Revs - just stay away
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The above photo represents the very first REVS piece I had ever witnessed. Wet behind the ears
and completely clueless as to the story behind him and his work, I kept moving
through the streets of New York always keeping an eye out for that huge REVS piece.
REVS is most widely known for his large pieces painted with house paint and paint rollers, high atop
the facade of many buildings. It is easy to say that this man "gets up" anywhere he can
risk his life, or create a massive piece that everyone can see from thousands of feet away.
Most people who see the work of REVS are used to only seeing the huge block letters
he paints, but upon further review, there is more that you didn't know.
New York city graffiti artists spend their time creating late at night, in deep dark places that
you and I wouldn't go to in our wildest nightmares. These artists are constantly in unison, choreographing a paint induced dance with one very strong material: Metal.
After years of creating graffiti using paint, REVS decided to
take his art and his cr
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Those who grew up or lived in New York during the late 1980s and early 1990s must have seen the famous four letters that would be seen on walls all over the place; Revs. Everywhere you looked, on trash cans, telephone booths and poles, the distinct graffiti had dominated the city.
Revs was at the time the most outstanding graffiti writer in the streets of New York, and whether you liked it or not, his tags would be seen from the edge of the eyes, making it visible subconsciously.
At first, his graffiti bore messages of humor that told stories to anybody who cared to stand long enough to read and piece the sections together. However, starting from the year 1993, Revs would begin to write his autobiography on the walls of the subway tunnels. He would go down to the tunnels at night armed with a ladder, spray cans and paint roller.
Revs began with the first painting, a swath measuring 5 by 12ft, which would act as the page on which he would write. His idea of creating a public diary of his life is a great channel of self-expression, especially when you want the whole world to
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Text is broken up by gaps in the wall: PAGE 22 (BTK) OF STILLWELL — WE WERE BOTH CHECKIN SHIT OUT MY PIECE ROLLED IN + THERE ON IR … ABOVE ME THAT … WE GO THRU THE … WRITES … THEN HE POINTS … A FEW SECONDS OF … HE NIPPED ME BUT I LET IT GO … BECOME FRIENDS—HE HAD A … WHO WROTE … I GOT TO KNOW … BKLYN WRITERS … NSA. ETC ONE DAY ME + IR … LUNCH AT THIS … ON SMITH ST — I BOCKROCKED … MEAT — HE DIDN’T ROCK … ASTOR DT CAUGHT ME + CUTTED ME IN THE BACK … + HE LET ME GO … LUCKY – REVS! | Photo courtesy of Rebecca Fuller | Click any image to launch a slideshow with more of REVS’ work
“To Joe Public: You might be askin yourself right now, what is this shit…what is this all about? Its about a kid who is just livin his life and tellin his story. The only one he knows how.”
So begins REVS’ autobiography, worlds under New York in the farthest folds of the subway, the words written in black on top of a white-washed section of wall. It’s an underground m
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