This year the Brooklyn Bodega crew aka Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival rocked a visual arts exhibit with some of today’s leading artists in conjunction with Jamel Shabazz’s 10th anniversary of BACK IN THE DAYS held at Power House Books. The theme “Under the Influence” of Hip Hop, Graff, Street, NYC, Culture, Love, and anything that continues to move and inspire us. Sending a big shout out to everyone that came through to support and to Royce and Alex for the invitation to get down. Good job fellas! Exhibit looks dope…

“The idea is to pay tribute to the culture and bring together artists who have something special in common – an influence, a back-story, a motivation. Hip-Hop wouldn’t have become the same  movement without the influence of the graffiti writers who created an aesthetic for a new generation. The artists in this show prove that the influence of the golden era keeps its roots and continues to inspire new creations. The influence is powerful and this show brings together both the pioneers and a new wave of artistic progression.”
- Corrie Zaccaria, Event Captain, The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival

Under the Influence of Love. Toofly Interview by Navani Otero

WHAT WE LOVE WE GROW TO RESEMBLE…

Full House!

Peeps, Art, and Books!

A must have in your book collection! Shout out to Jamel Shabazz, a wonderful man, and an amazing photographer who captured our beautiful culture…

Net, Craig Anthony Miller, Toofly, and Fumero….

Antonio Kel 5MH.

Love, Love Love my hommie Dizmology’s work….((( AMAZING ))))

The fly ladies, Yvey, TF, Vik, and Sofia Maldonado….

OH SNAP! JEN ONE is not playing….stay tuned…

Not bad for a ((( HOT )))  Tuesday night in NYC! Woohooo!

THE LOVE MOVEMENT by Toofly. Acrylic & Spraypaint on wood. Check out the process shots
The Love Movement paintings are officially installed at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn , NY. Shout out to the Love Movement /NY4NY team for making it happen. All originally paintings were created, and donated to school by the artists.

Back from Cali! Had a nice little weekend trip to the bay for the FEW & FAR female graffiti wall jam. Organized by the beautiful MEME. Big ups to you, and your team for pulling in graff girls from Miami, Seattle, NY, Jersey, and San Francisco wooohoo! Everyone was awesome, and super sweet. I love that!!! I had a blast meeting ya’ll, I’m sure we will all come together again sooner than later. Already scheming the next joint. A super big thank you to Shon for sponsoring the event, and to Art Primo, and Montana. Your support, it means a lot!  and to my hommies in SF hostess with the mostess miss Nancy Pilli! Love you girl, thank you for letting me crash in your humble oasis. Shout out to Patty and Vero and Domino tooooooo. Good times at the thug mansion;) haha!

Love it Love it Love it, let’s go!

The scaffold set us back a bit, but once we macgivered the shit and figured it out it was on! What a difference height makes…

mmmm I love to paint…can you tell?

This was originally gonna be a solo piece but then homegirl Dime came thru with some dope sketches and made a run for paint to make it happen. Love it when things just work out organically. It’s the best!

Go Dime, Go Dime…

Wasup ladies!!! Super sweet paint brush gals. I saw the cans action in there too very fly….nice to meet ya!!!

So happy to see m girl Acet pull thru from New Jersey and rep. She’s got a sick style…sick..style…love it! Can’t wait to see a final flick…

Hey! Big ups to the graff ladies who trooped it from Seattle YEAH!!! Shoot me your emails ladies!

Rain or shine baby…luckily the rain pour in the morning stopped and the sunshine saved the day…

I love meeting dope women. Specially when they’re hella cool. Gonna build;)

Shout out to Lady Mags. Super high piece, you rocked it girl. Gotta love that cherry lift…wish I owned one. I’ll be all over the place with that joint…so fun…

PS. Mags earrings were sick!!!! Custom baby…love it…I want a pair….

The gals, are rock’n and rolling….

Phooto by dyannaanfang on Flickr.

Myla’s pieces are like yummy stickers. So cleannnn….love it!

Acet action….

Siloette Action…

By the 2nd day closing in at 6pm as planned I was putting in the finishing touches….ahhh what joy it is to finish a work of art. Especially a HUGE one…

Very happy Dime and I pulled off this collabo. We were on point with the design details. Guerillera girlz all the way…

Going high baby…high…high…high…as the sky….elevated…high…high..high…consciousness….simply way up high where I can fly….ok I made that up just now. Yup.

