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Home>News>One Shot Deal : Graffiti NYC
Date added: 12/28/2012 One Shot Deal : Graffiti NYC

DCEVE is a New York City based graffiti writer who is a member of the SMART CREW artist collective.  He has only been writing graffiti since 2000, but his interest in the sub-culture started at age 11.  Looking out of the window in his parents' car on the highways in the late 80's and early 90's, DCEVE first noticed graffiti on the highways of north Queens painted by the TMR Crew.  He was attracted by the mystery of this world when he started recognizing the same names over and over in different places.  “Why did people do it?  What kind of people did it?  How did they do it without being seen?”  These were all questions that eventually led him to try it for himself.  Practicing his graffiti in class became a daily routine.  Tags, throw ups and sketches on loose-leaf paper soon outnumbered his actual school notes. DCEVE never had any formal art school training but graffiti taught him a lot and quickly opened his eyes to a completely new world.  Traveling to different neighborhoods to do graffiti led to traveling to different cities and eventually different countries.   His work can be seen in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.  “When I travel to a foreign place, I always feel like I can let loose with my graffiti more than when I’m at home.  I guess you can say that ignorance is bliss, but I just feel a lot more comfortable painting without permission abroad.” When it comes to his artwork, DCEVE prefers to keep things creative, clever (SMART), and most importantly "fun."  While he does a lot work with permission these days, he only considers it "real graffiti" when it is done without permission.   DCEVE has worked with a variety of mediums but prefers to use traditional aerosol paint. “You always hear the cliché saying about how graffiti was a positive influence that saved certain people from a life of drugs, crime, gangs, etc. but you rarely hear about how graffiti could actually hold someone back in life or even introduce them to more serious crimes.  I feel that most successful graffiti writers have a very strong work ethic and put in a lot of effort just to write their names while having to avoid law enforcement at the same time.  With that said, I could have probably put all this energy from writing graffiti into being a doctor or a scientist by now.   But, if I ever had the option to do it all over, I probably wouldn’t change a thing.”  -DCEVE It was the blackbook, a Graffiti sketchbook, that his friend brought into their fourth grade classroom, that attributed to Stae2’s earliest exposure to the renegade art form known to many as Graffiti.  The colorful compositions, balanced typography and lettering, illustrations, cartoons and urban landscapes, captured his imagination and sparked his desire to learn more, leading him to a lifelong passion for the art.  Known for his versatile approach to lettering and painting, Stae2 often bounces from a whimsical, cartoon style, to more serious and dynamic works using color, rendering and technique.  A longtime student of traditional New York Graffiti, his ability to mix classic with contemporary, funk with soul, result in a wide spectrum of works, using his unmistakable signature touch.  Against his better judgement, and the wishes of his family and friends, he continues to paint illegally on freight trains and abandoned buildings, or other condemned structures calling for his signature.  Stae2's work in New York City and across North America have made him into an influential writer within the Graffiti culture.  His globally published work and involvement in projects like *The Graffiti Exchange have, and will continue, to impact future generations of writers, as he continues to strive for painting his ever elusive, perfect Graffiti "masterpiece".  *http://thegraffitiexchange.blogspot.com/

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