REBOK STICKS OUT HIS HEAD FROM THE YARDS. INTERVIEW ABOUT HIS EXPO AT UNFRAMED ART GALLERY

Rebok exits the yards to take a breath of fresh air and put together an exhibit at Unframed Art Gallery. We took the opportunity to interview him a little off the beaten track.

Little is known about the world of train writers. Only those who practice this risky sport know the map and can navigate without falling into quicksand.
So we assume that we don’t know much, and what we do know – for safety reasons – should not be shared.
Even so, we don’t want to miss the opportunity to get closer to a writer who, fortunately, has surfaced for a show at the now famous Unframed Art Gallery.
Today we talk to Rebok there.

“But as far as the ‘scene’ goes, I don’t know really..
I just stick to my own circle. 
I don’t put my self out there to meet writers…”

What can you tell us about yourself that does not involve a security breach?
I love painting on stainless steel, specially in NYC.
 I cook my ribs rare, not medium rare. And I’ve never been to Antartica; supposedly aliens live there.

Why this leap from the underground to the gallery? Will you repeat the experience?
Well, ever since I was a kid I used to draw and paint anything from comic books, to realistic portraits, to death metal logos… which naturally got me interested in graffiti. 
Since I moved to NYC, I pretty much threw every single sketch away… And since I didn’t want to have any circumstantial evidence at the crib, just in case of a house raid… 
The NYPD Vandal Squad was known to do this, and ruin your life for a for as long as they could, on top of that.
Gotta keep your apartment clean, no hard drives laying around, no nothing. They could come anytime.

Therefore, for almost two decades, I was never interested in doing these ‘graffiti canvases’. 
But then late last year, Zoow24 pushed me to paint more on canvases; he showed me cool examples of illegal writers that were actually doing fresh canvases. 
He immediately got me to do a can design with Clash Paint. I had to use these fancy color markers which I hadn’t used in like ages… but it was mad fun to do; got paid immediately and I loved the final result. 
That slowly opened up my mind a lil’ bit…
Then Trane pushed me a lil’ extra: I literally made 4 more drawings… showed them to Trane, and all of a sudden, Unframed Art Gallery was asking if I was interested in doing a solo show, which was mad weird to hear, haha.

But yeah, thought about it for a second and was like, Fuck it, I got nothing to lose. 
So I got psyched to draw and paint more.
 Got over there and busted out a whole buncha canvases, learned some tricks from the canvas king BLADE who happened to there too and it was a lot of fun to do… 
For a few weeks I was zoned in painting from 9am, til 1am, no distractions, no TV, I had a fuckin’ blast.
So it’s like doing subways: the more you do, the more you wanna do. The more you learn, the better you get and your ideas just keep coming and evolving… 
You get obsessed. 
You get that same type of unending itch…
So to answer your question, yesss, expect to see more.

What does the change of medium mean for you when it comes to painting?
I mean, obviously there is a time limit with subways and trains, which is great. Since I love the spontaneity of it. 
With canvases, you can paint howeverthefuck long you want…  which is great too, because you can fully execute your idea more elaborately. Plus it’s not buffed the next day. The original artwork will hopefully still be intact, generations later… wayyy after we have left this party here.
Both display it’s subconscious intention.

How do you live in that parallel reality as a train writer? Could this situation be called the Clark Kent syndrome?
I was used to this as a teenager, so it pretty much became second nature. 
I have plenty of other hobbies which I’m passionate about and friends that don’t know much about graffiti.
 More like Peter Parker syndrome, yesss.

New York is a city that never loses its magic, and in part you have witnessed the evolution of the scene there. How have you experienced it? 
After Covid? It def got messy here.
 I mean, I love it more than ever, but at times, I can really fuckin’ hate it as well… 
It’s probably something my personality gravitates to… the hard contrast. 
For example, our favorite movies have their ups and downs, which gives it a greater range of depth, more layers, more saturation.
For example, blazing guitar solos with pinch harmonics, always sound sick to me over drop C down tuned guitar riffs and gnarly bass tones…
But as far as the ‘scene’ goes, I don’t know really..
I just stick to my own circle. 
I don’t put my self out there to meet writers…

Tell us some lies about yourself that you’ve heard or that could be mistaken for the truth.
Supposedly I play basketball regularly with the this dude I never met…
I threw a beer glass at someone at an art school party.
There’s more, but cant remember ‘em all.

Visit the gallery’s website to admire the original works of art.