TOOFLY NYC

The #TooflyWorkshops are growing in number every year, and I am happy to continue to work with the Pepatian folks uptown in the BX.  This year they granted a few of the women in hip hop artists like myself the opportunity to teach and continue out graffiti, break dancing, DJ, spoken word, and much more lesson plans.  Shout out to the youth at Bronx Works, and The Point after school program who took the time to create some cool art with messages during these cold March days in NY.

Mural Installation in Dumbo Brooklyn for Project Art! Trying to diversify my stylez in art & design for my STAY TRU clients.  Shout out to @Mistadrumin for the art assistance, baked oven pizza, and laughs. Thank you Adarsh and team at Project Art. Doing great things for youth in various communities across the USA.

Sometimes my travels are not all filled with fun. There are important matters to take care of and I make the effort just the same. I testified last week and did my best. I can not talk about the case at this time but I do want to mention that we are standing for what we believe in. You can follow the news articles online for some insight into the case. We’re making history. Shout out to friends and artists who stand for the culture that raised us and we believe in.

qz.com

www.nytimes.com/2017

www.nydailynews.com

#Justicefor5Pointz

Grafiteras opening day! Dime and I put some good work on this event and the space was perfect to display our works, rock a collaborative installation, set-up shop, and invite young people for a workshop the next day. We had a great time! I looooooved seeing my Oakland friends, and meeting new ones. Our guests truly enjoyed the exhibit, and the space. These are the kind of gallery exhibits I enjoy the most where it feels like a community vibe and genuine appreciation for what we do as artists, and how we represent our people. Breakdancers and all! Check out the flicks a big thank you to everyone who was involved in making it happen. Exhibition runs thru October 1st! Don’t miss it. #Grafiteras

THANK YOU OAKLAND!

Ladies Love Project Summer Pop-Up Shop 2017 At The Living Gallery this year! Good times. Thank you LLP Crew, Circa 95, and everyone who helped us get the event rolling this year. Our guest photogrpher this year 19 year old Tatiana Lovera. ( some are Toofly flicks and some are Shiro Flicks )

LLP DAY 2!

THANK YOU LLP FAM!

The #TooflyPopUpShop returned this year for the 2nd time at Rebelution Ink now known as Fresh Off The Press. The printing location where my shirts, tank tops, and tote bags are printed. The space is a perfect size for what I need and it’s in an excellent location in Williamsburg  near train, restaurants, bars, parks, waterfronts, and more. When curating an event all these elements need to be in place. It allows guests to hang out in the neighborhood after or before pop-up and keep the night going long after event is over. This year I decided to give it a little twist! In the past I only opened up shop for 1 day, this time I decided to do a weekend long event and introduce a sip & mingle mixer in the patio, and a workshop. It worked out pretty good, despite the rain. You just never know with the weather these days and Saturday was pouring! Special shout out to friends, and guests that trooped it that day. Especially my cousin Chill Will who got a chance to celebrate his B-Day with all of us after the pop-up. Sunday was a lot nicer and I was happy to see the hommies swing thru for a much needed chat. There is never enough time but when we carve it out it’s perfect. Students enjoyed the workshop earlier that day, and it made me think that an adult workshop needs to happen. Who doesn’t want to sip and make art on a Sunday afternoon? I found that the conversations with the ladies and gents is hella fun! I need to work on this idea a bit more. The events I am curating are small and a great learning experience to fine tune them. It feels good to bring people together and the vibe is genuine. It’s not about hype or faking the funk that your authentic, like so many events these days. Before all that BS we just had a good time together with music, drinks, and company. Community minded folks know what’s up and they will troop it rain or shine. I appreciate that. These events take months, love, and work to prepare. Shout out to everyone that came thru to support and purchase some TF goodies, Randy for holding us down on all aspects of the space, and to my wonderful team Ana Lovera on TF sales and Crafty Cocktales for teaming up this year on the mixer. Thank you NYC!