I’m ready for the summer! and the rest of the flicks of the finished pieces…

Las Guerilleras,  “Warrior Women”

FEW & FAR, Oakland California; TOOFLY, SILOETTE, MYLA, ACET, LADY MAGS, KSRA, MISS REDS, MEME, DIME, and many more.

Final Flicks by ©Vanessa Solari Espinoza

its a wrap!

Taking a quick trip up to Oakland June 4th for an all female production wall entitled “Few ” Far” Shout out to Meme for organizing us, and hooking it up! See you ladies sooooooon…

Sunshine at last! well sort of with, dabs of showers here and there. Easter weekend got the painting season started. Anarkia was in town visiting from Brazil, and our good friend Spaze Crafte invited us to his rooftop in BK to rock a little collabo. Sweet, and beautiful lady…def building and planning what we can do together back in Rio. I’ve been meaning to go there on one of these trips, and now I have an amazing friend I can stay with:) THANKS GIRL! Anarkia is an amazing woman artist and organizer back in Brazil working with women against violence through her street art work. I think our meeting at this time is right on point. I look forward to our collaboration together, more after the jump!

IN LOVE WE TRUST…

Anarkia, Brazil

Thanks Joy! For taking flicks and building with us on some LA exhibits…

It’s amazing what a few scraps of paint can do. I need to re-stock painting season is here!

RAIN OR SHINE BABY! Next jumpoff painting party/veggie BBQ coming soon…

Toofly X Anarkia collabo has just begun…

Our Spaze Craft characters;)

GOOD TIMES! Shout out to everyone that came through to spend time with us and build. Also looking forward to working with SpazeCrafte on the rooftop workshops with our youth teams this summer. There’s gonna be a whole lot of FUN IN THE SUN this year stay tuned…

Gearing up for the Pantheon exhibition…

Photo by Jaime Rojo

PANTHEON: A history of art from the streets of NYC
Windows exhibition runs April 2-17, 2011
On view 24 hours a day @chashama at the Donnell // 20 West 53rd Street, b/w 5th & 6th Avenue New York, NY 10019 (across from MoMA)

Read more

As I approached the third and final stage of my trip I  finally decided on the message I wanted to convey on my last piece. I’m big on experiences. They help guide you throughout your life. Giving you signs as you build up your intuition. Each moment and person I come in contact with is a chance to understand the world and help create the necessary links. It’s all about the bigger picture,  if you believe it to be so. I was extremely happy that my ecua friends have become full on organizers and wonderful human beings. I enjoyed watching them put together an arts and culture event that is sure to grow and inspire their community year after year. All for the love of Hip Hop, and for the love of their pueblo. I was also particularly proud of the chance I had to show my grams and gramps what this is all about! Especially since they had the opportunity to see it come full circle in the land of their ancestors. So even though things got a little crazy in the motherland the day hate erupted like a volcano the opportunity to look at it’s ugly face proved yet again to all who was watching that it solved nothing. Disappointed and embarrassed one can only learn and change which is always good. The only revolution I believe in is LOVE & PEACE!

So the “peace” piece begins. The wall is located in Quito on a street called La Patagonia. The house where my mother was raised, and where I grew up before coming to the states. I decided to go full on latex this time because I can’t stand the spray paint. In the end though using brushes for a large mural was not as fun. ha! It was a nice try, but I’m an aerosol lover.

Ohhhh shit….what you know about librillo? This lady has been feeding the neighborhood her infamous librillo dish for 35+ years! Sweet little lady she allowed me to photograph her as she told her story. She sells about 15 dishes of this stuff in one trip to the patagonia and is done with her day and her living off this stuff. Librillo with potatoes and aji is one of  my favorite native ecuadorian soup dishes:)

Papito knows wasup. He needed to get the energy necessary to get his day on the roof started…

He’s always up to something en la casa del sur. He’s gotta be the ultimate bob the builder type of pop…lol

This street hasn’t changed in all 25+ years. My cousin Nancy and I played as little pasposita girls here just like all them little kids that were running up, and down the block while I was painting. While on a break and snacking on mandarins I began to think about how good these little kids had it. 5-6 years old playing and running around without any parent supervision. Happy and free. Parents in the states leash their kids up at that age just to walk on the streets! It’s a funny thing thing when you stop to notice these things…

after all the thinking I was doing about what life is like en el sur, I took a nap under the sun while my grandma knitted her little doily’s. She’s so cute!

