Robert Tagudar aka DREAM
August 3, 1964 to May 28, 2011

DREAM was the epitome of everything I stand for; we shared the motto, “On to the next, burn to the last.” He loved all aspects of graffiti, but chose to strip his work down to two colors. He didn’t want anyone to be able to say he hid behind colors or characters. He wanted his pure style to show through—and it did. He was a true king…………

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Seize The Moment NYC

LOS ANGELES—To the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Revok is a renowned artist whose bright, sprawling work is worthy of display in its latest exhibit.To the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Revok is Jason Williams, also known as inmate No. 2714221.

Last month, Mr. Williams was sentenced to 180 days in county jail as a result of a probation violation from a graffiti incident, just days after the opening of a major museum exhibit dedicated to “street art” that features his work. Unable to post his $320,000 bail, Mr. Williams sat in jail for four days before the sentencing.

Law-enforcement officials around the country are prosecuting graffiti artists with harsher sentences than ever, pushing for felony charges, real prison time and restitution payments as they seek to wipe graffiti from the streets. At the same time, the art world and corporations are embracing the form like never before.

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It was a bright Sunday afternoon and I was standing outside with my good friend Push.
We were chatting about the latest bullshit, when a passenger plane flew over and we both looked up at it. As it passed we noticed a small bright dot in the blue sky. We both acknowledged it as something out of the ordinary so I ran inside to grab my camera.
I came back outside and the object was still in the same place. It stayed perfectly still for a minute and then suddenly moved in a slow and steady pace West. It seemed at the highest point in the sky at which my eye could recognize detail of that size. I shot the photos with a 12 mega-pixel G-9 Cannon camera. I uploaded the images and increased the dots per square inch to 20,000 to see it close up. I was lucky enough to have a great camera that always shoots clean shots.

So, do I believe the photographs I took are evidence of little green men lurking around the edges of space waiting to abduct their next colonoscopy victim? Perhaps I can look at this from realistic point of view. I have seen many missiles launches over the west coast for as long as I can remember. Twice I’ve captured the MinMan3 Missile Defense system exploding in the atmosphere. It’s launched from Vandenberg air force base, to the north of Los Angeles. I even used those images as reference for some of oil paintings. When most people see the paintings they think they’re extraterrestrial.

The point is…. we really don’t know what’s flying around in our skies. We really have no idea what crazy projects have been developed at taxpayer expense. If I saw the Stealth Bomber blasting over my head, while on liquid at Burning Man I sure as hell would think that something was going on. It’s our imagination that created the boogeyman and it’s our imagination that built the machines that bombed him. Personally I really wish there were little green men, maybe we can learn something totally new. Anyway, I still can say I have seen an Unidentified Flying Object…………

Walking in to this I have to say I was pretty nervous. I really had no plan on what I was going to paint other than I needed to paint a piece that represented what I was working on currently. I envisioned this fuzzy White Piece swirling around in the back of my head. When I arrived to check out the space the wall seemed even more challenging considering the size. Of course Revok was already ahead laying out his mural. First he created grid across the space. This gave him some structure to build his cluster of letters. Revok basically built his piece as he went. As long as I can remember he has been free-styling every piece he paints. It is very interesting to watch him paint. Revok spends quite a bit of time on the computer building complex logos and letters using Illustrator program. His approach to painting walls is like as if he was possessed by Illustrator, it’s like watching a human printer. His idea behind his piece was to include a few bold statements and names of other artists or friends who aren’t with us anymore. The more Revok layered the letters, the more it turned into this big complex puzzle piece, giving the viewer an opportunity to piece together the hidden names. He didn’t want to be selfish by focusing on his name solely. Rime came in and filled in some of the negative spaces with his looney style characters. Joe’s personality can sometimes remind me of a punched out cars sales men with the precise hand of a heart surgeon. If you look closely at Rimes lines you’ll see there is no wasted strokes. He paints his lines with one clean shot each time.

I on the other hand, usually only focus on the letter structures of my name. To me when you freestyle a piece you stumble onto a path of discovery. I find I feel limited when I paint from a sketch. Free-styling allows you an opportunity to whip a letter differently or discover new connections. My name to me is like capturing movement and flow using the essence of the letters characteristics. Saber isn’t my name as my identity but a mantra to tap into a free flow of abstraction. As a kid I was obsessed with Robotech, Transformers and Gothic churches, I guess it eventually evolved into an energized moving liquid glass battleship. That actually sounds kind of crazy but that’s what’s so intriguing about Wildstyle. Once you dive down into the puzzle, little secrets reveal themselves. You also have to put yourself under the mindset that you are going to paint your best piece, as if you were going to burn the wall to the ground. That level of confidence definitely comes in handy under pressure, especially in a situation like painting on the museum walls.

Risky is one of the founders and trailblazers of Los Angeles style and a world wide representative of Graffiti Art. He is an originator of founded styles and has painted more pieces than anyone. He was painting full color burners on the freeways when people were catching up on Calicovision. Painting next to Risky is intimating because his energy is huge on the wall. Risky chose to break up the mural space in an interesting way by taking on the alphabet. A to Z is always more daunting then you anticipate. 24 individual stylized letters is no easy task, of course Risky makes it look easy. I can tell you he didn’t sleep for days. These two guys were pulling all niters back to back. Abel came to lend a hand a painted the L. That guy is the one of the cleanest painters ever. Risky finished his mural off with a beautiful, white and blue chrome piece right in the center that seemed to tie everything together nicely.

