Graffiti Legends Converge for Party Despite City’s Attempt To Shut It Down

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The New York Sun

The graffiti street festival that the city attempted to prevent went off without a hitch yesterday afternoon.


On a Chelsea block lined with art galleries, a car repair shop, and apartment buildings, hundreds of New Yorkers and out-of-towners gathered to watch legendary graffiti artists of the 1980s decorate life-size replicas of the sides of subway cars.


Last week, the city took away a permit it had granted to the company holding the event, Ecko Unlimited, saying that glorifying graffiti might encourage youngsters to become vandals. On Monday, however, a federal judge, Jed Rakoff, ordered the city to reinstate the permit.


At the entrance to the event, a red and white sign warned that drawing graffiti can be a crime, but between Tenth and Eleventh avenues on 22nd Street the mood was upbeat, as music blasted through the street and the toxic smell of spray paint wafted off the metal canvases.


A graffiti artist turned graphic designer, T.Kid170, took a break from spray-painting the car to greet some of his young fans.


“You have to find a positive medium,” the hulking artist told one teenager, who was wearing a loose black T-shirt, baggy jeans, and chains around his neck. “Do it legal and stuff, man.”


The teenager listened quietly and then asked T.Kid to sign his “black book” with his graffiti-inspired signature and pose for a picture.


“We try to give a positive message,” the artist said as he continued to sign the white pages of drawing pads his fans were asking him to sign. “I’m glad the federal court gave us the permit. … I saw the federal court in action, and I thought it was awesome.”


A rap and hip-hop artist who stopped by, Everlast, called the event “inspiring” and said he sees graffiti as “beautiful.”


“I love it,” Everlast said. “Graffiti made me who I am today.”


The New York Sun

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