Once my grandpa finished fixing the roof he came down to help me prep the old wall I did back in…2005! whoa that was a while ago…

Then it was hours and hours of brush work…

with a handmade ladder! made by gramps…

11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm…raindrops…

The hommies Diego and Disfraz who live near by came through to show some love before the rain rushed us out. Shout out to Barrio 593 for the 2 page interview and poster! The mag looks dope…and so does the design to their latest album release. I’m so proud of ya!!!

MUGRE SUR!

That rain turned into Graniso! I haven’t seen ice rain fall since I was like 6. I wish I would have had a cup I would have ate them little ice pebbles up!

but I settled for a rainy day of humitas con cafe and some some choclo con queso y avas! OMG…so good…native food is sooooOooooo gooood….

Thankfully one day before my flight back to NY and the day after all the madness the country went through I was able to get most of the piece done. Whew…and so it is…
“El Pueblo De La Paz” by Toofly. Quito, Ecuador 2010

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” – Jimi Hendrix

Back to the “land of the free”. Still trying to figure that one out. Until I’m actually living off the land, snacking on mandarins, and napping under the sun I will be happy with just “back to reality”. Which I have no problem with. As long as it runs smooth I’m cool with that. This trip to Ecuador sure was different, and I got to see what life looks like when it’s disorganized and in a state of chaos. Everything in between was gravy during my trip until the police decided to take over the country and protest! WTF? Can you believe they actually kidnapped the president! The police, and I’m sure power tripping goverment haters held him hostage over some decrease in wages and without any proper dialogue to discuss the issue they went ape shit and rebelled. Leaving citizens, and the country in a state of emergency. I had returned from some paseos to the country side to witness the streets in pure chaos, and live minute to minute video of gunshot battles between the military and the cops as they struggled to rescue the president to gain control of the madness. Banks were robbed, shops were vandalized, the airports shut down. It was a sad day for the motherland on September 30th, 2010. I didn’t know whether to laugh at one point, or actually worry about what was happening. Straight up action war movie status for 12hrs. I was unhappy watching the country fall apart. It’s not a good look. Luckily once the president Rafael Correa was safe, and back at the palace to deliver his speech people finally regained consciousness. With the help of powerful words, emotional choke ups, and patria songs the people of Ecuador got busy fixing their mess. I’m just glad it lasted ONE DAY. Whew…as my grandma would say “benidito sea dios”

LA LIBERTAD ESTA EN PELIGRO…

EL PANECILLO, QUITO

Anyway…before all the madness I was able to get some painting done, hang with my fam, and enjoy the beauty and peace I so desperately seek each time I dip out of the rotten apple…

On my way to the location I got a chance to see a bunch of productions with artists from Italy that had visited and a local artist named INFAME…There’s def way more graff /murals this time around…

en camino a la Avenida 6 de Diciembre. I was digging the new color they painted all the streets in…it was giving me cravings for some elado de mango.

As soon as I arrived I linked up with my Ecua hommies from La Communidad Hip Hop Ecuador and Barrio 593 and locked in to paint at the HIP HOP SIN VIOLENCIA event held en el sur de Quito. On top of the little mountain called el Panecillo where I grew up as a little pasposita girl. At 7am the DJ crew was already getting geared up for the street art/hip hop jam. The fellas were carrying over a heavy ass wooden table…I thought to myself…man they need them lightweight folding tables, but then I thought…this is dope. Bring out your momz biuro! Gotta work with what you got…

It was a beautiful morning, quiet, and sunny…fresh day to get started and paint in peace…in a few hours these streets would be full of bikers, artists, kids, and families who come to learn about what the youth with baggy jeans are up to…

Materials are so important. I forgot my mask! Luckily my grandpa had his little rags in the car and I was able to protect myself from the toxic paint fumes of their paint. Seriously I can’t hang with this paint, it makes it extremely hard for me to get shit done properly. Male caps vs Female caps. Argh…luckily one of the fellas had a connector. Saved! I need me a few for the next trip…

I was loving the location of the wall….it was a fly spot to paint. Great for photos…

Once the music got set up it was on!!!

Especially when this song came on what! Loved the beat…{ LA NiÑA by Mala Rodriguez }

The rest of the artists began to arrive, each holding a box of paint donated by the Ministerio de Cultura, and UNIFEM the united nations development fund for women.

