ARTIST INTERVIEW: POEM 2 WEST COAST
I was introduced to art in general (not necessarily graffiti) from my cousin who was known as “Davie Dee” aka WARPIG in Oakland, Ca. In the mid 80’s. Davie Dee was his up-rock dance name, WARPIG was the art name he went by. He was doing artwork on clothes for the neighborhood kids and I was drawn to the movement of the letters that flowed with the wrinkles and layers of the clothes he rocked. Soon after I tried to mimic what he was doing on my own clothes which eventually led to bombing the city.
ARTIST FEATURE: VENG
From a different angle then just style, NY has so many years of graff that through exploring has giving me new ways of seeing the city that most dont get to see You can get into areas where tags from the 70s and 80s are still up when the city was different than today and it makes history come alive.
My Daily Routine - TASTE
I’ve always been interested in art since I was very young and through skateboarding and city kid existence I was naturally exposed to graffiti. I was around 16 when I first started showing interest in it because the city I’m from had a nice little scene with some pretty good Handstyles.
Letter Structure for dummies
Letters are the backbone of every piece.
Not only are you writing your name as much as you can but it needs to follow basic principles of flow, composition, balance etc.
I like letters to look like they all come from the same alphabet. I think in layers, starting with the “bones” of each letter and building them up with armor and weapons to defend and attack. They move and flow like bboy’s in a cypher or fish in a stream.
The Style Savant: SHAN
It all started after moving to Chicago for college, my roommate Dana use to tag a little here and there and she had introduced me to a lot of her graffiti writer friends. One night they passed me the marker on our way home from a party and I tagged my name on everything. After that I got a black book and started actually sketching for like 8 months. I then learned how to make ink and was doing mop tags for a few weeks, someone passed me a can one night when we were out doing mop tags I did my first spray tag. That hyped me up so the next day I decided I wanted to do my first roof to kick off the new year so we went out on new years eve with a group of like 5 other writers to paint a roof top. After that I was hooked.
Powerful Women in Culture: A testament to resilience & talent
Hip hop has long been regarded as a hyper-masculine culture, with graffiti and the wider community fostering a highly competitive and, at times, toxic environment. In this setting, it has often been difficult for newcomers, especially women, to break through. Despite this, countless women have made monumental contributions to the scene, shaping the culture in ways that are still felt today. In this post, we explore how these women have not only navigated the adversities placed upon them but also how they’ve used their talents and passion to elevate hip hop to new heights.