“It was different, it was rebellious, I mean it was everything.” Fernando Romero, 36, said, on the art of graffiti, as he lit his Marlboro Red cigarette. “It was a special breed back then, almost an organic cultivation,” Mike Baca, 30, interjected. Although their teen-age years as vandals were not easy, today, those endeavors have taken Baca (aka 2ESAE) and Romero (aka Ski) to great lengths.
Editor’s note: In light of the nearly one-year anniversary of the guerrilla white-washing of 5 Pointz, I am doing a special article on this.
It was almost one year ago that commotion broke out on 45-46 Davis Street, due to the guerrilla whitewash of the iconic 5Pointz building for the purposes of building a $400 million development project. This outdoor art exhibit lived a life of 12 years as the only legal aerosol outlet in New York City, displaying mural pieces all around the 200,000-square-foot factory building.
He can be found in pop-up shops and galleries all around the city. His infamous faces, containing “emotive eyes and razor sharp teeth,” as described in his website, are more than likely splattered around walls in your neighborhood. So, who is the man who has been painting the monsters around this city?