A TRIBUTE TO THE HISTORY OF GRAFFITI IN MTN AIR BY ZURDO

A journey through the history of graffiti with Zurdo Caribe’s mural at MTN Air.
Come with us on a history of graffiti trip/homage to the mural that Zurdo Caribe has just finished on one of the walls at MTN Air, in the complex where Montana Colors is based. The mural is an ode to graffiti that will appeal to both experts and sympathizers.

For many years the MTN factory has been a special place for lovers of graffiti and street art. There we can find, both outside and inside, a series of pieces that whose creation began in 2004 and have been growing ever since. In the famous enclave you can see pieces by several artists, some as renowned and varied as Os Gemeos, Aryz, or Sabe.
The passage of time has meant that some of these murals and pieces that had been created previously are, unfortunately, rather deteriorated. For example, those by Rime, Reso, or Dabs & Myla.
With the office expansion of the MTN Air facility-where the spray paint have been packaged since 2017-the wall was deteriorated and incomplete, hence the renovation.

Why Zurdo Caribes?

In the end Zurdo Caribe, a member of the CMS crew, has been put in charge of putting color and style in that area of the factory. The choice was logical. Zurdo aka Senk is one of the most versatile writers, both when it comes to his lettering style and illustration, and he perfectly represents the different modalities and styles of graffiti that MTN was looking for.

A journey through history

The mural presents a hybrid tribute, on the one hand to the origins of graffiti in NYC and on the other to personal references of the artist combined and kneaded with MTN elements.
The stroll through history is made through some elements where that pay tribute to some of the pioneers of the scene. From Cheech Wizard, Coco Crow or Vaughn Bodé’s butterflies, to Skeme’s policeman mentioned in Style Wars. Or the Mickey Mouse as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Fantasia that Seen painted in one of the best-known wagons.

But this mural is not only about characters. We can also appreciate various styles of throws ups, such as the one by Cap, or by the deceased IZ The Wiz and the one by Haze (SP) that can be seen in the background in many of Martha Cooper’s photographs.
It also honors other writers through their tags, as is the case of Tracy 168 who left us last year. And we can even appreciate “The Saint” by Stay High 149.

As for the MTN elements, we can see nods to them on the train steel in the form of the age of Montana Colors and the current date. The numbering refers to these past 30 years. Another, in the foreground, is the Spray 94 that is was used to create Caribe’s piece.

In closing, we did not want to forget the personal references that are ultimately the ones that give the most personality to the mural:

• The train sign alluding to Zurdo’s fallen companions, Saner and Keso.
• Dumbo recalls a story that Zurdo himself tells us on his Instagram and that you can read here.

The mural is an ode to graffiti whose codes will be understood by the writers, and will please the sympathizers.