-Boys of all time, and by looking at some of his drawings it is
easy to see them as modernist portraits of the great Ken Swift or Mr.
Wiggles - both of whom by the way can burn most Graffiti artists painting
today.

Outside of his own work, Mare is one of the few in our space who is able to
contextualize the progression of our work and place it where it belongs,
amongst other great artists and art movements of our time.

Here are two recent pieces where Mare breaks down the science an meaning of
his B-Boy studies..

Graffuturism Blog:

http://graffuturism.com/

Mare’s interview:

I keep this photo up on a wall in my office. I took it outside the Hayden Planetarium on 81street in September 1985. It’s a photo of the 1 line dynamic duo of Poke & Epic, with their (and my) mentor Doze. Every time I see this photo I think of those painted Jeans, and jackets that we all had. In those days mystery was important, and your identity was completely hidden to other writers. The only indication of your membership in the secret underground society would be ink or track grease on your sneakers,  or the tell-tale hoodie (hood up!). Except when you wore your Lee jacket, or in this case- Jeans. On those days you absolutely had to be carrying something in your pocket in the event that someone who didn’t like you saw you rocking your denim (see the standard issue ‘Rambo’ knife in Zear’s hand below). There was no chain-tucking on those days, if you got caught in a bad spot- you were fully exposed. In fact, I learned for the first time what a few important writers actually looked like back then because I saw them their ‘colors’. My first paid hustle was painting Lee jackets for kids in my school at the time - including one for the young MC Serch, long before there was a 3rd Bass. I haven’t seen a Painted Lee jacket in a long time except for the famous Caine vest that Martha Cooper wears. I’m sure if we all dug out our closets we would find some real Jewels.

My good friend Joey Gallagher created this small video of a mural I painted this past weekend in L.A.

WESTONE FREEDOM SUITE MURAL LOS ANGLELES from Joey Gallagher on Vimeo.

I’ve been in the lab for a few months working on a new body of work. If you’re in the L.A. area at the end of the month come check it out..

This weekend marked the opening of the MOCA ‘Art in the Streets’ exhibition out here in L.A. - A milestone for the culture in both good and bad ways. I will offer my two cents on that here in the future, but for right now, I wanted to post something that is an integral part of this culture’s history - Graff magazines. Just as our ancestors communicated by smoke signals to alert one another of an impending attack, a method that later evolved to the ‘Polybius Square’ - one of the earliest forms of cryptographic communication, The graffiti magazine was a way for our culture to communicate over land and sea, before the internet existed.

Publishers, usually writers themselves, would gather flicks and offer commentary on what was happening in the streets and on transit. This is another medium (along with sculpture, collage, and uncountable letter styles) pioneered by the master Phase 2. In it’s earliest manifestation Phase’s IGT - International Graffiti Times offered flicks and commentary on style, but also a strong anti-establishment and highly politicized message about power (the City, The MTA), and Graffiti’s threat to /and struggle with it..It was heady stuff for young writers, but we read these cover to cover and soaked it all up. As Graffiti proliferated around the world (in no small part to these mags) they became more and more of an update about what was happening in different cities - with glossy photos, and in depth interviews. I have heard from many writers over the years, mostly from Europe and middle America - that they became aware of my/our work through these mags - a lifeline to the scene on the edges of the island built bay Subway Art..
Here a few of my favorites from the collection…

“Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts.” -Mary Harris “Mother” Jones