Got a chance to meet them all and make plans for future trips here with an endless amount of walls and paint as soon as I return. YES!!! That made my day:) Muchas gracias! Estare en contacto con todos ustedes:)

Got a chance to get my photo doc moves on…I’m falling in love with photography more and more these days…

Folks conserve their materials here big time. I assume in all third world countries because of the limited quality in materials and income to purchase the right stuff. They use latex and spray to create most of their pieces…

Love shots with our pueblo people and the youth of today…

Can Ecuador please link up with the Europeans and get some of their paint pleaseeeeeeeeeee….I can’t stress it enough…

Props. They do work it though…I’m spoiled, lol!

The street art/hip hop jam block party, was a success! I’m always happy to see friends, momz, and neighbors come together to develop community events in their own hood with little to no money but full corazon! It’s inspiring…

Why is there always 1% of women repping tho? There’s plenty of space, room, and opportunity for you to shine mis lindas. Step up, rise up. Big ups to the 2 local women who were holding it down for the ladies…

I must say since my last trip the imagery, teqnique and walls have sure improved…

Their stencil artists too…

Semi-finito. Wall was hella big and the street that had shut down from 7am-3pm for bikers, runners, and people who wanted to enjoy their neighborhood strollz was gonna open up again and let hundreds of cars and buses roam through. Sigh…hopefully one day we will have less cars so we can all stop and smell the roses of life!

YO SOY EL SOL…

YO SOY LIBERTAD…

Ecua homegirlz steelo…

Shout out to my hommie Andres “Sapin” for linking me up with Disfraz MC del grupo Mugre Sur y Diego Palacios aka Psicosis who helped to organize this event. I am thankful for the invitation, and was hella lucky I made the trip during these dates. I always have a great time hanging with my ecua peeps, learning from each other, building, and painting under the sun of our beautiful land. Shout out to the women of UNIFEM for the interview and the opportunity to build with you on future events. Also to Jorge Cinesos from the Ministerio de Cultura who is recovering from the gunshot wounds from the riots;( Un abrazo grande a ustedes y a todos los grafiteros/artistas que pude conocer en el tiempo pequeño que tuve esta vez.  Con mucho cariño a todos. Asta el 2011!!!

OOoooooeeee back from Stockholm, Sweden! Wow. What a beautiful 3 day trip to Europe, and what a dope project to take part in. I had a great time at the ART OF THE STREETS event. Everything, and I mean everything was well organized and taken care of. I really appreciate and give much props to folks that put events like this together in a professional manner. Shout out to Jacob Kimvall, Tobias Barenthin, and producer of project Ceyan Holago for organizing Art of the Streets, and making my stay such a pleasure. You guys rock!!! I big thank you Riksteatern and the Sodra Teatern who help make events like this possible to support artists, and ideas that need a voice and a well respected platform. I didn’t realize how tough it had been for Stockholm to get an urban arts project like this to happen. The media was going bonkers over this. Apparently there is a lot of controversy surrounding an event that celebrates graffiti and street art. I guess I should have noticed. Stockholm is a very clean city, and the traditional folks in power are definitely not in support of graffiti or any type of illegal vandalism that could influence youth to go messing with their streets. The debates were pretty intense, I didn’t speak a word of swedish but I could feel the tension. Change is inevitable folks. The new generation will have it’s part and say just like you did. Graffiti and street art is not going anywhere. It’s only getting bigger and wiser. It will be just a matter of time until we are the ones in power making a few minor adjustments here and there to create the world we want…and on that note here’s to the beginning of it { cheers! }

DAY 1 – 14HRS LATER…TF HAS ARRIVED!

Hello Stockholm! Hello Scandic Malven Hotel! Flight was hella long but worth the wait to get to this flyyyyy hotel. Shout out to homie Ayman picked me up at airport, along with Adam Mansbach who wrote for Stress Magazine back in the days. Small world!  Had a nice chat on our way to airport. Peeps is peeps:)

Dope hotel. Organic breakfast buffet was no joke! Wow…too bad I have no flick of that. Really dig that they got Jamie Oliver from Food Revolution TV show to team up on their meals. Love that show!

Room 508, Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Ayo Cinik your on a wallpaper at the Sandic Malven hotel in Stockholm Sweden! lol, I think you better look into it. I wonder what the culture minister would say about this? hmmm….Is this graffiti? is this wallpaper? hmmm….

6PM. Approaching location. Eeek! nervous, but mad excited. Ready to rock a presentation and share my life’s work & Younity up to this point…

Sodra Teatern
Sweden’s foremost International venue for Music, Theatre & Debate!