By now ya’ll know I don’t live in NY anymore right? I have been gone for 5 years and the transition was pretty smooth. I still gotta work tho. Only now I get to live as an artist full time. My dream has come true! It’s something I have always wanted and strived for. I have chosen to live the country life in Ecuador, and the city life in the states a few month out of the year. When you grow up in NY you have this “you can make it anywhere” mentality, and it’s true. You can. When you grow up in NY you make a lot of friends, it’s part of city life, it’s part of urban life. Over time those wonderful friends  jumpstart their biz, and the real work begins. Especially when their business models are educational, creative, and socially responsible. It is the kind of friends I like to work with! I am a worker. I love to get involved and make ideas work. It is the kind of energy that motivates me. I now have the opportunity to pop-up in NY for a workshop, a project, a gig, a wall, etc; It keeps things in life fun for me. That is how I do these days, and it’s working out. I LOVE IT! June is not too hot, and not too cold. Perfect to work outdoors. This year Thrive Collective and I took the time to reconnect and set-up a workshop as soon as I arrived. The #tooflyworkshop has become part of what I do as an artist. I have so much I have learned over the years that I can now share with others on a professional level. It is gratifying work, especially when it’s with youth. Each workshop is different, and with Thrive we have history. It makes this particular collaboration special to me. Wow 10 years. Time flies in NY.Make sure you make the time count. Back in the days when LASE NYC and I worked together ( Motug Days ) he brought me on to many creative and pioneering projects that I am thankful for. With Thrive, I think before it was called Thrive we painted at a public school in the Lower East Side. This is where I got to meet Jeremy Del Rio and all the wonderful community folks who continue to do the “good work” in a changing city. I am happy and proud of them. Thanks guys! Shout out to all the students involved in beautifying their schools walls.

Thank You Thrive Collective!

Feels good to be back and writing these posts! I have a bunch to get thru and a mess of work so I will keep them a bit short. Welling Court Mural Project this year was smooth. No rain to worry about! usually that messes with my schedule. The sunshine peeked thru, and a little heat wave hit us so it made painting outdoors nice. This year @Sinned NYC, Maria, and I worked in a few details in each of our pieces to get the collaborative effect to happen. We should definitely try to do it more often with everyone on that long wall. I think it could give it a new twist. What do ya’ll think? Homegirl Daniella Harris came back this year to help me prep the wall, and continue to practice her aerosol skills. Thank you D! My lovely friend Irene ( TopShelf Photography ) pulled thru before the madness to take some action shots and catch up on all the bochinche we missed. Ha! We love to laugh, and we get along so great together. Love ya gurl! – That day was a lot of fun, and even more so that Ledania arrived to NY all the way from Bogota, Colombia! Such a treat to invite her to WellingCourt. She got a chance to paint next to Lady Pink. Happy I was able to introduce them at the Warmi Paint Festival in Ecuador in 2015.  It made it a lot smoother for her to rock a spot when there was none left. It’s tough man, there are hardly any new walls left at WellingCourt. Luxury condos are going up everywhere even near the projects. Less walls, means less room for artists to paint, especially traveling artists. I did notice a bunch of new artists this year, not many locals. I think it’s a good idea to get new folks in the mix, and switch it up. I must say there’s nothing more fun to see your friends from all the years of painting in this city back year after year. Change is inevitable, gotta enjoy the good old old days and the new days. Gentrification is not going anywhere, but more than likely we will be. What is important is to continue to get everyone together. A lot of people came thru this year, thank you for making the troop. Families, and people of all sizes, colors, and ages are still out there for the community vibe in the company of the artists that return with new work to share. Thank you WellingCourt!

Irene, Toofly, Ledania. I have an idea how about a painting trip to Colombia together!:) 2018

Photography by TopShelf ©2017

Photography by Alexandra Henry © 2017

I was unable to get a final shot of the wall facing ( front ) too many cars. There’s no parking here on Tuesdays from 10am-1pm anyone want to shoot it? 30th Ave, and Main Ave. If so please send to tooflynyc@gmail.com It’s a good flick to have in case it get’s published. Thank you! Photo by Daniella Harris

