I got a call last week from Bret Syfert, B-Boy, book designer and art director for binformed magazine. Syfert (who designed and produced a book for Libby and me) wanted to tell me he made a new book (very cool, I’m in) and say that I should check out the B-Boy Barbeque that weekend, a kind of celebration of all things breakdancing and grafitti, and that I shouldn’t miss a group of out of town lady grafitti artists. That interests me so I grabbed Stella and we went.
The first thing we noticed about the three women grafittistas was that they were working from sketchbooks. Now I had always thought grafitti went up fast and spontaneously, but I guess I don’t know much. (top image is Zori4* working on her piece. She told me she was from Puerto Rico and came to Philadelphia especially for the b-boy event.)
Next is Fever* who’s from Toronto and New York she said. I liked her camouflage pink t-shirt which blended in with her art.
[*Ed. note: this post has been to corrected. It previously had the pictures of Zori4 and Fever confused. Sorry for the error, and thanks, Zori4 for emailing in and setting the record straight.]
Muck, from New York, was doing some precise facial definition on her green-faced elf-girl when we met her.
She told us the artists had an opening at the grafitti friendly Union 237 the night before.
Opposite the rec center is a large warehouse with a mural in progress. It’s an aerosol mural with non-grafitti touches and I assume it’s sanctioned because there are signs up on the building announcing it as a work in progress.
Stella wondered if the outdoor mural was by another aerosol artist we know, Jeff C, whose work we’d seen inside at Asian Arts Initiative. Philadelphia being small, Jeff C is a friend of Syfert’s and Syfert made a catalog of his show which I bought and that’s how Libby and I got to meet the book designer. Syfert’s book for Jeff C, simple yet sophisticated, honored the work of the other artist but was an art object in its own right.
Syfert, a Drexel grad, told me he’s currently applying to graduate programs in printmaking and book arts. His new book, available for $20, is a history of the B-Boy Barbeque with photographs and an interview with Cornbread. Contact information for the book artist is at binformed magazine.
