ABOUT
Maria “TOOFLY” Castillo
Toofly’s journey into the world of art began with her commute to public school from her Corona, Queens neighborhood. Her trips were filled with adventurous sketches as she immersed herself in the myriad of graffiti tags, fill-ins, and outlines viewed on almost every deconstructive surface along the way. It was precisely the rebellious artistic spirit of the 90’s street graffiti movement that drove Toofly to join its subculture ranks.
Highly influenced by the calligraphy and illustration skills of some exceptional writers at the time, a teenage Toofly aspired to become the female version of what she most admired. She began to develop her own knack for “hand styles” and her unique Toofly characters. Her work soon blossomed on various graffiti black books, allowing her skills to be recognized by writers across the five boroughs.
By the time Toofly entered the School of Visual Arts (SVA), she had introduced her character to the walls of New York. At SVA, she applied her artistic skills to illustration and graphic design coursework. Finding inspiration in the New York urban landscape, this artist in the making began to juxtapose her “around the way girl” character against multi layered street imagery for various print and public street art projects.
Toofly’s constant and active role in the hip hop community allowed her to remain true to her roots, as she continued to draw raw feelings from the ever-changing and spontaneous public art world around her. Her most recent projects include her independent artist collection made up of t-shirts, desiner toys, graffiti bags, art prints, jewelry, and stationary. In 2007 Toofly and partner Alice Mizrachi founded a female urban arts collective called Younity in which they are steadily pushing forward with visual art exhibitions, book publishing, and mentorship art programs for young women in the arts.
Toofly’s art and design work have appeared in various books, video, and magazines such as Graffiti Women, Burning New York, Current TV, MTV Tr3, Trace, YRB, Juxtapoz, and Marie Claire.
TOOFLY NYC™ – SHOP
TOOFLY NYC is the signature fashion & accessories collection based on the art, design, and life of New York City’s graffiiti artist “Toofly.” It officially launched independently in the Spring of 2007 exclusively online. By the fall of that year TOOFLY NYC™ gained the interest of boutiques nation wide, and countries like UK, and JAPAN. Her Limited edition art prints, T-shirts, vinyl toys, jewerly, and works of art could now be found in selected boutiques and specialty shops in limited quantities.
STAY TRU™
Stay Tru™ is Toofly’s independent art & design company with services in; Art Direction, illustration, Graphic Design, Logo Design, Hand Style Lettering, Photography, Styling, Live Art, and Consulting. Clients include:
| RAYBAN www.ray-ban.com BET www.bet.com MTV Tr3s T-MOBILE 4KIDS ENTERTAINMENT TRIGGER HAPPY SWANDIVE FILMS |
KIDROBOT www.kidrobot.comUPPER PLAYGROUND upperplayground.com METHODS NYC FEMALE SNEAKER FIEND MAMA CLOTHING DJ LAYLO JASMINE SOLANO |
ESTILO HIP-HOP / CBM www.estilohiphop.netWE B-GIRLZ www.b-girlz-berlin.com INTERMEDIA ARTS JUSTICE COMMITTEE FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE RUFF RYDERS |
Toofly, Artist :: 120 Seconds from friendswelove.com on Vimeo.
YOUNITY ARTS™
YOUNITY was founded in New York City in 2007 by noted artists Alice Mizrachi and Toofly. After spending many years involved in the art world, they came to the realization that women artists do not have a properly-organized forum through which to disseminate their ideas to contemporaries and showcase their work to the public at large. The confines of galleries were too rigid and staid; the ‘white cube’ did not lend much room for personal expression and individual style. They wanted to create a place wherein females could tell their own stories in more universal, down-to-earth voices. They also wanted to build a stable community in which they could teach the next generation what goes into the process of setting up art shows and try to successfully spread artistic ideas. The organization’s name derives from its overarching concept of creating a solid group filled with unique, autonomous participants. Each member has her own flavor, and can retain that identity even in the context of a collective body. Thus, the concept behind YOUNITY was born.
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