Anatomy of Graffiti
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On Patrol in Alphabet City
With this, the last painting for this series I wanted to begin my departure into the 3rd series coming next month. The complex reality of creating 13 new theme-based paintings has self-manifested. It’s difficult to express what this piece means to me because
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Rhino Saurases
“Once again the letter R makes its appearance. This was so you can view 2 paintings, completely different of each other yet created from the same letter. I wanted to show how different one letter can be treated, the Rhino conveniently beginning with the letter I was portraying was just lucky coincidence. The animal worked perfectly in showing its weight and strength for this piece.”
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XO
“You can almost feel my groove here, i have been painting steady for weeks now, the concepts for this month are locked in and im feeling good, i can now turn any letter or word into an animal or origami, my mind wrapped around the concept and my body
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Grrrrrr
“This is another hysterical piece. The letter G is so clear and the face is so prevalent that it looks like it could really be a letter or animal. It has so many characteristics that make it seem
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$-Dollar Sign
Money, the root of EVL? I’ts a theme that will definitely repeat during the course of 13-13. Everyone loves it, everyone needs it, everyone wants it! I struggled with piece. The $ was the first piece for this show that I created,
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The Bird, Flipped
Maybe I bit off too much with this one, but goodness how I love a challenge. I never actually made paper boats but I have seen them in movies and they often portray an innocence or tranquility. I wanted to flip that idea and what flips better than “the bird?” So here is what I imagine flipping the bird, rather un-serenely.
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Valentine
“Ok ok, this piece doesn’t really have as much to do with this show but with Valentines Day approaching, and V not being one of my favorite letters, I wanted to paint it for several reasons. First, as a gift to everyone that loved my last exhibit and as a farewell to the previous theme which I already
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The R
Certain letters in general are more challenging than others, which is why they appear often in my paintings. I chose the “R” to do both as origami as well as animal because it moves more freely in my mind. To me it can be sexy or aggressive and this piece I wanted mean. It’s an “angry R” and aggressive letters always make for good graffiti!
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Erni Vales is EVL
“I am not evil but I am EVL. EVL is Erni Vales Limited. It’s also a play on words. EVL is the basis for most of my style: from my graffiti- always bold, mean, strong- carries over to my canvas as well. Here I was really feeling the concept of origami or the whole folded paper concept. After the first few paintings my mind starts to
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S and Ms
The letter S is also a wonderful letter for graffiti styles.. It’s sexy with its curves but completely balanced and can be made to lean different directions, heavy or light. Transforming it into an animal was a lot of fun. While I was painting him
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X Rated
(porno pages/peep show origami) If I was really going to set out to make origami I would definitely try using the glossy pages of my classic Porn stash, (yes classic since I have been carrying around the same
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First in Flight
When I was very young, growing up in the Lower East Side projects on the 13th floor, one of my favorite things to do was make paper airplanes to launch from my bedroom window. It was a thrill getting them to sail through the air, making adjustments and improvements with each launch using
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Feathered Friend
before. This is exactly why I needed to create this piece. Many people don’t know that out of millions of graffiti styles worldwide done by thousands of great artists, I inspired and even created some of them.” Tweet
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