Ghetto-electronica from Angola, Mexican punk-salsa, political drag from New York, streetsmart flamenco, avantgarde rock from Tokyo, and Senegalese hip-hop.

Every corner in the world has its own aesthetic expression… it’s  picked up, transformed, influenced by and influentially transposed into a world that is both microscopic and awesome at once. In our micro cosmos, we are always searching for new life-models and alternative outlooks.

Södra Teatern holds up the mirror to the world we see around us; presenting music, performance, debates and festivals. We are particularly fascinated with the world’s big cities, where cultures mix and clash to form scintillating new subcultures. On our stages we strive to expound upon new angles in culture, and to open your minds eye to places you have never been before. Here, we want to question identity, mix up reality and have a ball while we are doing it. We want to be the exciting watering ground where everyday you can meet interesting people, discover contemporary artistic expression, and be inspired anew!

Södra Teatern is a part of Riksteatern. We present events all year round on our three stages; The Main Stage, Södra bar and Kägelbanan. In 2007 over 160,000 people visited our venue and saw over 500 productions from all around the world!

Jolie was up first. I was so bummed we didn’t get a chance to catch up:( Haven’t seen her since Berlin in 2008! Wasup Jolie!!! Tough timing homegirl I’ll hit you up through FB. Huggggz!

Wow I was SOooo honored:) Presentation went great!!! It’s a lot easier when you speak from the heart. People respect and get inspired by the honesty and risks one takes in order to follow their dreams. It’s a universal language when you show people you care and how you made the journey to discover who you want to be in this world.  The more you fight for it the more folks will support you because they understand how powerful it is to just do it! I thank everyone for their questions, and chance to understand where I came from and how I got to this point. I’m still thinking about many of the things you guys asked. Truly felt { Loved } THANK YOU!

Finally got a chance to meet and kick it with RosyOne! Love her work. Her style. Her attitude. Look out for her new book coming out soon. Congratulations Rosy!!!

Live painting by ROSYONE

Classic Steelo. PROPS hommie I’ll be in touch!

First night was awesome. Kicked ass on the presentation, the organizers welcomed the tooflowers with open arms, met Rosy, and ate some delicious fish and shrimp with potato…

YUM. This was just the beginning of them little food tickets they provided the artists with. Riksteatern knows how to treat their artist! { bowing with many many thanks }

DAY 2 RISE & SHINE!

Big day today. Woke up and saw the news was all over the event….

Big ups to Ceylan Holago  producer of Art of the Streets event. Woohooooo!!! Breaking barriers one at a time…

Tobias representing for graffiti and street art with the culture minister of Sweden! wow…I couldn’t understand a word they were saying but it felt intense. eeek!

Ok seriously I wanted to pinch myself every time I had them meal tickets and sat to eat at their beautiful terrace…

I was in heaven. Every meal I had was amazing…yum…

TOOFLY WORKSHOP: STYLE 2-3PM

Time to get to work. My Style workshop went pretty smooth. Everyone got hooked up with an unlimited supply of Art of the Streets special sketchbook and markers. There were about 15-25 members and their ages ranged from 10-30+. I was especially happy to see a graffiti dad and his two sons working on pieces together, sketching, and coloring.  That was awesome! Shout to that dad, who reminded me of how much better this all is when you have the support of your family. There is an amazing power and magic that happens when you can share this with your children. Those kids are gonna be amazing when they grow up. You can count on that:)

Zoned out…Art is theraputic…you can’t deny that.

A little technique secrets to go around and folks felt comfortable enough to rock their aerosol skillz. Practice makes perfect…

Shout out to Lotta rocking out on the free for all wallz. Not many women stepped up to rock, and I was especially feeling this drippy marker. Gonna get me one and try some pieces with it, shit is fresh!!! I love drips…drips drips drips…

LIVE GRAFF BY TOOFLY 4-5PM

Here we go…Got 2 hours to share my live classic steelo with the Swedish community…

ART OF THE STREETS – STOCKHOLM 2010 baby!

After a long day of painting, workshops, and panel discussions I headed back to hotel which was only like 5 minutes away. Had to get ready for the closing party!

Found a little bit of street art along the way…

Party time!

{ Drum roll please } If ya don’t know now it’s the time to find out.  The Secret Wars was in full effect for the first half of the kick off and closing party. These guys from what I think I understood are the original art battle creators of the live marker art performance. What a freak’n awesome performance this was. Amazing!!! and the best part is I got a chance to participate:) Yay!