Its time to save the date! Flyer and press release coming soon…

Year 8! Happy WellingCourt Mural Project is still on course. There’s are not many Street Art/Mural events I am fond of in NY that are as authentic as this one. It’s chill, it’s in my borough, and it’s put together by down to earth organizers. Folks that have been in NY building with communities before all the hipsters got here and turned these events into greedy corporate locations and leeching off our true school vibes. WellingCourt is still community based, and we like it this way! The community comes out to BBQ, their kids come out to play, and true new yorkers know what’s up when you troop it here. June 10th! Follow @toofly_nyc for progress shots.

www.wellingcourtmuralproject.com

The #TooflyPopUpShop is back! It’s been a few years but this time around I had a little more time to put it together the right way. I am currently enjoying the process of curating events at various places. Something about getting all the pieces to an idea where people get together gives me great joy. Like painting I am putting together theme, color, and design to tell a story. Our story. Save the date!

I’m excited for June! Lot’s in the works this summer. The second #TooflyWorkshop has a date, a space, and a time. Get on the list only 8 spots left as of today!

I had an opportunity to go to NY right after Mexico and rock a mural workshop with the Pepatian Hip Hop Academy. I haven’t been back to Bronx Works in about two years because the program is usually in March. It’s very cold in NY during that time so I try to avoid it. This time I decided to make the stop, and troop it like the native New Yorker I used to be. It was nice to see some of the students I worked with a few years ago, they are all grown up! Wow, time just keeps flying. I was happy that Jane Gabriel’s made it happen, and that Bronx Works approved a wall for us. In the past the kids and I had worked on the “My Name Is” workshop, as well as the “Hip Hop” canvas/stencil workshop. It was time for a mural! Hip Hop Culture has changed over the years, it is important for many of the educators to teach it’s roots. We have to know where we are from in order to know where we are going.  The “Hip Hop Don’t Stop” mural workshop sprung from this idea, and students got a chance to learn about the four elements + pioneers in the process. It became a large story book they can use to talk with others about, especially new students joining the program. They are proud of their work and want to share what they created. It was really fun to see some of the kids zone out and forget time and space when they were painting. I know what that feels like — I live for that! Thank you students! thank you Pepatian team! Thank you Bronx Works staff! and everyone that was involved. Shout out to Marisol Diaz for the beautiful photography and all the wonderful educators of this program. For more information visit www.pepatian.org

Lancelot Chase, Toofly NYC, Caridad de la Luz “La Bruja”, and DJ Fred Jones

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ©MARISOL DIAZ 2017

HI my name is, and I learned that Hip Hop Don’t Stop!

Back in June! for more ya’ll see ya soon.

Down to the last few posts! –  This year LLP celebrated the 10th Ladies Love Project Holiday Pop-Up Shop! We teamed up with City Lore Community Arts Gallery space in the lower east side for a 2 day event. A total of 20+ vendors gathered for the fun. Our LLP photographer Samantha Morales took some lovely photos of the crew this year, here are some of my favorites. Shout out to all the vendors, friends, family and guests that came thru to support the #shoplocal, #shophandmade, and #shopsmall movement —-> Follow us on our facebook page for the next vendors call!

Its a wrap for 2016! Thank you everyone. Community vibes build community tribes <3

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

There’s a lot going on this fall and I have to make the best of it. I’ve been taking trips to NY every June/July and every November/December now for the last 5 years and it’s working out great! These seem to be the best weather months, and a perfect time to reconnect with my NYC community and friends. I enjoy getting them together for dinner/brunch parties, dancing missions, road trips, exhibits, and pop-up shops. Now that many of their little ones are grown up I can organize events for them too. Our community is filled with beautiful parents, it’s nice that we have reached an age where the whole family can enjoy it. It gives me great pleasure to set-off the #TOOFLYWORKSHOP this year with the AD HOC ART organization at 17 Frost Gallery in Brooklyn. This year they celebrate their 10yr anniversary.  Back when Brooklyn was just getting on the map, Ad Hoc Gallery was a perfect location for graffiti and street artists to showcase their work before the big boom in street art gallery work. A lot has changed, and the team has since moved on and back to the streets for the Welling Court Mural Project in Astoria Queens. It’s great to see your friends grow and transform spaces for the artist community to get together. I love it! Thank you Allison and Garrison for all your hard work! I look forward to this lovely workshop with 12 young girls and women in a space where our art/stories inspires the next generation.