Graffiti, Skateboards, and Hurricanes – GraffTour 12 in Florida
on August 26th, 2012 at 5:28 pmGraffiti, Skateboards, and Hurricanes – GraffTour in Florida
Written by Tameekatime
Last August, I joined artist CortesNyc on my first GraffTour. Although I’ve edited many of the episodes in the past this was the first time I got to record and experience it first hand. During GraffTour 12 to Florida, we experienced painting in the midst of hurricane Irene. A tropical storm that affected a good part of the East Coast. The hurricane caused floods, flight delays, and running paint on walls. The weather was unpredictable in Florida and the hurricane blew through New York while we were headed home. Despite the bad weather, the trip to Florida was a success. He met new artists in Fort Lauderdale, re-connected with old friends in Miami, and had a chance to visit family.
Cortes is no stranger to the Florida graffiti scene. Back in the 90′s, he attended New World School of the Arts in Downtown Miami. At that time he was known as Waqs A3 Crew and his cousin Dj T-WreXX used to write Knee. Together they painted a large collaborative wall located on Coral Way & 57th Ave in Miami. The wall also featured graffiti writers Zun, Furious, Freek, and Keds.
On this trip, reuniting with Zun to paint in the Wynwood Arts District brought a bit of nostalgia back for Cortes. It has been over a decade since the two had painted together. So much has changed in the graffiti culture yet the two picked up right where they left off, attacking the wall with a gusto and energy. While at the wall, dj 2Nen Bladez stopped by. 2Nen is part of the group Pagan Society; a group that provided music for Cortes’ blackbook art video, Raisin Hell.
In Miami, Cortes painted two walls at the Wynwood Arts District Factory. This neighborhood is home to over 70 galleries and museums. The walls in this area exhibit work from some of the worlds most renowned street artists. Murals in the district are curated yearly by Primary Flight making it one of the biggest street art events in the world. Art Basel-Miami is held in Wynwood and attracts graffiti writers from all over the world.
In Fort Lauderdale, Ryan the gallery owner of Rolling Stock welcomed Cortes to paint during the monthly F.A.T. Village Art Walk. Ryan helped transform the theater area he worked at into an ever changing graffiti gallery. Flagler Art and Technology Village events are held the last Saturday night of each month from 7pm to 11pm. Visitors are allowed to walk through art galleries, open artist studios, prop warehouses, and theater shows. Rolling Stock is one of the galleries open to the public during the art walk. It is considered to be a non-traditional gallery. It’s works are displayed indoor and outdoor. One of the artists we met while at Rolling Stock was Marvel IMAP. She was born in El Salvador and was introduced to graffiti in LA. She now resides in Florida where she paints urban style art.
After painting in Rolling Stock, Cortes customized a few skateboards for some of his family members and their friends. This was his first time using spray paint and markers on a skateboard. We managed to document the step by step process while he customized 3 Long Boards.
The long boards and other graff pieces can be seen in the tour video above. All music excluding the closing track in the video was produced by CortesNyc, the closing track was produced by music duo Guillotine Cuts.
