Ron English for Tools of the Trade from TOTT Global on Vimeo.

by sleepboy @ Arrestedmotion.com

Ron English is the Lord of the Universe!

Here is the two billboards painted for the event.  More info and more pics on Revok1.com

EWOK

KRUSH

RISK

RETNA & THE MAC

REVOK

REYES

SEVER

DAME

KOFIE

REVOK

AUGOR

TACKZ

I recently visited Mexico for the event “Estilo Libre”. The
event begins in Santiago de Queretaro, continues in Mexico
City, and ends in Monterrey. Unfortunately I could only
attend Queretaro.

We flew into Mexico City and then drove 3 hours north to
Santiago de Queretaro.

Downtown Queretaro is a beautiful old, well-preserved,
Spanish colonial town. With cobble stone streets,
beautifully hand-carved large wood doors, court yards in
almost every building, and interesting street vendors on
every corner. We stayed in a two hundred year old hotel
called the Hotel Hidalgo that was a history professor’s
dream with all the notable people that had stayed there.

Queretaro was a very important city during the Mexican
Independence movement and has many statues,
monuments, and historically preserved buildings
commemorating that. Today it is becoming the
international business capitol of the country.

But obviously I was there to paint and meet other like
minds. I spent four days straight painting two different
pieces in two different locations. I decided to use buff paint
primarily, instead of all spray to show people to some new
techniques.

Everywhere we went there seemed to be some sort of
painting project in process. All over the city there are new
community centers being built, from small neighborhood
spaces to huge community centers that can accommodate
the entire city. It was very impressive, and you can sense
there is more importance placed on introducing and
including youth into art projects like murals.

Throughout the years I’ve visited Mexico many times and
these kids are getting better and better. There is endless
wall space and the writers are very focused. I would say
that in the near future Mexico will become an important
painting destination for the rest of the world.

I met some genuine people and some strong writers in
Mexico. Queretaro is a mellow place and I love how
important the history is to citizens. Most of my experiences
on this trip were positive, (minus the five-animal meat
torta).

Thank you to No Limit, SF Crew. Mibe, Humo, Baht, Seta,
Borra, Chino, Aliaz, and anyone else I forgot.

Cathedral In Downtown Queretaro

Cathedral Ceiling

Altar For Mary

Cathedral At Night

Statue For Memorial To One Of The Saviors Of Mexican Independence

Eagles At The Base Of Josefa Statue

Statue Outside Cathedral

Hill Top View Of Los Arcos Aqueduct. It Was Built By The Wealthiest Man In Queretaro Because Of His Love For A Nun

“Pyramid Of El Pueblito”, Toltec Pyramid With Spanish Fort On Top In Queretaro

After All Day Painting, Nothing Like A Nice Little Fire

Mucho Mas Graffiti!

This Kid Painted This After His Lung Collapsed!

Through Upper Playground, I was one of a bunch of artists who where asked to be part of an interesting collaboration with Roland Sands Designs.

Basically Sam Flores, Nate Van Dyke, Estvon Oriol, Jonas, Roland and friends, painted the backdrops for up and coming motorcycle conventions. These are the sickest bikes I’ve seen, and the goal was to create themes that went with each bike. Everyone put in long nights, and it turned into a paint menagerie.

Each artists mural was unique to they’re own style. This is what makes this project interesting. Each piece was great and different by itself, then put those amazing bikes in front of them, it couldn’t get any better.

I was very excited to work on this project because I appreciate the constant contortion of motorcycle design, especially Roland’s approach to style. When I see those sexy lines on a bike, I want to push my artistic style even further.

Futuristic, powerful, hyper, sleek, sharp, dangerous, wicked, complex, these are the perfect attributes that translate well into my painting style.

The bike in front of my wall was a one of a kind Ducati, red, silver, and black. I wanted to match the color pallet with fast-moving, sharp biomechanical bits, mixed with digital racing stripes.

I think this could be one of the first contemporary collaborations with street artist and the motorcycle culture. I’m definitely looking forward to more projects with Roland. Maybe one day soon there will be a sick Saber/Roland bike collaboration.

My Wall, but this is NOT my bike.

Estevon Oriol, hard at work…..

Sam and the girls…….

Nate Van Dyke’s Wall….

Roland Sands’ Wall

Sam Flores’s Wall…..

Whoever is in the London area and is interested in street art, you’d be a fool to miss this one. Check out the real shit.

Saber. spray paint, acrylic, oil stick, charcoal, 22kt gold leaf on canvass

I just went to the clothing trade show Magic, held in Las Vegas.

It was the typical magic experience, everyone competing to be noticed. Definitely no shortage of characters walking around, fake tits and bad tattoos.

The Seventh Letter “Royal Art Show” was strategically placed by the entrance, so anyone who walked into the convention passed by our display. This was the first year Magic has ever hosted any type of art exhibition.

Over the years I’ve seen graffiti art influence and be taken advantage of by the street wear industry. This exhibition was a great way for us to show people where its source is.

The “Royal Art Show” consisted of two beautiful hand-crafted motorcycle and canvass by Rime, Push, Revok, Retna, Zes, Ewok, Reyes, and myself.

Eklips’s custom bike

Ewok

Push

Retna

Reyes

Rime

Zes

Revok

Seventh Letter Crew

Our wall is right across the street from THIS!

Saber and the Mayor

I’ve never been to South Korea, so I was excited to learn that that was the next international destination for the Seventh Letter Crew.

We were invited to paint at the R-16 B-boy Battle event in Suwan, just outside the capital Seoul.

As usual we were gonna roll deep: Eklips, Retna, Risky, Push, Norm, Jersey Joe, Aroe, Aloy, Dame, Ewok, Kenton Parker, Wise, Reyes, Char, Sever, and myself.

The first wall we had to tackle was corrugated metal and next to Hwasong Fortress, built in the late 1700’s. It was a beautiful spot to be painting but we had some trouble with the surface and were stuck with mostly florescent paint. Most of us spent 2 days painting there.

Finding good food in Suwan was pretty easy; there was a great Korean bbq place right across from the wall. If you like large portions and lots of red meat, South Korea is the place for you.

While we were painting by the Fortress, the B-boy crews were practicing for the battle. The day after we finished the wall they held the opening ceremony, where I presented paintings to the Mayor of Seoul and President of Korea’s tourism Board.

The following day began the individual performances from each of the crews from all over the world. Team after team, doing their routines that all had culturally specific style elements from the country they came from. The way break dancing is still developing after all these years is amazing, everybody trying to get crazier than the next person. At this rate, soon they’ll be fucking levitating.

The event was held at Suwan Stadium and the R-16 organizers set up our wall out side the doors, on the stadium grounds, where they had erected a huge outdoor viewing screen. Which was cool, we could paint and watch. The wall was definitely a little small so not all of us got up. Most people finished in one day but some still had some work to do.

The next day, back to the stadium early to finish up the wall so we can sit in the stadium this time to see the battle. The set on the stage is a recreation of that local fortress we painted near earlier, covered in our graff, a nice touch.

It was an extremely close competition. In the end one of the two South Korean teams won, to the happiness of the crowd.

One of the things that impressed me the most about this whole event was variety of people from the community it attracted, all ages and types, from 5 to 85, in business suits to punk rock outfits.

This trip was short and I spent most of my time painting. But the small tastes of South Korea that I did get to enjoy, and the welcoming people I met, make me anticipate my return. To paint more, to eat more, to see more and to meet more of the people that made this country interesting to me.