BLADE: MILK CAFFETTO

BLADE Aliases: STEVE 1
Started: Early 70s
Primary affiliations: TC5
Local origin: Bronx, NY
Main lines: 2s 5s.

Blade, one of the original members of The Crazy Five can be given the title of longest reigning whole car king of the 2s and 5s. Blade started writing in the early 1970s and continued into the 1980s. From 1975 to 1980 Blade was a dominant force on the 2s and 5s. It was like almost every other train had a Blade whole car running on it. Blade's Style was very unique, he did not follow the crowd. His work could never be confused with anyone else. He did not adhere to any set notions of style or trends common to other writers. Blade did not do wild style; yet still had incredibly imaginative letter forms. He did lettering and imagery that played with perspective and the abstraction of geometric shapes. His style was so distinguished that it drew criticism from many writers, stating that it wasn't graffiti style. But Blade's admirers far out numbered his critics. Many writers bombed and also did whole cars but, Blade bombed with whole cars. Lee Quinones frequently credits Blade's approach as being inspirational. Lee would become Blade's fiercest artistic rival on the IRT 2 and 5 subway lines. During the 1970s Blade started doing window down straight letters covering the full length or the car named block busters. Though not necessarily the first writer to do a block buster, he clearly helped to establish the trend. Among Blade's many credits was his boldness. He frequently painted at places like Esplanade near the passenger platform in broad daylight and still managed to post his famous quote "Never Busted!!!!!!". Blade's more recent focus has been the art galleries of Europe.

For more information visit www.bladekingofgraf.com

$3.50