This is how live art indoors at club events should be done. Been saying it for years in NY. You gotta go all out like this if you really want to do it right. Shout out to Secret Wars for developing this idea you guys are AWESOME!!!

Even though I’m personally not a fan of art battles, I needed to feel this one out. 90 minutes of music, marker lines, and some freestyle flows. ATOM & TOOFLY Get Free…

Shout out to our competitors. I was especially digging Olli’os steelo on them vines. I’m still not down for art battles but guess what…Atom and Toofly won the battle wooohooo!

Time for jamz. DJ’s were off the hook. Mad beats…

Sweden’s Hip Hop community…

What an awesome event. No redbull to hold me down just pure happiness and some club soda with Ice. Ahhhh….I feel the blessings. Thank you peeps! You are great people. You have love, and the warrior spirit. Together we can and will share the dopeness and inspire folks to bring back the love:) Big hugggz to all, and many many thanks for this beautiful experience!

Day 3: GAMLA STAN coming soon….

Couldn’t leave town without scheduling a collabo with home girl Bisy who was visiting from Chile. It was a sweet Sunday afternoon up at the 5 Pointz rooftop overlooking the city. We started a bit late but got a chance to experience the sun setting which added a nice warm glow to the flicks. Shout out to Meres for hooking up the spot, and helping make 5 Pointz a dope location for artists who visit New York to have a place to rock their skillz.

Bisy hasta la proxima mujer! Fue un placer pintar contigo. Aver si visito Chile el proximo año para volver a pintar:) Nos vemos besos!

What a beautiful day to paint…not too hot…just right…

Sunsets rock…

Love this shot…

Shout out to Marlon for stopping by and taking flicks for us:) Thank you!

love my photo breaks. I get to explore…

Hope they don’t get rid of these residential buildings and replace them with any more condos:( Wonder how long before we no longer see the city landscape…

Wish we can bring the cherry lift up here and rock this wall…dope spot…

adding the finishing touches…

Finito!

Loving me new steelo…

TOOFLY & BISY 5 Pointz 2010! { Chile/New York }

I’m out. See ya when I get back from Stokholm, Sweden!

Heading to San Francisco August 20th for the Sisterz of the Underground 9th year anniversary. Gonna rock some live art, and kick it with the hommies. Hope to see ya’ll there!!!

Sisterz of the Underground (SOTU) is a community, network, and support system created by, and for, females who choose Hip-Hop as a form of expression. As an open Hip-Hop collective, SOTU aims to encourage the integration of different elements of Hip-Hop, use the elements as tools for education and social change, as well as provide opportunities to showcase the elements — such as the annual Sisterz of the Underground event.

Read more

Back in NY. Finally get a chance to catch up on my flicks! We had a great time in at the 3rd Eye Open Hip Hop Festival in New Bedford, Massachusetts this past weekend. Shout out to Ben Glbarg for hooking us up! Thank youuuuuu:) Event was dope, piece came out fresh, and we had some delicious seafood wow! Now we know where New England clam chowder comes from:)

The official road trip painting crew for 2010: TOOFLY, VIK, YVEY, and SHIRO. Good Times!

DAY 1 3RD EYE OPEN HIP HOP FESTIVAL. “YEAR OF THE WOMAN”

Live Painting 8 X 24 foot wall…

Always happy when Shiro comes to NY for the summer. It gives us an opportunity to catch up on an entire year of projects, relationships and family:) Hommie 4 life right here. Summer is sOOooo busy for all of us trips like make all the difference in our lives. Love you Shiro!

Aight…time to get busy…tweeting away the process…

Photo opps for the the little kidz…

Shout out to Yvey who not only was our designated driver, but held down our booth and took flicks of our pogress. Thanks Yvey!!!

Making progress…taking mad breaks in between…it was HOT!

Love them skater kidz and their funky decks. This deck matches my piece…

mmmm’mmmm my favorite! Love DEL’S FROZEN LEMONADE ahhhhhhhh – yes save. Ice Ice baby!

Time to pull in the shade tactics to preserve our energy…

FINITO! 6-7 hours later…Wow, loved the colors scheme we chose to go with…still loving green and everything in between…that pink neon eye shadow was yummy….I gotta get me more…

VIK is sick with her letters…love it!!!