Cartoon is another great painter to watch. He chunked outs his mural with spray paint and later goes in and airbrushes an entire detailed scene. Cartoon also freestyles his murals.  He kept adding little details to his painting until it turned into little groups of Los Angeles inspired street life narratives. Cartoons skill level lends him the ability to airbrush beautiful classic, candied low riders to jumping on a tall ladder and pulling long hours painting murals. He has proven himself to be the best at what he does, anywhere.

On of my best friend Push had the task of collaborating with Lee, Futura on the large mural in the parking lot. He worked on the massive geometric color patterns, a trademark for him. His strain of Graffiti is one of my favorites. His path has led him so far out of the letter structure base, it morphed into a simplistic geo-pattern style. The beauty of his style is the more simplistic it becomes the more he manages to hide letters in these patterns. He obsesses over his color pallets like a composer with notes. I would definitely characterize Push as obsessive-compulsive, this is what makes his art so unique.

When I paint a large wall I usually try to whip out a base structure with the roller. With some practice you can actually whip around some nice calligraphy lines with the roller on an extension pole. It just really, really sucks when you blast out the base structure and it doesn’t fit. Talk about the frustrating task of painting it all back over again. I really have to be in a good flow or other wise I end up fighting it the whole time and a day gets wasted. This is the challenge of free-styling your piece; you can end up painting yourself into a corner. Because everything in the show was screaming color, I went with the no color look to give my space a sense of calm. I love working in the grey tones pallet. At the bottom of the “R” leg, I painted layered piled on tags ripping out from underneath the white buff as a subtle gesture to the movement itself. The layered tags were names of friends and people who have influenced me or friends who are not with us. People at the museum asked what the title was and the first thing that popped in my head was “Sacred Trash”. I chose this title because it represented the conflicting ideas, Graffiti as sacred, or Graffiti as something disposable and malicious. That Graffiti is something that is reviled and hated by the authorities. Some would claim this a virus designed to deplete property values spawning higher crime rates. Exaggerated stories describing hoards of taggers participating in the urban plight like hungry locusts. Unfortunately, the reality is some of the current recycled press would attest to that point of view including some  right wing think tanks. Some of the artists in the show have been targeted by news organizations and the Authority to perpetuate the idea that this museum show is bad for society. My best friend Revok is now locked away serving 180 days with an outrages $320,000 bail amount yet isn’t charged with any crime. Houses and business have been harassed and raided by armed task forces looking for these “criminal art assailants” and then the story hits front page. Going in to this show I knew some of the powers that be would be furious over a museum institution giving us any credit, let alone open their doors to us. My personal mission was to paint the best piece I could and let the artwork speak for itself.

The last image in this blog is a portrait of Revok and I taking a quick break from painting standing outside the museum early in the morning. Both of us were taking in the crisp fresh air thinking of the long road we’ve been on together. In the back of my mind I wanted to celebrate in the moment for making it there together. What kept me from celebrating was the sick feeling I had twisting in my stomach. It’s a humbling feeling. We knew the authorities would make someone an example for this show. We knew there was a dark cloud hovering. I just want people to understand that there is a price to pay. That debt comes in many forms and my best friend paid with his freedom. The piece Revok painted is more valuable then museum walls itself. It represents one artist struggle against a Leviathan. His life’s path has been altered and that piece is left behind for the museum and public to enjoy. Revok is what gives this show its legitimacy. He is the artist who is locked away in a maze of dangerous halls. His real crime? Being an artist who is misunderstood. If certain people want to criticize the “legitimacy” of  “Art In The Streets” as a valid museum show then they need to reflect on Revok’s artistic contributions to the movement. For those who write us off as malicious vandals, they should pause and ask themselves what they are willing to sacrifice for what they believe in. Before they can pass judgment they would have to walk in our shoes for a block.

To me art is something that is always Sacred. Especially in an art movement that was spawned from a young spirit where you are blinded from corrupt ideas and have no understanding of consequences. In essence it begins pure. The passion is the drive. This passion to create art is Sacred. It leads that young person on a creative path steering them away from societies little boxes. Is this a safe path for everybody? I would say no. Along this path are difficult lessons learned and tragedies. But through the entire journey a dialogue between the creative spirit and the world as we know begins. Contemporary Graffiti movement has opened up a new strain of art and ideas. If I am a criminal, then I willingly chose to be so for the sake of the idea.

Graffiti is something that is Sacred, something that I love. Something that connects me to so many people. Either way, everyone is watching…… #FREEREVOK

Photography By Noah Banks

I like building the layers on a light board. I think the light mesmerizes me into a cathartic state. Trying to separate the outline layer was seriously a bitch. I widdled down the charcoal pencils all they way to the stubs. My man Justin saved the day with this last piece of scrap film that had a tooth to the texture. The other film was too smooth for the pencils and the paint pens would just clogged up. Tony printed a test piece red so I could see the lines to register too. We also printed a subtle pearl sheen on the white parts of the letters. This guy Tony is a machine. He is an amazing printer but also a great problem solver. I’m used to approaching things unconventional, that’s just because I do what feels best. Working with Tony at Modern Multiples has taught me how to approach problem solving in a whole new light. Print making is no joke but we talk a lot of shit while doing it…….

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