South Beach, Miami, Florida during Winter Music Conference or Art Basel, is not for everyone. You either go hard or go home. Some don’t make it home at all (no lies, I’ve seen it).  Cultural and social lubrication at its finest, Never knowing who you might bump into from the Marlin all the way down to the breakfast bodega on Collins.

One nite during WMC 2001 or 2002 (it’s all a blurrr), I was invited to dinner by a lady friend of a friend. Since I was at the Sovereign (now Soho Beach House), she caught a cab from the Delanoe to pick me up for dinner at The Ritz.

Halfway through the ride to dinner she answers to what sounded like a business call. She gets off the phone and nonchalantly precedes to tell me that some “old artist friend” of hers will be joining us for dinner. Whatever, I was a youngbuck at the time, rolling with a woman who obviously liked to do things big. We arrive at the Ritz, seat and order drinks. Shortly after that I hear someone yeall her name across the dining room. It was her “old artist friend”… who just happend to be one of the og NYC grafitti legends… who just happened to write “ZORO” in the movie “Wildstyle“. Her friends name was Lee, Lee Quiones. (if you’ve never seen or heard of Wildstyle, when you click away from here start googling!)

Now Lee brought 2 more writers with him. 1 was Devious Doze (TC5/RSC/ZULU) who actually did the last cover in this post. It was that Rock Steady Crew cover that actually inspired me to start writing. IMHO, Besides PhaseII, Doze’s style was always mile ahead. but thats another debate. The 3rd cat I couldn’t place of hand. Dzine - Chicago. However it all came back to me, I remember getting a few of his flicks from SBOne @ Steel Wheels and various other sources. Faces and Places aside, as the night went I remember the conversation regarding new mediums and technique. It was quite evident he was on a totally different planet. Well Come to think of it we all are.

Last week Dzine closed out his most recent solo exhibit entitled “Voodoo” at NY’s Leo Koenig Projekte. Even though the show was packed with varied pies and concepts the focal point of the show was clearly this 24-karat gold leafed bike. It is based on the Swaybar phenomenon in Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. Swaybar, a unique aspect of the island’s popular culture in which youth create custom elongated bicycles as both transportation and status symbols. Dzine, who is well-known for his own customized low-rider bicycles, secretly created one of these Szway bikes, which are illegal. After which he blinged it out with 24-karat gold leaf, Swarovski crystals and antique jewels.

Bonus Shots

Production: Paterson, New Jersey 3 // 1997 © 1999 Susan Farrell, winsom@graffiti.org

TOP+BOTTOM: Submission for Lance Armstrong x Nike STAGES Art Launch

Additional credit for this post: TWBE