Shiro’s character was so on point with the event! Tough Love…Rise up Ladies! Sooooo Fly!

Very happy with this collabo, the crew, and the whole event. THE WALL WAS A SUCCESS!!! P.S. We were the only women painting at this event. Yes mam!

Back from the hotel, and refreshed for some final press flicks…

THE TOOFLY CREW did it again baby! They don’t call me an organizer freak for no reason! lol…

Finally ha a chance to take a stroll around the park. This was a huge event, there was so much to see, taste, and take flicks of…

WOW. some of the other artists/live pieces were beautiful! Especially this one…DOPE.

Art was everywhere…T-shirts, Skin, Paper…everywhere…

B-Boyzzzzz doing their thang on the vinyl…

Graffiti Letter Classics…

They def got a hip hop scene up here…without a doubt…

Shout out to all the artists of 3rd Eye Open. Wish I had all your names!

Made it to Jean Grae’s performance…but was beat. All we wanted was some seafood, and a pillow. Zzzzzz…..

DAY 2

Refreshed, and rested. Swam in the pool for a bit, and then hit the road in search of beautiful things, and relaxing views…

There’s nothing like an ice cold beer, or an ice cold ice cream during the summer…OMG 2 scoops! Sherbet….mmmmmm”

fresh breeze and a lake to sooth the soul, and soak our five’s…

Silly on the swing time!

We were having too much fun with the automatic setting on the camera. Lol! We couldn’t stop…

Got super duper lucky during lunch when we passed by a SEAFOOD FESTIVAL! What…OMG cold beers, Fish & Chips, Clam Strips, Lobster Rolls, Fried Shrimp, you name it…we had it:)

It was a beautiful day with the gals…

Before we knew it it was time to hit the road again, and get back to our regularly scheduled program. Pulled out the Brand Nubian album and zoomed out.

Graffolution exhibit this past Friday was pretty hot. Literally! and my camera died ahhh! couldn’t get all the shots I wanted:( Borrowing a few from my FB friends while I wait on Yvey’s fly girl shots…

SOAP STONE GALLERY, NYC. Photo by Conrad Landais

Packed. Shout out to my hommie Sol for coming through. It was great to see you!

Embedded Within SOLD! wooohooo thank youuuuuu:)

Detail…

Our peeps UR NEW YORK with the dope canvas printed layered NYC piece joints…

diggn’ these Matt Siren pieces on metal signs…especially Mistress piece.

Our boy ELLIS G, with the classic photo prints…

Caught up with Frankie and Rimix for a bit before making moves…

Masahiro went all out on this 3D piece…You gotta see it up close. Dope!

Funky Fresh…

Great view when you get out of gallery. Spent most of the night outside chatting it up with folks and enjoying a hot summer night in NYC…

Switching it up left and right this year, and heading out of NY to see how folks in other city’s rock HIP HOP FESTIVALS. I miss the days when we used to take trips to the Philly BBOY BBQ to paint, and share a little slice of happiness with the Philly community. Those days are long gone now, but lucky for us the movement has grown and we can now travel to different cities. New landscape, new faces, and new organizers who know how to take care of their artists. Who’s rolling this year? The one and only VIK! – Her letters and pieces are sick. Love her work. Lucky for us they extended the budget and we are happy to announce SHIRO’S on board YAY!!! Yes mam, in NY for just 2 months and I’m dragging her to another city, Lol! Finally gonna get a chance to celebrate music, celebrate art, and most of all celebrate people together:)  NEW BEDFORD, MA see ya soon!!!

3RD EYE OPEN. HIP HOP FESTIVAL. YEAR OF THE WOMAN!

Featuring: JEAN GREY • CLIMBING POETREE  • TIYE PHONEIX
Live Graff Art by; TOOFLY, VIK, & SHIRO,
Buttonwood Park in New Bedford, MA
Saturday, July 17, 2010 // 9am – 8:30pm // FREE FOR EVERYONE!!!
www.3rdeyeunlimited.com

PRESS RELEASE BELOW >>>

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Got a group exhibit coming up soOOn check it…

GRAFFOLUTION

- The evolution of graffiti and street Art-
Curated by Frankie Velez & Mike Mcmanus
Thursday July 15th 2010 7pm – 11pm

SOAPSTONE GALLERY
36th St. Btwn 5th & 6th Ave. 5th fl.
A C E F D Q R N W 1 2 3 to 34 ST. Herald Square

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