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.
On a personal level, DREAM was a good friend. He was always there for me—up until the very end. He came to the graffiti exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, and he came to my show, Blurring the Lines, at Corey Helford Gallery.
He told me he wasn’t feeling well, and left the opening early. Later that night, he texted me and told me he was proud of me.
Well, brother, I’m proud of you. You always held your head high, never complained, and were humble, loyal and strong.
You did your last piece for Art in the Streets, and it seems like everything we dreamed of as young writers in the 1980s is finally coming true. I wish you were still here to enjoy it with me, but either way, you always be a pillar of West Coast graffiti.
Thank you for being an inspiration and, most importantly, being a friend.
I went to High School with these guys (when we actually went instead of surfing all day)….amazing artist Casper Brindle and king of the voice overs, Jim Tasker,…Goodtimes!!!!!
Recently Abel and I participated in the HI-GRAFF show in downtown LOS ANGELES at The Hold Up gallery. We were super behind the eight ball so we had to knock it out in a few hours separately. I can’t believe we got it done! Goodtimes! Here’s how it started below….
I was just passed this video from the creation of the Mural Outside of MOCA… ..This wall was very cool, because as well as painting with some incredibly talented new friends CERN and SANO, My brothers ABEL and PUSH, my old friend LOMIT, I also painted for the first time with two artists who have mesmerized me for years, LEE and FUTURA.
The mural on the outside of MOCA was really Lee Quinones’ project. I was just proud to be a part of it. As mentioned above, I’m a huge fan of Lee. I grew up looking at his early stuff. LEE, FUTURA, LOMIT, CERN, SANO, ABEL and myself worked on it based on Lee’s overall concept. The Native American girl wearing the headdress with feathers floating across the mural represents birds of a feather flocking together, like graffiti artists have done for years. The Constitution represents us as graffiti artists, solidifying our art as a unified movement. The locomotive train represents our movement that can’t be stopped; if you look close it has a coal car filled with cans instead of coal, this is the fuel that powers the train. It also has an arrow in the train. This is the criticism and turmoil we as graffiti artists deal with daily, and the final “what you write” is how Graffiti artists acknowledge other writers. Here it acts as a signature on our declaration of independence. We are saying, “Hey, we are here! Graffiti art is a legitimate art form, like it or not! It’s here; we’re here!”
I went to High School with these guys (when we actually went instead of surfing all day)….amazing artist Casper Brindle and king of the voice overs, Jim Tasker,…Goodtimes!!!!!
Roger Gastman and Angleique
Rob from the Hundreds blog and friend
